Alt/amp?

[Skidmark]

I have a kicker 400watt mono amp to push a 10" solo baric sub with an Eclipse head unit not installed yet. My alternator is only 45 amps, will this be enough to power my system? I can get the alt. rebuilt to put out 55 amps or I can put a 60 amp alt in but I will have to come up with an alternative power source for the carb choke. Any recommendations?

Thanks
Mike

[project b6t]

i was running a 1000 watt x 1 ohm audiobahn amp off a stock festiva alternator. Only thing that happens is the head lights dim at night :lol:

[ericsmith32]

Hmmm on a Aspire with a festiva alt. I run at Profile 1000w at 2 ohm and never have any problems with dimming. Although I ran some 2 gauge grounds before I installed the amp. Install it and if you have problems upgrade your grounds.. it does wonders.

[aithanmier]

it's iffy. it could work fine or it could go caput after a couple of months. if you can, then you should upgrade the alternator. the problem is that stator output for the choke heater. you can either convert it to fuel injection or switch to a weber carb with a 12v electric choke heater. i dunno what the heck aisin was thinking when they came up with a 7v chocke heater...

[glacius182]

I ran a Kicker ZR240 amp on a 12" L5 Solo baric for almost 3 years without any problem except the headlight dimming.

[Fenchurch]

Amplifier power requirements

You can often judge by the fuse rating on the amplifier what the power requirements are going to be. (Wattage is notorious for lying, even CEA2006 sepcs are open to interpretation if it is a bandwidth limited (sub) amp)

In general most amplifiers are fused at less then their max peak current, and you really will likely never even come up to that number unless you really don't want to use your ears in 10 years. So just using the fuse rating and subtracting 20% or so will get you close to what you actually use.

In general I am going to assume this is 400W Peak, say 250 (generous) RMS. If it is 70% efficient (Really good for a Class AB, or OK for Class D so somewhere in between) so 250W audio + 75 W Heat = 325W Total wattage. so 325W/14.4V (alt output voltage average) = 23Amps you will of course need to add whatever other accessories you will be using (Lights and the big one the radiator fan) But looks like you should be fine with 45A alt unless you are sitting in stop and go traffic in phoenix at night with the brights on, and the tunes cranked to something beyond painful.


Richard

https://www.fenchurch.org

Also, as long as your battery is in good condition, the supply voltage should not drop below 12.6v battery voltage, which might dim the lights a small amount, but shouldn't cause problems with any other accessories.