cegha

I am just curious as to what the max amps i can pull from the stock battery and stock alternator, without lights dimming for running a sub and amps.

I was thinking anywhere from 500-700wrms for a monoblock. So what could i expect to get out of the stock stuff?

ybnormal

A lot of interest in this one subject but nobody letting you know. I have a 650 w and a 550 watt amp installed also a 4 fared cap and when its cranking out my added voltmeter dips not sure what my outide lights do but I had to add a yellow top battery to compensate. My gauge lights do flicker and I dont even try to run my stereo without the car running. I hard wired all amps and acessories direct to battery via there own fuses. Hope we find out. I know they sell heavy duty alt. for our car but I havn't needed one yet every where I drive too is at least 20-50 miles away.

Nuke

You might want to try contacting a Ford parts department and see if anyone can get you the specs on our stock alternators. My guess is it'll handle between 45-60 amps but the output varies based on engine speed. If you're not intending on buying a high output alternator, look into the combination deep cycle/starting battery from Optima (can't remember if it's the blue, yellow or red). Any power demand that the alternator can't keep up with will be pulled from the battery. Standard starting batteries aren't designed for medium long-term power drain and will eventually fail prematurely.

whtcanbrwnd04u

I just had my alternator replaced under warranty. I dont even have any aftermarket subs/amps. Just an in-dash screen.

cegha

Well see that's where the problem comes in. I was just kind of curious as to what the stock battery and alt would be able to run without problems. I need a new amp for the sub and a new battery. Eyeing the yellow top. $170 shipped on amazon isn't bad.

So i will have a new battery soon anyways, but i was wondering if it would be like doable to have a 500-700ish monoblock until updating to the optima? Even then would it still be safe to run a 500-700 monoblock with stock alternator, and a yellowtop.

I mean i know tons about car audio systems and what not. So i know that just having a yellow top isn't the cure all and you can run whatever you want. I just would hate to drop $170 on a optima then pick up a amp, and get it all ran, then in a week have the alternator crap out on me, and have to pay to replace that as well.

157dB

The S197 comes with a 135A or 82A at idle alternator.
The battery is a storage device only. Power is not
magically being produced by the battery.
All the available energy comes from the alternator only.
No 4 farad cap I have ever seen produces energy, just
store it for the spikes from the bass hits. And those
only work if they are like inches from the bass amp.
If the total draw for the entire vehicle (including all the
aftermarket add ons) ever exceeds what the alternator
can produce, then you will have problems.
And making the stock alternator run at 100% all the
time will kill it sooner than it was designed to last.
So buy a bigger 200A or 250A alternator now and still
have a working OEM alternator to replace the bigger
onhe with when you sell the vehicle or burn up the
OEM alternator, then get a bigger one and have a
burned up OEM alternator.
Been there dont that a few hundred times.
PA PERFORMANCE sells 250A alternators FTW.

The fuse ratings for any particular amplifier are a
good indication of total power output in Watts.
I have seen 1000W RMS rated amps with 30A fuses.
Volts times Amps equals Watts so 12V times
30A equals 360W and some of that is wasted in
the form of heat produced by the amplifier.
So the 1000W RMS rating was a bunch of crapola.
It was a 300W mono or 150W per channel amplifier at best.
You cant fool the informed.....

Nuke

A healthy alternator shouldn't crap out just because you hit it's peak output. You'd max it out and the battery would add to the required power. That's not an abnormal operating mode. Our cars simply aren't designed to be operating in that mode frequently.

cegha

Thank you 157db. You seem to know your stuff. He is correct on pretty much everything. As i said the battery is only really a backup for the alternator. Your alternator is wired to your battery and your power wire is wired to the battery simply because thats the common point where the alternator can connect to your amplifier for use.

Ideally you do not want your battery doing all the work, as said the alternator is suppose to being putting out power to your amps, the battery is there basically to supply a little extra voltage when there is not enough from the alternator.

I will upgrade to a HO eventually. Any idea what the price is on that one from PA performance? Are our alternators easily replaceable by ourselves or is that pretty much expected as shop work for the S197s?

Yes manufactures of amps do lie (gasp). They may say 1000watt beast amp but if it's running a 30 amp fuse. It's a piece of crap. Fuses are always a good indication of what kind of performance to expect from an amp. Currently between both of my amps i am running 80 amps total, and have a fused distro block with 80 amp fuses and the power wire connected to battery is fused with a 80 amp fuse as well.

Just a FYI anyone big into car audio will also say that a capacitor is really a useless marketing gimmick. It's money better spent on a new alternator and/or battery.

157dB

It all depends on the set-up.
If the amp is in the trunk pulling a 80 Amp draw
on the bass hits with an undersized (10, 8 or even 6 guage)
wire running from the battery up front all the way
to the amp in the trunk, you will have a voltage drop
inversely proportiate to the amps being drawn.
This is not good for getting the full available watts
from the amlpifier.
A good cap placed by the amp(s) will negate the
voltage drop when the bass hits but its only
instantanious and short in duration. Long sustained
bass hits will not benifit from a cap.
I have seen it on an O Scope. Cap verses no cap.
A bigger power wire (2, 0 or even 00) is a better
investment than a cap.

cegha

Interesting. Well question then. Im running 80 amps (both amps combined), i have ground and power wires as 8 gauge, is there really a need to upgrade the wiring to a larger size, if i add a 400-500wrms monoblock? What about for now? Should it be upgraded from 8 gauge to something bigger if im only using 80 amps currently?