as most of you guys know I have been updating my 55 chevy. I used to be pretty heavy into the car audio thing years ago with my mustang. However that was a long time ago and I hove forgotten a few things. SO heres the story so far. I converted the car to an alternator 60 amp gm 3 wire from a original 12 volt generator system. That has been working very well.this year I decided to add some sound to the car so I hid a sony deck under the bench seat to keep the old school look of the dash. I put some sony 6x9 in the door and read dash (package tray) I know I am probably going to get jumped on for using sony stuff but it was free and better than what was in there. the 6x9s sound fine as it is not a SQ car or anything. SO I upped the bar again by adding a 12 inch infiniti perfect subwoofer and a JBL power series 500 watt amplifier. These are oler probably around 8 years by now. I purchased them off of CL and they work great. I installed 4 guage wiring kit and hooked everything up nice and clean.
Now to my question.
my amp guage bounces to 60 amp draw whent he subs hit in the car the volt guage dips a little but not below 13volts. I do remember that if the volts go below 12 then I will have issues but i am not sure of the amperage hit is something to worry about. Should i add a cap to the system? back in the day I used a yellow top optima and a custom made alt in my mustang but with the new large capacitors etc I am at a loss.
I am trying to keep this on the cheap I am really looking for reliability with a little bass not a window rattler or anything. any thoughts on this situation?
Thanks in advance for any input
found a 1 farad rockford cap on CL for a few bucks so iwill throw it in there at the very least its a little cushion for the electrical system I guess.
Ok I picked up a 1 farad cap yeasteray I will hopefully have that hooked up today and get a couple pics. I am sure fols will laugh at it later on I plan on making a nice trunk install but for now its just a simple box in the trunk.
Ok I installed a 1 farad capacitor i picked up from a guy on craigslist. Seems to be doing the trick them volt meter does not come down off of 14.5 volts now which is really good. SO the cap was deffinitly the way to go!
yes, a cap is definitely a great edition to a setup. even if your voltage doesnt dip tremendously, its still nice to have at least a small one, just to take it easy on the electricals all around the car. i’d like to see how the speakers are mounted in the car. im sure theres a few things i can think of to improve on what you already have. im not going to jump down your throat about using sony. not everyone needs to build an sq car and pump money into that, its not for everyone. however, i WOULD advise to get a small speaker amp, a simple processor of sorts(like a 10 band eq), a bit of sound deadener and maybe not using oddly shaped speakers and use a component set for at least the fronts. i can always go into more detail, if there is need.
I appreciate the ideas. I was extremely into the stereo system thing years back. ran a kicker 460 for my internal speakers which powered infinity components up front and a pair of infinity coaxials in the rear. used a pioneer deq to control things. 3 kicker zr260 1 per alpine 12r sub. I put this together on the cheap to get some tunes in the car. CL is my friend for cheap audio. One day I will upgrade the speakers as money permits. but my primary expenditure is the rest of the car new engine restoring 50+ year old parts and the like. 50s and 60s tunes dont really beat on the whole sq anyways. thanks again for the suggestion on the cap it was perfect.
^^This! Another thing you can do before replacing the alt. to give it a try is to upgrade the “Big 3”.
Replace your battery to alternator positive wire with a good 4ga. stereo wire.
Run a new battery to chassis ground with good 4ga. stereo wire.
Run either a new battery to engine block ground (better option) or engine block to chassis ground with again a good 4ga. stereo wire.
And PLEASE don’t use Scosche 4ga. wire. If you compare any Scosche 4ga wire to a good brand (metra, tsunami, monster, etc) you will see that the true wire diameter (no including the insulation) of a Scosche 4ga. wire is equal to that of a better brand 8ga. wire. Its sad that they can actually get away with marketing the wire as 4ga when its really only an 8ga. wire in 4ga. insulation.
ran all new grounds with 4 gauge when I converted from generator to alt. think I will upgrade the alt to battery wire as that is a weaker wire probably 12 if memory serves. battery is brand new this year as well. its a 55 chevy so its not a big bass vehicle mostly oldies and classic rock nothing to heavy on the bass. thanks for the input guys.
