|
What's happening everybody? Another month has passed by so quickly. With Db Drag Racing and IASCA finals over and USAC finals around the corner, it seems everybody I know has been spending long hours doing everything from final adjustments to complete rebuilds of there systems. I think finals are a lot of fun and all those endless miles on the road finally pay off. This month we are going to discuss my car audio pet peeve. It never fails someone will spend two or three grand on a nice system and then neglect the one thing that will truly do the most good. The charging system! The typical alternator on most cars and trucks today puts out somewhere around 90 amps. Now lets start the car, well the typical car draws 10 amps running computers systems and ignition modules. Well it's getting hot outside so lets turn the A/C on, that will cost yeah 30 amps at least. Headlights cause you can't drive at night without them, that's 20 amps or better. It's raining so we need to turn the wipers on, 20 amps. Hit the brakes 10 amps. Well that quickly starts adding up. But wait what about that new amp I just bought you know the one with that draws 60 amps at 1 ohm mono. But wait my alternator only puts out 90 amps what am I going to do now? My point is it takes power to make power. The biggest miss conception is that adding a capacitor to a system this will solve all your problems. WRONG. A bigger mistake is adding an extra battery to you already weak charging system. Plain and simple you need a bigger alternator. You're cars battery has only one job, to start your car and to supply reserve to your cars electrical system when the motor is not running. It is you alternators job to run all accessories and to charge the battery back up once your car is started. That is it nothing else.
|
An upgraded alternator will enhance the sound of your system due to the fact your power hungry amplifiers are getting every blood thirst drop of power they need to produce a clean undistorted sound through those big over priced things they call speakers. That would be like a Corvette with a Yugo motor in it, nice to look at but not to fun to drive. Aftermarket upgraded alternators are available for most makes and models of vehicles on the road today and are available though most car audio retailers. And if your going to upgrade the alternator make sure you upgrade the charging lead off the alternator to the battery. It makes no sense to purchase and upgraded alternator and keep the factory undersized charging lead. Until next time " If it's to loud you're to old"Ben HusserPlease email any technical questions or comments to:Laynbdy247@aol.com
|
