Audio/Visual Electronics - High Output Alternator

Has anyone bought one of these high out-put alternators? My stock alternator is rated at 75 amps, while I can buy a high-output one at 130 or 150 amps. Now the question is, is it possible to run 800 watts max or 400 RMS (off 2 amps) and not have to buy a capacitor. My Last car I did that to without a capacitor, my lights dimmed considerably. Basically I want to buy the high output Alt alone and not a capacitor. Will the high-output alternator fix the dimming lights problem? Anyone have experience with this?

yeah, ill let Leviii chime in on this later, but a high output alternator will make a huge difference in the dimming lights. people always want to put in a cap or bigger/extra battery to fix this. but the problem is that you are taking more power from the battery than the alternator is making, all a bigger battery is going to do is make it so you can listen to the radio longer while the car is off and still be able to start it.

Just so I understand, your 2 amps are gonna be 400RMS each or combined? If you are running 2 amps that are a combined 400 rms, your existing alternator should be able to handle the load. Have you considered that maybe your existing alternator needs to be rebuilt? I wouldn't buy those high capacity alternators, they are just so damn expensive...

In my experience 800 watts total from 2 amplifiers will dim the lights, it dimmed them on a 96 LX, a 04 EX and now on a 97 HX. So I'm pretty sure its not a bad alternator. Also it does kind of suck that they ar so expensive , but I'm doing a little more research on them then I'll decide if it's worth it.

If you think about it, you alternator will die eventually, might as well put in a better on IMO, I bought one for about 225 off alterstart.com, its great, no more dimming, also might wanna add extra ground wires under the hood, or connect the alternator with a big guage wire right to the battery on a fuse. I also put in an optima, 200 for each of those isnt bad considering the optima will last forever

I have somewhat delt with this problem and what I came up with was; I had my alternator rebuilt to about 130amp for much cheaper than a new one, and it wouldn't hurt to have it done its not like you won't make use of it. Next I bought an optimax battery and used 4 gauge to ground and supply my battery. I am also not using a cap but it is nice to have just a little extra storage. As far as adding bigger batteries and a cap to slove your problems all it will do is prolong it and overload your alternator. Like most everyone else mentioned you need to get your supply up to meet the demand not the storage although it will help once you have an alternator that will keep up. Another thing to keep in mind is when you build up the alternator you will loose a little voltage at lower rpm, so having that extra storage at a stoplight will help in that case. Hope everything makes sence[sm=smiley5.gif]

i ran 800 watts off one amp. in my accord a few years back..it dimed the lights when i had it up loud..however, even without lights dimming, running a system without a cap. isnt exactly the best thing.. if you dont wanna run a cap. your gonna have to get a like 130 amp alt. or something..another option is a yellow top batt. that will help some..but its still not gonna fix yourt problem

Rule of thumb is for every 1000 watts get 1 farad of a cap.ive got 1500 watts of bass (real wattage here rockford amp not rockwood lol).......and ive got a 2.5 farad cap and my **** still dims......but hi volt amps kill horsepower no?>

yeah, turn it down when merging onto the freeway;)

And I thought it was torture to get on the Turnpike with the A/C on at night during the rain when you have the traffic report on the radio and the laptop charging its 5 minute battery through the cigarette lighter...

what i tell everyone is that caps are total BS
if you listen to rock it may help on those lam songs BUT with some rap with some hard hiting quick bass they will actualy hurt your voltage more... lets face it after every hit it has to recharge... which inturns holds back power from your system starving the amp alittle bit only to discharge alittle bit...

i always advice a highoutput alternator AND GROUNDS along with proper wire size ran to the amplifier!!!!!!!!!!!

but definatly upgrade your ground wires! from battery to body and battery to engine!
just look at those wires......... at leat mine on the battery was only like a 4 or6 gauge wire... and the wire on the motor/body infront was only like 6-8gauge and it was all bare wire and rusty as hell...
replacing the battery terminals and upgrading those wires helped my voltage diming alot!!!!!!

and with my new setup i have 1/0gauge wires ran directly from the battery to the amplifier in the rear.... overkill... heck ya but i got alot of headroom for anything i want to add later on!

and all my ground cables are also done in 0gauge cabling... i have my ground moved to my strut bar and another wire ontop of the battery/strut wire and i have it ran across the motor to the stock motor front drivers side location.
tho i still go have quite a bit of diming in the headlights BUT it doesnt dim below 12volts cause i also put in a fullsize yellow top battery D34/78 under the hood. fits tight with a few minor modifications.. 2 plastic spots trimed off the battery and flip the plastic tray on the battery tray... then just squize it on in thier :D i dont have any kind of batery hold down cause it realy doesnt need it.LMFAO its that tight!



tho my next modification will be a high power alternator! im pushen 1200watts rms and that 75amp stock alt just wont cut it!
but ive had alot worse diming with other cars with less power! even my truck would dim to under 10volts when i was pushen 2500watts.LOL


but definatly get a highpower alt! it will preaty much elimenate most dimming if not all....
lets face it.... alternator MAKES POWER... battery and caps just hold onto it....