Alright, I need to do the big 3 bad, as my system is causing dimming lights and a bad idle stutter when first started. I thought I saw a thread at one time about this, but I just searched through every page of the car audio forum, and couldn't find it. Can anyone give me a rough estimate of how many feet of wire I ll need? Thanks in advance.

 

just to let you know the big 3 wont be as effective in our cobalts because the stock wire is alot beefier then other cars... and i wouldnt even bother unles your using 1/0

 

I REALLY need to get an Optima Battery. My lights dim pretty good as well.

 

Yeah, i definitly plan on using 1/0. It looked like the battery ground was already 4ga. So does anyone know about how much I ll need?

 

The factory wire looks bigger than it is. I am pretty sure the wires are only 8ga.

I would think that you would need ~15 feet from alt to battery. Then 2 feet grounding the battery and 2 feet grounding the engine. The engine ground I am not positive about that is just a guess. I would probably buy the ground wires 5 or 6 feet long in one cut and then make the cuts yourself. I would get the extra just to be on the safe side. It is an extra ~4-5 bucks for the 2 feet max.

These are all approximations so check and use your best judgement before going out and buying the wire. I tried to estimate on the large size. Better to have too much than too little.

 

Even though optima batteries are good, it won't save you from this issue. Your alt is simply not muscular enough to dish out the current you need.