So without going into much detail, I have a big electrical project in mind with my cobalt. I am going to add a capacitor to the stereo power line. I am also upgrading to at least a 180 amp output alternator (should I run a secondary fused power wire to the battery from the alternator for optimum output??). I am then going to install another optima battery in the trunk and run a battery isolator so that the optima powers some aftermarket accessories such as lights and such. (should I have the amp power wire to the secondary battery too?) I will then have just a normal battery for start up. Can I also have two batteries wired up in parallel for the start up batteries?? As well as a third battery run off an isolator for the accessories? Thanks for the input guys.
http://viewer.zoho.com/docs/view.do

 

hmmm

 

Are you making your own capacitor matrix? You can make your own with higher capacitance at much lower cost that those fancy ones.

 

uh not positive what that is so probably not, just looking to beef up the electrical system in my car

 

do you plan on listening to the stereo with the car off? if not id say dump the isolator. if so you can put as many batterys as you want depending on the amperage of the isolator

 

y are you using batts and then adding a cap? your wasting money with the cap just throw more batts and you will be fine.. no need to run an isolator..

if your not pushing 2500 watts.. then just put one batt back there and call it a day

 

You will essentially has a 24v system if you just ADD a battery in parallel. Bad idea.

 

^^^ that would be series. parallel makes 2 batteries "act" like one series doubles the voltage

 

ummm no

there we go
like i said dont waste your money on a cap... and 18v is a very good idea moar power before you upgrade your alt.. do the big 3 upgrade..

 

18v is a bad idea too... good luck finding an amp that will work at 18v

 

most amps do lol.. diablo audio technoligies.. rockford sundown stetsom.. most amps do.. join stevemeadedesigns and learn alot.. 18v is what the real pros pump out...

 

I've tried 2 of those 4 and i wouldn't put a DAT amp in my car ever. and i almost bought a stetsom to try it out too. but dont get me wrong i wanted the rep, dealer whatever you want to call him to guarantee me that would work at 18v. he said i cant do that. after spending more then enough money trying to get 16v/18v to work i said **** buying another amp that "might" work. Im not saying i did everything right but if i couldnt get it to work i doubt he can

 

why wouldnt u put a dat in your car? there amps are powerhouses and david stands by his products..
any comp amp company will stand by it.. idk who your rep is but they sound like a idiot

 

Sweet jesus, who kind of RMS wattage are you running that you would possibly need an 18 volt system??

As for the original poster, what kind of system are you planning to run before we could really tell you what you need to do.

 

when i said rep im talking about the head up of the stetsom usa. i'm not sure how it is now but when i was looking at stetsom they had one distributor here in charge of all their usa sales warrantys ect ect for both consumers and shops. i spoke to him directly and said I've had issues with amps that aren't liking the high voltage for daily use. he said he could not guarantee the amp they have thats rated for the higher voltage would work 100% for daily purposes.

I wouldnt put dat in my car because i was very unimpressed by the 8kw that was sent to our shop for repair. the board in general wasn't anything special (not good nor bad) but it had ghetto add on bullshit because the original design was flawed.

do you have 18v in any of your vehicles? how about meade?

 

i had 18v in my mountaineer but that was into a diamond amp.. price has 18v but he turns it down to 16v (dc power alts have a adjustable voltage reg) and meade his car takes waaay to much power to be efficiant at 18v.. the caddy is at 18v

at 1 time a clean 2000rms with 18v then it was up in the 8k range..

 

wow cool... what equipment exactly were you using? and was it daily or just competition?

i stopped payign attention to smd hence why i asked about meade but i have a modified team rf T40001bd for 18v. and it worked for 18v for the first oh 5 minutes.

 

This is the alternator I want to get. They recommend running another 4 gauge power wire. Then this is a rough sketch of what I am looking at.

 

ugh idk why that picture is so small

 

http://viewer.zoho.com/docs/view.do

 

i had the mla so it was adjustable.. but i was running 2 diamond d6 1200.1's then i ran stetsom 16kbd


as for the alt diagram.. just run the positives back the bats in the back and the batt in the front.. put fuses 18 inches from every terminal. and use 0ga to do the alt wires... the negitives and the posi.. look up the big 3 upgrade

 

Back to my original question though, what kind of stereo equipment are you planning to run? Might want to consider that first before you bother upgrading your power system.

 

the stereo system is a simple 600 watt system, two 10 inch subs, stock head unit. Would be design work though regardless of the power plans that I have?

 

lol, comon trey! are you bored or something?

 

got a question, subs with that big ass wing on the back... will it rattle?
also where did you guys hook up your LOC? I don't want to take out the stereo.