voltage question

by **STEEEZ** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:12 pm

I'm fairly new at modifying my car so I just had a question about somethign I recently noticed.

From reading many posts on here about audio installations and such I could swear I read that the stock battery in a gen 1 puts out 12-12.5 volts. Now I just recently installed my avic n2 along with 2 300 watt amps. Everytime I look at the vehicle dynamics( specifically the voltage guage) it says I'm running 13.7-14 volts. KNowing this, should I worry about my battery or alt dying prematurly? Should I look into a new battery or high-output alternator? If so which one?

by **theprodigy79** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:23 pm

Your battery should not really fall below 12 Volts, and should be able to maintain around 12.6 Volts with no charge (the vehicle turned off). When the car is running, however, your voltage is able to fluctuate up to around 14.5 Volts safely, holding an average of around 14 volts. This is why most audio equipment is rated at 14 Volts...

by **STEEEZ** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:26 pm

cool thanks alot

by **theprodigy79** » Tue Apr 18, 2006 12:33 pm

No problem

by **SolaraGuy22** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 5:57 pm

When you say it goes from 13.7-14 is that with your system on and turned up? I just took these for ya, the pics are with my system off but the video shows how much it fluxuates all the way down to 13.32 at one point. That's playing with the bass turned all the way down.

Do you have any dimming problems?

Here is what mine was before starting the engine:

After starting it:

It's the damn subs that kill it, even with an Optima and a Highlander alternator:
http://www.fileden.com/public/44482baf597dd839050808.avi

by **theprodigy79** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 6:35 pm

My voltage sometimes drops below 12 volts with music up to 28 (of 35), bass at 0 (of 15)... I need a higher output alternator pretty badly (a Highlander alternator wouldn't do jack for me)...

by **STEEEZ** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 9:19 am

[quote="SolaraGuy22"]When you say it goes from 13.7-14 is that with your system on and turned up? I just took these for ya, the pics are with my system off but the video shows how much it fluxuates all the way down to 13.32 at one point. That's playing with the bass turned all the way down.

Do you have any dimming problems?

quote]
yeah its 13.7 - 14 while my system is on and turned up. It never really drops too low, the lowest is when I don't have the car on and thats around 12.8 as well. I don't have too much of a dimming problem, only my clock dims, and its really only when the subs hit.

by **theprodigy79** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:01 am

Perfectly normal, if not pretty good actually.. If your car's holding a charge at 12.8 Volts when off, and 13.7-14 when your system's turned up you're doing very well for yourself.

by **STEEEZ** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:29 am

its not that ridiculous of a system, I am of the opinion that you don't need 1000 watts to make your stereo sound good, just a lot of time spent into tuning.....

by **theprodigy79** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:48 am

STEEEZ wrote:its not that ridiculous of a system, I am of the opinion that you don't need 1000 watts to make your stereo sound good, just a lot of time spent into tuning.....

I whole heartedly agree with that statement! It takes quality output to sound good, not high output.

I currently push nearly 1800 watts (RMS not Max), and trust me... It's a pain in the ass to keep everything else up with it. My Z6's require at least 75 watts a piece to be happy (they can take 400 watts each RMS), so I drive them with around 140 watts a pop for a decent middle ground... I drive my subs with nearly 600 watts a piece (x2).

by **STEEEZ** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 10:54 am

I want to setup a ps2 in my car, would that heavily affect how much power I am using right now?

by **theprodigy79** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:05 am

No. Get a cheap 75W inverter and you'll be all set (the small PS2 only draws 5.3Amps / 45Watts).

by **STEEEZ** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 11:16 am

nice, do you know if theres any room in the dash for me to put the inverter? I'd like to be able to hide the ps2 in the glovebox, so if I can hide the inverter too that'd be cool

just realized you have a gen 2, so you wouldnt really know about space behind my dash.......

by **theprodigy79** » Fri Apr 21, 2006 12:55 pm

I've seen the amouunt of space available and it's comparable. You can get a very small inverter (especially since you won't have much draw), so it won't take much space at all. Depending on what type you get, you can do anything from mounting it in your glove box, in your center console, or possibly behind your glove box. You may even be able to rig something beside your fuse block.

I'd get some opinions of people with Gen 1s on this one to confirm, but it shouldn't be hard at all to find a good spot (just be a bit creative) :-)

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