Highest Amp Alternator For a 72 Duster

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YoungDuster

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Hey looking to put new speakers in need some help what do you guys think will be required to run this properly http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_36627_Infinity_69311i.aspx

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_10158_Kenwood_KFC-415C.aspx

http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_33876_Precision_Power_P9004.aspx

Also any input on how many channels I need for them total speakers 4 I may put in 2 subs that are 500 rms ea but most likely I wont or ill only put in 1, right now it has stock wiring I put in a new engine harness from herbs but im not sure if its any better for amps I will be doing the big 3 with true 0 gauge wire just because its cheap anyway you look at it to do. http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item...with-True-0-Gauge-100-Oxygen-Free-Copper.html
Thanks guys im really new to car sound systems so any help would be awesome !:sign3:
 
To say I don't understand electrical is an understatement iv read that but I don't really understand it in laymans terms would be the best for me to understand :/
 
Laymen's terms mopar has poor wiring and if you pull lots of current/accessories through that little black firewall junction you better be ready for a weenie/marshmallow roast. You have to upgrade the system with the links above. There is no way stock mopar wiring is going to handle what you want to do. You might pm member 67Dart273 as he is where I got the above links and he is very good at mopar wiring.

The wiring in a 60's mopar would by today's automotive standards have been recalled after 6 months for being defective. You have to update and upgrade it.
 
so once these mods are done how large of an alternator can I use without damage?
 
high amp draw should bypass the ammeter and bulkhead connector. 4 channel head unit with electronic crossover, point low frequency toward huge bass amp, bridge it and run both subs in series, careful not to exceed ohm rating of amp (2 8 ohm speakers in series makes a 4 ohm) Bass is not directional and is usually not seperated spatially channel wise.
run the 4 channels into a 4ch amp to maintain fader control. a member here does this for a living, he will probably chime in and tell me how wrong I am :)

alt output is what your system will draw. watts divided by voltage = amps. so a true 1000w amp will draw up to 83A (class dependent) and you'll need a 4G wire to run it off the battery.
 
I run a 500 watt amp and a 250 watt amp using the 125 Amp alternator but the amps are powered directly using a very heavy wire (think it's 2.0 fine wire welding cable). The radio turns the amps "on" using very low amperage and the battery (alternator) runs the amps directly (through a big fuse). I have two 250 watt 10" speakers and 4 50 watt 4" speakers in the car.

treblig
 

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Amazing Car Treblig, I like how its wired up the sub I have is originally for a club so its already self contained in a box I was just going to mount it into the trunk so how did you skip all the wiring to have the amp be powered just from the alternator? or did you?
 
Thanks YoungDuster!! I built a heavy metal frame that mounts to the rear seat mount bolts then I built a 1/2" plywood board to mount to the frame. I mounted the speakers and the amps to the board then installed the board into the car with the frame. I ran a heavy cable straight from the battery to the amp fuse (the one in the pic). This takes all the load off of the cars weak electrical system. The majority of power goes from the battery to the amp/speakers. All newer radios come with a wire that automatically turns on the amp(s). It's very low amperage (very low) so it can't hurt the cars wiring. The alternator charges the battery and the battery supplies power directly to the amp/speakers. The only current that goes through the car's electrical system is the very small wire (28 gauge) that turns the amps "on".
I'll post some pics later showing the battery hook up.

Treblig
 
high amp draw should bypass the ammeter and bulkhead connector. 4 channel head unit with electronic crossover, point low frequency toward huge bass amp, bridge it and run both subs in series, careful not to exceed ohm rating of amp (2 8 ohm speakers in series makes a 4 ohm) Bass is not directional and is usually not seperated spatially channel wise.
run the 4 channels into a 4ch amp to maintain fader control. a member here does this for a living, he will probably chime in and tell me how wrong I am :)

alt output is what your system will draw. watts divided by voltage = amps. so a true 1000w amp will draw up to 83A (class dependent) and you'll need a 4G wire to run it off the battery.

I agree with pishta on this but want to add to this thread as well,

I would reccommend going and getting a larger 8 or 6 gage wire for your alternator output, use a good quality ring terminal end. Crimp, solder, and shrink tube it, run it right to the positive side of the battery. Disconnect and remove the original alternator wire that goes thru the bulkhead. Add a fusible link. I believe fuse links should be sized 2 wire gages smaller than the circuit they are designed to protect. If i am incorrect i'd like someone here to chime in. I dont think anybody here wants a carbeque.

Ditch the amp gage. For what you want to do with a high powered stereo this will become a fire hazard. Disconnect both amp gage leads from the back of the gage , and attach the 2 ,gage wires together. I soldered and shrink tubed mine and wrapped it back into the harness, but a lot of folks bolt em together, and use electrical tape as to not cut into the harness.

Also find the battery hot lead going into the bulkhead usually this one taps off the starter relay on the fenderwell. Un pin this at,the bulkhead on both sides of the bulkhead, plug the plastic connector back into the bulkhead, and run a heavy gage wire straight thru and connect it to the wires you just removed from either connector. Should be large 10 gage red wire. This should eliminate another issue with melting bulkhead connectors since this is now your main feed to the dash from the battery.

Also As pishta stated, run a seperate dedicated 4 gage fused lead to your amp off the battery. I would recommend looking online at some of the stuff at Delcity.com . I believe they have power strips, and all kinds of stuff in regards to automotive, marine, and RV wiring.

Nippondenso has a compact 120Amp unit that
many people use in street rod applications. Its light weight, i believe theres adaptors and pulleys to mount this alt to a mopar small block too. This may be an option for you as well.

Crimp, solder and shrink wrap EVERYTHING . This is always important especially in engine compartments , and at battery terminal attach points. For my wiring i have an old weller with the headlights on it. Got mine at a flea market for .50 cents. Needed a new cord, lights, a good cleaning, and a tip. I have a roll of single strand heavy gage copper wire, so i just make my own tips as needed. This tool can easily heat up enough to flow solder into a 4 gage wire.

I also purchased a large lot of GM packard 56 male and female terminals. i purchased most of em in 14/16 gage, and only needed a few in 10/12 gage. Redo all the bulkhead wire connections, add new foam gaskets , and dialectric grease , and you will never have issues with your bulkhead again. Remember to crimp, solder , shrink wrap . Unpin and redo one pin at a time , this way you dont mix up the wires.

I hope this helps.
Matt
 
I'm going to be upping my alternator to a squareback 100 amp style this spring to handle my new stereo and some extra stuff (electric fans, lights, MSD box, ect). I'm going to be doing my wiring per the below link. I figure if it was good enough for factor MaMopar cop/taxi cars it should work now, no sense in reinventing the wheel.

http://www.allpar.com/fix/alternator.html

As far as the stereo goes I'm going with 2 12 Dayton Audio subs, and Kicker 6x9 (rear deck), 4x6 or 4" (kick panels), and 3.5 (dash). Sub amp is a Rockford Fostgate T1500-1 and the other speakers will be powered by a Rockford T600-4. Something that will "bandaid a weaker system and help with the big one time bass hits is a capacitor. I'm going to run a 40 farad cap which is overkill (rule of thumb is 1 farad per 1000 RMS watts) but I rather have some extra headroom given how small of an alternator I'm going to be running.
 
Here are the pics I promised on the battery hook up. The heavy black cable with the copper lug on it is the power cable to the amp fuse. I soldered the lug onto the cable and the cable is only hot when the amps are turned on by the radio. I have had this set up for almost a year now and it's worked flawlessly. Although my daughter does get upset when I drive up to her high school setting off car alarms playing Pink Floyd or Hendrix!!!

The other relays you see are for the electric fans and head lights (another bypass of the weak Mopar electrical system).

Treblig
 

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A second power take off and relays as shown above are the best way. You don't need to alter the fusible link, bulkhead connections, or bypass the amp gauge to properly add accessories.
The parts used back when were sufficient and served their purpose ( keep high voltage and fire potential outside the cabin ). Modern vehicles with alternators hot enough to weld with are wired the same way. Only small gauge wires and light duty switches to signal the relays are found inside those cabins .
The modern stereo head units we put inside the cabin will run on the wiring our OEM radios used. You need only to look at the wire and fuses supplied with your aftermarket head unit to verify this.
 
I'm going to be upping my alternator to a squareback 100 amp style this spring to handle my new stereo and some extra stuff (electric fans, lights, MSD box, ect). I'm going to be doing my wiring per the below link. I figure if it was good enough for factor MaMopar cop/taxi cars it should work now, no sense in reinventing the wheel.

http://www.allpar.com/fix/alternator.html

As far as the stereo goes I'm going with 2 12 Dayton Audio subs, and Kicker 6x9 (rear deck), 4x6 or 4" (kick panels), and 3.5 (dash). Sub amp is a Rockford Fostgate T1500-1 and the other speakers will be powered by a Rockford T600-4. Something that will "bandaid a weaker system and help with the big one time bass hits is a capacitor. I'm going to run a 40 farad cap which is overkill (rule of thumb is 1 farad per 1000 RMS watts) but I rather have some extra headroom given how small of an alternator I'm going to be running.

Actually a great idea, keeps the amp gage, but isolates it from the rest of the wiring. Since my dash is sitting on saw horses and I am modifying it, i may go this route. My alternate route was to have a gage shop convert my amp gage to volts, and wiring it up as such, but leave it looking like an amp gage.

If you are running headlamp relays, then straight up halogen sealed beams are actually pretty freakin bright as they are now getting full rated voltage.

I plan on running an electric engine fan, and upgrading to halogen headlights, but going to LED lighting everywhere else. I dont plan on a stereo, my car was a radio delete. I want to keep it this way. I am thinking a 60 amp would be plenty for my application.

hope this helps
Matt
 
Thanks YoungDuster!! I built a heavy metal frame that mounts to the rear seat mount bolts then I built a 1/2" plywood board to mount to the frame. I mounted the speakers and the amps to the board then installed the board into the car with the frame. I ran a heavy cable straight from the battery to the amp fuse (the one in the pic). This takes all the load off of the cars weak electrical system. The majority of power goes from the battery to the amp/speakers. All newer radios come with a wire that automatically turns on the amp(s). It's very low amperage (very low) so it can't hurt the cars wiring. The alternator charges the battery and the battery supplies power directly to the amp/speakers. The only current that goes through the car's electrical system is the very small wire (28 gauge) that turns the amps "on".
I'll post some pics later showing the battery hook up.

Treblig
Thanks for sharing your experience. I plan to add a sub and a few extra speakers with amps to match (should be less draw than yours). Did you have to upgrade the alternator or the alternator wire that's charging the battery?

I planned to run my power through the firewall into a separate new fuse box for all my new electrical additions, my concern was if the stock alternator and maybe 14 gauge wire, could handle it.

But prior to reading this thread I had not thought of if a new alternator (if needed) would cause an issue with volt gauge.

Thanks for sharing your experience and nice work on the car!
 
A second power take off and relays as shown above are the best way. You don't need to alter the fusible link, bulkhead connections, or bypass the amp gauge to properly add accessories.
The parts used back when were sufficient and served their purpose ( keep high voltage and fire potential outside the cabin ). Modern vehicles with alternators hot enough to weld with are wired the same way. Only small gauge wires and light duty switches to signal the relays are found inside those cabins .
The modern stereo head units we put inside the cabin will run on the wiring our OEM radios used. You need only to look at the wire and fuses supplied with your aftermarket head unit to verify this.
Sir I appreciate the input,

My goal is to find the best of both worlds, or as close as is possible. I would like to leave the factory wiring, firewall connections etc and my electrical gauge stock.

And still add a few modern items like the stereo with sub and amps to power it. My plan was to run 4 gauge wire from the factory harness (I think the largest cable off the battery runs to the starter, so I planned to connect there, add a fuse or breaker and then run to the amps, 8 gauge each. I plan to use a relay tied to the original radio Pot to turn power on and off to the sub amp.

But I appreciate your point of leaving high load items under the hood, unfortunately power amps must stay dry so will need to be under the dash or in the trunk. Aside from this need what other suggestions would you have to achieve this?

Hopefully I don't need a significant alternator upgrade, but if I do maybe that will change what can happen as well and may require disconnecting the gauge etc.

Anyone's thoughts and experiences welcome.

Thanks
 
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