Comments on: The Big 3 Car Audio Wiring Upgrade

By: Quan

Quan — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 02:11:09 +0000

haha, it was the 10mm bolt, found them at autozone, thanks.

By: prochobo

prochobo — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:38:33 +0000

I believe it is 3/8″, but it might be 1/4″. The ‘99 is a different generation, but the concept is still the same. Find a non critical bolt that you can take out and put back in. Sorry I can’t give you any more detailed info.

By: Quan

Quan — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:19:12 +0000

to the creator of this guide, do you know the size of the bolt for the engine block where you put the 0 gauge ring? it’s the bolt in the picture, but i can’t seem to find one for my honda accord 99. thanks

By: Paul Crosby

Paul Crosby — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:49:53 +0000

The main issue is that all your amplifiers power is directly supplied by the altenator/battery. Isolated voltage from a converter ideally should be supplied to all your amps along with a large capacitance reserve(< 50farads). Boosting the voltage to 17V is good with each bass thump reducing the voltage to perhaps 14V with a complete supply voltage revovery between each beat. Music is trancient in nature and no speaker made could survive more than 100 watts on a continous basis before burning up. A higher voltage supplied to amplifiers reduces heating effects due to reduced input currents. A specialized buck/boost converter costs money along with high capacitance DL capacitors.

If you have contacts in “extreme audio” I might be able to prove this out.

By: prochobo

prochobo — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:32:26 +0000

Paul,

Holy **** on the commercial truck starter. 3500A at even 16v is enough to make any car audio competitor’s eyes pop out. I could see people with many amps (I’m talking 10+ 3000w amps) being interested in the setup because they only do “burps” for ~2-3 seconds at one frequency. Having that much power on tap with minimal voltage drop would be a god send, and for $1000, it’s a steal.

However, there are some draw backs that will drive a lot of people away. All the competition leagues I know of will only allow 12v batteries except for the “extreme” classes which allow anything. I think that setup above would be great for those people.

As for the smaller device, I really don’t think it would do you very good and you’d be better off with an extra battery. 35A at 18v would provide 630watts, which may be enough to run small amps, but not for larger ones. Plus, the draw on the device would suck all the power out quickly, leaving the capacitors to charge. See my post (link below) about why I do not recommend capacitors (unless they’re huge like the commercial truck starter):

http://www.isyougeekedup.com/car-audio-capacitors-are-a-waste-of-money/

By: Paul Crosby

Paul Crosby — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:59:03 +0000

I work for a company that has some expertise in dc/dc converters and charging systems for supercapacitors. One of the products that we manufacture is a system that is used to start commercial trucks. This system charges a bank of supercapacitors(1000 farads) to a voltage of 16-18volts. It can easily provide 3500A for several seconds with minimal voltage drop. The converter with modifications can supply 40A to keep the bank charged. Only #8 wire is needed from the battery and gnd. I wonder if there is a market for this device in High end Audio for those kooks out there that want to crank up the bass. Cost $1000

I am considering a much smaller device that has 50 farads with 35A average current output and a boosted voltage of 18V. Cost is around $160. Would the boosted voltage and the capacitor storage improve audio quality? Would the audio amps put out more power when required to do so? Would the amps run cooler improving reliablity?

By: car breakers gloucester

car breakers gloucester — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:56:04 +0000

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By: I love life » Blog Archive » The Big 3 Car Audio Wiring Upgrade

I love life » Blog Archive » The Big 3 Car Audio Wiring Upgrade — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:02:46 +0000

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By: first blogs info » Blog Archive » The Big 3 Car Audio Wiring Upgrade

first blogs info » Blog Archive » The Big 3 Car Audio Wiring Upgrade — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:55:07 +0000

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By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:59:53 +0000

I was running an MA HK4000D. Approximately 3600-4000 watts. The big 3 helped out a lot, but I also had to get an extra battery to feed that much power. For simple headlight dimming, the big 3 is almost a sure fix.