Battery question

[negolien]

Hey All,

I wanted to change out my battery but I can't afford to spend $200 on an Optima. I do run 2 going on three amps and was looking for advice. 2011 GLS gold package. Advice on alts and whatever else is in the big three would be acceptable also. I' am in Sacramento.

[03glgold]

where did you find such a new alero

[sleepyalero]

2011 alero damn must be nice.

[negolien]

LOL sorry typo :<)

[S8track16]

Any upgraded alt would cost over $200. You could go with dc, mechman, mike singer. For batteries, the more affordable ones would be north star or odyssey. Big 3 would help out though, get like 10ft. of 0 gauge OFC at around $4/ft.

Another question, how much RMS total is your system.

[negolien]

Figured an alt would cost a bit but I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for that. Could you explain "Big 3 would help out though, get like 10ft. of 0 gauge OFC at around $4/ft". a little please. I guess I can do a search on the big three though.

[a.graham52]

If you don't have a good battery it will be like good walls on a crappy foundation.

[S8track16]

Big 3: (1) wire from chassis to engine block, (2) Battery (-) to chassis, (3) Battery (+) to Alt (+).

[negolien]

Ah gotcha thanks. I saw a thread with pictures lol lotta lime green wires. Might look into batteries some more. Could you tell me what I' am looking for in a battery?


PS
HOLY CRAP LOL wasn't expecting the ALTs to be that much lol.

[S8track16]

I'm not exactly sure, but the amp hours (aH) are important, higher the better. When I chose my battery, I just looked at the recommended system wattage ratings for the xs power batteries.

My alt was from a cobalt, 250A for $125 plus $50 for the part from Mike Singer which allows it to be compatible with the alero. It was a great deal, the mechman alternator for my 2.2l alero costs around 450.

[negolien]

Could you expand on the Cobalt alt?

[S8track16]

Someone got a singer alternator made for their cobalt, sold it to me for $125. Will probably never find it for that price again.

[MMGT1]

If you want to save a couple bucks, get yourself 4G welding cable. There is nothing your going to toss in there that it cant handle, going with 0G may look pretty, but has been overkill since day one IMO bud. I got myself welding cable from Princess Auto cheap, like 80c a foot and it did amazingly well. I even used that to relocate my battery to the trunk in my car for the supercharger install and saw 0 drop in voltage from Alt to battery, almost 20' worth of cable! I'm a welder operator by trade and if I can burn rods with 4G that would melt your amps to a pile of goo, it will do just fine bud. I use 4G on an arc welder that has 300' of cable to weld basements in new homes and for roofing jobs and have no issue using it. The welder stays in the back of the truck as we used to go site to site.

[S8track16]

0 Gauge is definitely not overkill in may case. Knukonceptz rates their 0 AWG to handle 375A, the 4 AWG to handle 150A. My subwoofer amp has a 200A fuse and the speaker amp has a 100A fuse. I know it won't be drawing 300A of current but 4 AWG is definitely not enough.

If you go with welding cable, make sure it has a high strand count.

[negolien]

Nice thanks for the input. Still trying to figure out the amp mounts lol. Got my 4x6 amp and it's the size of my sub amp. Gonna look this weekend and see what space is available.

Just trying to stay a step ahead of things electrical wise. This will be the 3rd amp + the DVD head unit. Gonna make sure to have this install include headroom for the third amp when I get rid of the Monsoon amp. Will end up being around 695 rms and 1450 peak.

[zzyzzx]

I am not going to comment on the gauge of the welding cable, I would just like to comment about how much I like welding cable in general.

[negolien]

Lew Shwab has some batteries..think a deep cycle from them would work?

[Redog]

Don't bother with Optima, they aren't as good as they used to be.

[negolien]

I was wondering if a deep cycle 200+ dollar battery was even worth it honestly. I was thinking of just getting a $100 Battery with 650 cold and 810cranking with a 95 reserve. Maybe someone could tell me why it's worth it buying a diferant kind of battery. I will be doing the big three along with the install of the H.U and the 3rd amp.

[Alerojester]

my buddy is running stinger batteries in all of his vehicles with systems but those are his remote batteries, the main battery he's running is just a normal battery