Bling Bling hit's EO

Depending on the layout of the engine it may be possible to install another alternator (I'm figuring that like most yank tanks there is a few acres of space under the hood). This could be directly connected to two truck batteries in parallel

At the very least you will need to run an isolator to disconnect your staring battery from the other two, and have a serious talk to an auto electrician about uprating the alternator(s) (having it rewound with heavier wire to give more output current).

If it is only going to be used for "showing" or short periods, you may be able to just get away with running a three stage 240 volt charger every night prior to use. Be aware that even if you have the combined outputs "only" wound up to an average of1000 watts, with thermal inefficiencies you still be pulling in excess of 100 amps from your batteries. Remembering that the A/h of your batteries decreases with increased load you are likely to end up with ~1-1.5 hours out of your two truck batteries before they are stuffed, then replacing them every 10-20 times due to overload failure (warped plates).

The obvious question.......WHY??????????????????????

There is some logic to the question. The ear responds logarithmically to volume levels, as a rough guide a 10 fold increase in power (watts) only represents a doubling of volume. I would suggest on 1000 wat for the kicker, and 4 x 2-300 watt for the other channels. The only reason for having 5 x 1000 watt amps is the w*n*er value, audibly there is little to no difference.

Eric, you are having way too much fun!!

When the project is finished, can I have all the stuff? I will mount it all under the Honda, so the stuff all faces downwards to the road, so then when at Robe, I can turn it on, and the reverberations will pack the sand molecules tightly together and form glass roads for me to drive on!! Now, that would entail me playing BTO's Rolling Down The Highway....

Whoa!!!!

You are just having way too much fun!!

My daughter will think you are a god, 'cause I won't let her have my subby in her car!!

Cheers

Doof Doof Woof Woof Wolf!!

Eric,
Wrong site, grab your bling bling and go to homeboy.com, you got the big gold necklace as well?

Mate i spent a fair few years designing and installing sq & db systems as a sideline, so if you need any help with the layout of the components etc, then give me a bell, sounds like you have most of the gear sorted already though.

for the isolated twin batts at shows , install an anderson plug out of sight and run an external power supply, no need to carry around the transformer etc. when you dont need to, thats the easy part.. for on the move, a lot of the big systems use the 'gmc ambulance' alternator driven with a gilmer toothed belt. You can import these from the states - around 220 amp from memory. Depending on the final impedance loads on the amps , even with twin batts you might get lights dimming on heavy bass notes, so you can also install a few capacitors , about 3 or 4 farads would suffice. Also depending on your rev limit on the engine, you can also 'overdrive' the alternator to get a lower field exitation and current generation point.

ps my little show system used to compete in the 0-150 class but due to my amp design (soundstream reference 300 x2) and a little cunning in the wiring design i actually had 600 watts. still got some of that gear which will find its way into the jackaroo one day :-))

geez all that gear and the airbags, whats the new GVM - 4000 kg??

Eric
Re the amps - is that 1000 watts per unit the steady state draw? Or is it perhaps the peak power on transients?

Also is there any possibility it is it what the industry used to call 'music power'?

I'd be inclined to check this out first before going too deeply into providing the electrical power. Possibly an electrician could measure this for you.

I personally doubt that the quoted 5000 watt total is the steady state draw. I suspect its about 10-20% of that.

Re big alternators. Most are designed to run at 70% of their rated output. There are however 'hot-rated - also known as KKK) alternators intended to run continuosly at 100%. In a vehicle most alternators put out max output at about 2500 rpm. The largest practicable is about 140 amp (but that will only produce 1680 watts). If my guess is right re draw then all should be fine as the battery will cope with the peaks.

Outback Marine in Qld is a good source of such alternators.
Collyn Rivers

Eric have a look at these guys MEAN GREEN