Dual Battery Setup?

**transamprincess98** · 10-28-2006, 06:13 AM

I did a search and can't find anything. I am having a problem with my aftermarket system eating up alternators and batteries. Anyone install a second battery just to power up their system? Where did you install? Any pics? Do they make an inverter of some sort for cars? I know these maybe be dumb questions, but I am not very good with electronics of any sort. I normally just bring my car to the audio place, but they seem to not have a clue what I am talking about now.

My current set up I have 2 amps in my well, the Q logic box over top of them so my hatch space is limited. Any other ideas would be appreciated also.

**MikeSomething** · 10-28-2006, 01:33 PM

If you look on eBay, they make a battery relocation box/kit so you can mount a battery in the trunk area, concealed in a box. You can also look at "Mini Batteries" in most audio stores which serve the same purpose as "Capacitors".

**Jetblak** · 10-29-2006, 05:45 PM

Originally Posted by transamprincess98

I did a search and can't find anything. I am having a problem with my aftermarket system eating up alternators and batteries. Anyone install a second battery just to power up their system? Where did you install? Any pics? Do they make an inverter of some sort for cars? I know these maybe be dumb questions, but I am not very good with electronics of any sort. I normally just bring my car to the audio place, but they seem to not have a clue what I am talking about now.

My current set up I have 2 amps in my well, the Q logic box over top of them so my hatch space is limited. Any other ideas would be appreciated also.

Also a battery isolator would be great so u can sit some where and keep system battery on but car battery is still separated so u dont kill it showing off your sounds... Plus the second battery as well

**LS2Tuner** · 10-29-2006, 08:30 PM

If you have ever wired in a "cap" alot of people use a batt. in the exact same way........You can wire it in the trunk or hatch in the same way as a cap.....If you have "real" power wire running to the amp the alt. will feed the batt. just fine.

**transamprincess98** · 10-30-2006, 06:48 AM

Thanks

**LS2Tuner** · 10-30-2006, 11:25 AM

No problem they are alot safer than a cap also........
I usually use a Optima for a shit box Honda.......

They are small size wise and are sealed so even if it tipps over there is no batt. acid to spill.

**Phlash_riot** · 10-31-2006, 09:00 AM

You alternator is dying because it is trying to keep up with the Amperage load of the Amplifier. When it cannot produce enough amp the voltage drops and that is was it causing the problems. The circuits are gettign so overloaded they can't keep up and you loose voltage. Adding in a battery would help a bit. But i would seriously not recommend it unless you already have a Capasitor in the wiring.

My suggestion would be to get a 1Farad Capacitor and wire it near the amplifier. What it does it when the BASE HITs it supplys a tremendous amount of amperage(capacitors inherintly want to keep a consant. to keep that constant the have a huge discharge curve) to the amp then chrage up for the next one... think of them like a buffer

If you have a amp that puts out 1 unit(unit is for ease of understanding) per secound and the amp draws 2 units every two secounds you have more draw every 2 secounds than what the alternator can put out. so every two secounds you have a surge which requirements cannot be met.
Then you throw in a capacitor wich takes that 1 unit a secound form the alternatopr and stores it up. When the amp draws its 2 units the capacitor says ok and discharges then starts the charge "cycle again.

Obviously there is more power involved and this all happens at the speed of light instead of secounds but you get the picture... It like the spark plug coild packs the charge up a huge amount, in this case voltage charge) and this quicky discharge when needed. Obviously the battery and alternator in your car cannot handle this requirement so hence the coil packs.

Hope this help you out a bit and gives you a somewhat of an idea of what it does.

If you have any questions about this let me know. I have done a few stereo installs in my time and i am sure that there alot of other here that have as well.

G/L

**Phlash_riot** · 10-31-2006, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by LS2Tuner

No problem they are alot safer than a cap also........
I usually use a Optima for a shit box Honda.......

They are small size wise and are sealed so even if it tipps over there is no batt. acid to spill.

they are only unsafe if you have the leads exposed to something say like your hand...OUCH if you make that connection for it

Optima batteries are great battery but not just because of the spill resistance. lots of batteries have the ability to be on thier sides and what not but the optima has, for its size, a better Amp/Hr rating.

**LS2Tuner** · 11-01-2006, 01:57 PM

Originally Posted by Phlash_riot

they are only unsafe if you have the leads exposed to something say like your hand...OUCH if you make that connection for it

Optima batteries are great battery but not just because of the spill resistance. lots of batteries have the ability to be on thier sides and what not but the optima has, for its size, a better Amp/Hr rating.

correct have you seen any cap get grounded out and explode...I have and it is VERY powerful.It made a 2" nipple in the quater panel.

Most caps today are jap junk anyways.....A quick way to tell is by the weight of them. When you go to purchase one pick up a couple of different brands of the same size and see the drastic difference.