• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

High Output Alternator 200 vs 220 amp?

A

AllAmericanSuperGlue

New CEG'er
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
20
Location
madison wisconsin
Ive got a small issue, well more of a symptom really. I installed my new system a few weeks ago and when the bass hits real hard or sometimes at all, the tach just drops down, all the way to zero if im sitting at a light, but if im cruising around 2k itll just bounce down and when the bass lets up it returns.
btw....the system consists of a power acoustik bamf 4000 watt mono block and Audiobahn AWT-12x in a home-custom built ported box. So im doing the big three this weekend to prepare for the high output alternator i will be purchasing soon, and i was wondering if anyone had any opinions (well i know yall do) on whether the 200 amp vs the 220 amp alternator is really worth the price difference...Found a 200 amp for 184, free shipping. The 220 amp is 260+18 for shipping... Just wanted to know what you guys think.
 
the question that needs to be asked is what is output at idle, it wont matter if it puts out 220 at 4,000 if it puts out 50 at 750...the big 3 is important as well!

Steve-O
 
Dont waste your time with spending $$ on a high output alternator. At least try it after the big 3 before buying. Upgrading the big 3 should solve your problem. Your only pushing 1700w (and thats by power acoustik's standards) and with a Class D. People on here have pushed alot more than that with the stock alternator.
 
Power Acoustik's ratings are no where near what they claim, your amp is probably running around 1200wrms at its lowest impedance level.
 
i didn't really consider that either, they're right you only need a big 3, im fine on my stock alternator, barely, but i pull 170 amps off just amps. the big 3 was by far my favorite electrical modification
 
cool...thanks for the input. im poor, so doing the cheap stuff first is the usual route, so im hoping that it will assist if not fix the issue. also, im poor, therefore i buy a power acoustik amp.


the alternators in question, 200 amp max says 100 at idle, max by 1200 rpm, 220 amp one says 120 @ idle, 220 by 1200 rpm.
 
So how did the big-3 upgrade do? did you do it this weekend?

You say you bought a power acoustic because your poor, but your willing to pay close to $300 on an alternator?? You could just buy a more efficient/higher quality amp for that much $$.
 
lets just say ive got some interesting priorities....?i tend to buy cheap amps , and the audiobahn was almost given to me by a friend. the amp i had before that was an american legacy red series 2400 watt amp that i had from high school, then sold to my friend and he banged it for 5 years then i got it back from him because he owed my money and it finally blew up over the winter....almost 10 years for 180 bucks and it was loud enough.


and no i have not done the big three yet...ended up ordering the stuff online cuz the local radio doctor wants 6 dollars a foot ford the wire and a frined threw down on a 50 ft roll from ebay for 60 bucks and now im just witing the battery terminals to get here do itll probably be THIS weekend...i hope...
 
CarpePoon said:
So how did the big-3 upgrade do? did you do it this weekend?

You say you bought a power acoustic because your poor, but your willing to pay close to $300 on an alternator?? You could just buy a more efficient/higher quality amp for that much $$.
Click to expand...

thats why i posted that on here because i really didnt want to be told that the 220 was actually worth it id rather have just spent the 180-ish and installed it myself.
 
Surprising that your electrical symptoms are so severe. Makes me wonder if your battery's not to blame.
With high power audio -- when the bass hits it takes the alternator a moment to respond to the voltage sag and produce more current. In some cases -- yours may qualify -- the alt simply CAN'T provide the required current for momentary peak current demand from the alternator so the battery IS the source. As long as that condition only exists sporadically a good battery shouldn't have much trouble.
However - if the battery were weak I would think you'd notice it when the engine is started in that it would be slow to turn over.
Wouldn't hurt to stop by one of the local parts dealerships and ask them for a batt test.

I thought my wife's truck had a dying battery just a couple weeks ago. A test revealed it was at about 90% which led me to look into things a little deeper. I found a bad connection at the battery terminal and spend $4 on a new one which cured the problem vs $85 on a decent battery.

FWIW - I'm running right around 1500w rms with the 110A stock alt and I have only minor headlight dimming at high volume. The only portion of the big 3 I've done is an 8 gauge from the alternator to the battery (+).
 
probably should have put that on here as well..im running the big bad optima redtop with like 800 cca, and it started all winter no problem, although the big system just replced the small system like a month ago.. battery tests good too, so....just waiting on my battery terminals to arrive now, then should be spending my saturday big 3'ing it up...ill let you all know whats up after its all said and done.
 
So in the process of doing the big three, i got stuck on the alternator wire, couldnt get the nut off the alternator......anyone remeber what size thats supposed to be? tried 10 mil, couldnt get it to turn in the space, HOWEVER....no more voltage drop as i gave up on the alternator wire and started doing the grounds cuz i figured they would go faster cuz the sun was going down. the main ground off the battery was super corroded and had like half the wire actually clamped in. so i cut that off, put the big grounds on and now we've achived minimal headlight dimming, no tach drop. so my problem was just ••••ty grounds....awesome... thanks to all youse that replied though
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top