When is Dual Battery/Alternator necessary ? How much audio power ?

[Meccanoble]

Its good to see this car has option for both but at what point is it needed? Planning to upgrade audio and I'm sure after a certain wattage of power, a stronger alternator or second alternator is recommended or second battery. At what point would it be ideal to investing in this area?

I'm guessing when you start walking along the lines of 1500 watts combined? I remember going on a road trip and having multiple phones and tablets charging and my battery voltage was around 12 at some point. I can only imagine the hit the system takes with a system. Assuming 1000 watts would be safe and not require any change.

 

[badandyturbo]

It's more based upon amps than wattage. A decent deep cell battery on our trucks is usually sufficient. I run the larger 160amp alt and 3 batteries.

 

[David Smith]

I have a 500 watt amp and a JL W7 in my Tahoe. I put a yellow top battery in it and when that sub hits, you can see it on the voltage meter. I also have a capacitor under the back seat.

 

[Meccanoble]

Looking to do a 400 watt amp for sub and max 600 watts for all other speakers in car. I hear Class D amps hurt the car the least amount. Would this setup require anything additional battery/alternator wise especially if you dont plan to run anything while car is off?

 

[badandyturbo]

Looking to do a 400 watt amp for sub and max 600 watts for all other speakers in car. I hear Class D amps hurt the car the least amount. Would this setup require anything additional battery/alternator wise especially if you dont plan to run anything while car is off?

No. You should be fine with the stock electrical system.

 

[TLTFAB]

Im running 2-1000watt amp, I use 1 XS power battery but I upgraded the Alt to 250amp.

 

[Yukon_]

I used to have 3 Alpine PDX amps running a total of 2600 watts, I used 1/0 gauge to the 2nd battery which was a Shuriken SK-BT60. It ran the system fine. 1 ** alternator was used for both main battery and audio system battery. Now I use 2 amps running 1200 watts with same battery, perhaps over kill on power supply, but will have no issues with dimming lights, or under powering audio system. What's nice, is having that spare battery bay under hood, (front left side) of engine compartment for adding the second battery.

 

[Doubeleive]

im running a 5000w amp with 2 jl audio's, 300w alt, dual agm's pc1500dt, doesn't bat a eye on the volt meter or flicker the hid's, your stock system will be fine but the battery will eventually take a hit, if you see your volt meter dancing around a lot more than usual that is a indicator the battery may be beginning to fail or get weak. adding a second battery is easy in these trucks and certainly wouldn't hurt.