Upping the power of an alternator? Chav related question inside

Phate

Phate

Phate

Caporegime
Joined
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Lisbon, Portugal
Hi guys,

My brother drives a RAPID RUDE RIDES Focus 1.6 which has a bangin' sound system blud, don't forget the 100bhp's y0!

He claims his alternator isn't outputting enough power to power his amps/penis compensating subwoofers and has heard you can up the power output of your alternator? Or he called it 'having it re-wound'


Anyone know any information to what he's talking about?

Or can I turn round and say he's talking dogs danglys? :p

Cheers guys,
Jake
 
Punch him in the face? But seriously, you can buy "uprated" alternators with a bigger output.. Better off if he has got the "slamming tunzzzz"
 
Capacitors just delay the battery drain.

OP, yes you can have it rewound, however for a 1.6 i think of the top me head has the a smaller alt and you can replace it with one from the 2.0l or a derv one. If you/your brother is handy with a spanner you might be able to get one from the scrappy and recon it.

Depending on the power draw of his amps its highly possible he is causing too much drain and running into the battery reserve. Personally i would check if he has already uprated his battery, if he is a proper chav then he will be blaz'n bang'n tunz in da dun halfords so he probs wants to get a 2nd gel battery in the boot or at least a large capcity high discharge disk for under the hood. If he doesnt do this and just listens to it loud while driving then the alternator is defiantly the best shout.

As for re-windning them you can rewind them and you can increase the output voltage along with increasing the amount of current it can produce at lower rpms. Also on a safety note check the thickness of the ground n -ve cables if they are less than 8mm core and he's drawing enough to dip the headlights (assumed reason for replacing the alt) then get the cables upgraded you dont want that stuff to melt.
 
When you get into the higher power outputs its very plausible to need to upgrade the battery and alternator.

Don't all the y0S though! Car audio is an awesome hobby, that requires technical thinking, planning and skill (as long as it's not a barry boy job).

Tell him he'll get great volume gains just by soundproofing his car, with the added benefit of less wrattles and pedestrians with bass enduced incontinence :)

kerrgreg said:
Also on a safety note check the thickness of the ground n -ve cables if they are less than 8mm core and he's drawing enough to dip the headlights (assumed reason for replacing the alt) then get the cables upgraded you dont want that stuff to melt.
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Quoted for truth.

Ant :cool:
 
WantoN said:
Don't all the y0S though! Car audio is an awesome hobby, that requires technical thinking, planning and skill (as long as it's not a barry boy job).
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+1. I get annoyed at all the people who think I'm a scall because I have a decent audio system in my car - why is it ok to want to have a decent system in your house, but then when you put one in your car it's all 'y0 wikkid tunez blud'? :confused:

Hell I get enough people thinking I'm a scall already because the exhaust on my 200 is louder than average :p.
 
SB118 said:
Nah, they're just for increasing the drain on your charging system, not of any actual use.
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They're of plenty of use on subwoofers, charges up and when more power is needed temporarily, for a big bass hit the capacitor discharges, then charges up again and repeat.
Stops your headlights dimming with large amplifiers and gives crispier bass, in theory a good idea for big amps.

You're better off doing "the big three" first though. Alternator to battery positive, battery negative to chassis and engine ground to chassis. With some nice 0AWG cabling, sorted my golf out a treat with my chavtastic subwooferz yo!
 
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What I dont get is the amount of people with a huge system in their car, but at home they just have a cruddy aiwa mini system. I've got a reasonable setup in my car, but the setup at home is much, much better - that's the better acoustic environment and it's where I spend most of my time
 
iaind said:
What I dont get is the amount of people with a huge system in their car, but at home they just have a cruddy aiwa mini system. I've got a reasonable setup in my car, but the setup at home is much, much better - that's the better acoustic environment and it's where I spend most of my time
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Agreed. I like decent quality music wherever I go so I struck a balance in the car, with a head unit capable of excellent sound quality, and it does make the standard Honda speakers shine, and a sub for some extra low end oomph. :)
 
Amoeba said:
+1. I get annoyed at all the people who think I'm a scall because I have a decent audio system in my car - why is it ok to want to have a decent system in your house, but then when you put one in your car it's all 'y0 wikkid tunez blud'? :confused:
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Probably because most car audio systems just deliver volume rather than quality. There's also the fact that most cars have very poor accoustics.
 
I've got a decent HU (alpine x001), some half decent JBL components in the front and a sub in the boot. That combined probably cost what my floorstanders in my lounge set me back!
 
Amoeba said:
+1. I get annoyed at all the people who think I'm a scall because I have a decent audio system in my car - why is it ok to want to have a decent system in your house, but then when you put one in your car it's all 'y0 wikkid tunez blud'? :confused:
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Probably because most people don't enjoy having to share your taste in music?
 
Amoeba said:
+1. I get annoyed at all the people who think I'm a scall because I have a decent audio system in my car - why is it ok to want to have a decent system in your house, but then when you put one in your car it's all 'y0 wikkid tunez blud'? :confused:.
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I have no problems with people spending the money and getting kick arse audio out of their cars, your looking at someone who did it years ago :)

But he has it to the point where when he turns his car radio up my bedroom starts shaking and my room is at the back of the house and is as far away from the driveway as possible, its unnecessarily loud :)
 
Dogbreath said:
Probably because most people don't enjoy having to share your taste in music?
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What has got to do with music taste, we are talking about equipment in car vs home.

Just let him be and allow him to screw things up on his own. Then maybe he'll learn.
 
Dogbreath said:
Probably because most people don't enjoy having to share your taste in music?
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So because I've got a good sound system in my car, and like it loud, that automatically means I haven't sound proofed it well and enjoy rolling through town with the volume cranked?

Not everyone fits the stereotype chappie.

And no, capacitors are not useful. They are silly.

Ant :cool:
 
WantoN said:
So because I've got a good sound system in my car, and like it loud, that automatically means I haven't sound proofed it well and enjoy rolling through town with the volume cranked?

Not everyone fits the stereotype chappie.
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You asked why the stereotype exists - it's because most people with 'banging sound systems' don't soundproof the car enough to stop everyone else hearing the music loudly. If someone had a house audio system which all the neighbours could hear loudly then they would rightly be called a 'chav' or whatever too.

Well done for not fitting the stereotype though, you are certainly the exception rather than the rule. Do you have double glazing on the car? :D
 
Cheers guys and custard dude, I'll inform him. No doubt he'll come out with a reason why he doesn't need another battery as obviously I'll be wrong but hey, what can you do :p

Cheers :)
 
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