The person who will be installing my second amp and my speakers says that I should have a (I can't remeber what term he used) shut-off switch of some sort so that I don't have both amps running constantly every time I drive. He says it can get too drainy. I'm thinking it might be nice to be able to turn the sub off when I'm not blasting the sound.

Anybody else do this? Is he right or full of it?

 

I ran 6 amps in a 66 nova with no issues. I have 2 MOMO amps in my SS with no issues. If you get any drainage -- like your head lights dimming than just add a cap in to take care of it. Many many cars run multiple amps with no issues.

 

What kind of amps are you running (size, etc)? Any good electrical system should be able to handle a reasonable about of juice for the amps. Get a cap and call it a day.

 

F-bodies have a good enough alternator that you can run lots of stereo equipment (110A I think?). I'm running 2 amps, and can make my headlights dim to the beat of the music - but, as mentioned, a capacitor (or 2nd battery) would solve that problem.

Either way, your ears will bleed long before your stereo kills your battery (while driving).

If you run subs - you should have a crossover and level & frequency controls - either in your deck, or in an external unit. Both will allow you to tone-down or completely turn off your subs.

 

The stock alternator is a 140A. I've got an upgraded 200A alternator with my system.

2 amps...

1 - 600Wrms 4ch, 80A max draw
1 - 1600Wrms, 2ch, 120A max draw.

With 2 1 Farad caps, I STILL get dimming, but I'm drawing upwards of 180 amps off of my charging system.

The second amp shouldn't hurt your charging system too badly, but I would suggest installing a upgraded alternator depending on the draw of the amplifiers. Also make sure that the amps are installed properly.

And that switch to turn off just the subwoofer or other amp; just put a switch inline with the "remote turn on" wire. I have mine wired this way for other reasons.

 

LT1's have the 140amp alt. LS1's only have a 105 amp alt.

A cap is no guarantee of fixing a dimming lights problem. If your stereo needs just a little more current than your car's charging system can provide a cap MAY help. If the stereo needs a lot more current than the charging system can provide a cap will do nothing to help. It will in fact make things worse since it is adding more load to the charging system.

A second battery will do nothing to fix dimming lights. Once the engine is running the battery no longer provides current to the system. The alt does that. Once the engine is running the battery becomes part of the load on the car's charging system. A second battery is only good for extended listening with the engine off.

 

Well, I don't have an LS1 or an LT1. I have a 1997 3.8. So I guess it's the same alternator as the LT1?

As for my amps, I'm going to be running this with my speakers.

My sub is using this one.

I don't think either amp is overly powerful, but I've proven time and time again I know very little. So, let it be? Get a cap? Listen to the guy and get that switch? Upgrade the alternator (yeah right)?

And if I do need a cap, I'm going to need to know what a cap is.

 

Actually adding a second battery would help out if done correctly. The second battery does not run the car it only runs the stereo. If hooked up properly it can be very good.

 

A "cap" is a capacitor. In this case it's used to store electrical energy that the audio system can "pull" from for brief bursts when the rest of the electrical system is maxing out.

You shouldn't have any trouble running both those amps with your stock electrical system.

You can use a switch... but if you're going to run subs, you're gonna want a crossover (either external, or built into your deck). You can control the volume, etc. of the subs with the crossover. A switch won't hurt anything, mind you, I just don't think it's necessary. I can turn off the signal going to my subwoofer amp on my deck, eliminating the bass. The amp is still on, but I don't really worry about it... I rarely turn the subs off

 

I've seen it done using an isolator circuit.

But LS1 RULZ is correct that in most installations, the 2nd battery extends non-running play time.

It all depends on how you hook everything up.

 

How do you tell if your headunit has a crossover? I took this off of crutfield:

Is that what you're talking about? You mention that I can turn the sub off with a crossover, but the amp will still be drawing power. It may seem obvious to some, but when the guy was explaining it to me it didn't seem very obvious, but does the amp draw less power when the sub is off? He made it sound like the amps would be pulling just as much power no matter what.

 

I got a 97 WS.6 and am running 2 amps with a caps along with a optima battery(yellow top), but since I got the pulleys it still shows that my battery level is low. As far as the alternator I was told it was 100-110A......hmmmm so is does the LT1 comes 140A stock or less?

 

It's a 140A stock on LT1s, but it's the under-drive pullies that is killing your voltmeter... at idle the stock alternator maybe puts out 40% of rating, (Most alternators are rated at 2K rpms). I'll be adding a Yellow-Top in the rear as a 2ndary battery this spring with I upgrade my stereo even more.

Going from 200A draw to 320A draw, going from 2KWrms to 4KWrms.

 

I have two amps and I don't even get light dimming. They aren't large enough (80.4 & 300.1). So...not an issue for me.

 

Amplifiers will pull a certain amount of current (idle current) even if there's no signal going to them (i.e. crossover subwoofer output "off"). This idle power consumption is pretty small, and not enough for most people to worry about. The amp will only use lots of power when you have the subs cranked up. 97FormulaWS-6 wired his amp(s) so that he could switch them off for other reasons, as he said - power consumption wasn't an issue for him.

Put up a link for this deck, and we'll tell ya whether or not it's got a built-in crossover. If it has 3 RCA (pre-amp) outputs, you can bet that it's got a front, rear, and sub-level pre-amp output... and that means that the deck has a built-in crossover. If it has a crossover in the deck, you'll be able to control the cut-off frequency, phase, and level of the subs, and even turn the subwoofer signal off if you want.

I'd recommend getting a deck with a built-in crossover with sub controls - there just aren't too many convenient places to mount an external x-over in F-bodies if you want to control it from the drivers seat.