Alternator amperage on 97 civic vti

[Raji D]

hey guys how are we

i have just got a 4x50 W rms amp put in my 97 civic sedan vti to power front splits and rear 6x9s. I am considering weather this is too much of a drain on the alternator and the possibility of adding a sub and amp for bass, nothing extreme-just enought to complete sound perhaps a 150rms or something. I have tried searching heaps and im unable to find out the amperage on my alternator and if it will be able to take it. Does the alternator have enough residual?

another idea i had was maybe just run the rears off the deck and bridge two channels on teh amp to power a sub, but im not sure if this will be enough to power a sub.

also i have engine noise right now. The clicking type and im trying to get rid of it...no luck yet

the amp is an infiniti ra5004 4x50w rms runnings jl audio splits and 6x9s of a jvc gd735 deck

The help is greatly appreciated
cheers

[Int3gra-T]

4 x 50w will be fine, as long as your battery is good cond etc shouldnt be a porblem

[OMG.JAI xD]

on my eg i know that its 70 amp but give 40 amp excess.

lets say your one is the same.

150 rms is nothing for the alternator..
cranked to full blast and itll still cope.

just to help ya a little so you can put a massive system without changin alternator.

your car runs 12 DC.
watts is easily transfered to amperes.
12 is constant.
watts is the variable.
so in your case its ?? divided by 12.

lets say 150 watts rms (note that rms is not a continuous power drain. different frequency notes take different wattage of power. whereas lower notes tend to take more power- hence, subwoofers having big wattage ratings.)

anyway. say youre running 150 watts rms. =
150/12= 12.5amps (if im not mistaken, unless ive mixed it all up lol -.-")

so if all that is right. for my alternator which is 40 amps i can have:
40 x 12 = 480.

so i can run 480 watts rms max.

just use that formula when ever your stuck with figuring out how much drain you have in excess.

W=VxA
A=W/V
V=W/A (or A/W :/ i dont know, no point knowing this one with car audio lol)


oh and as for the alternator rating, if you cant see it on the alternator casing then go ask a good mechanic place to do an alternator carbon pile load test.
and put an inductive ammeter on the alternator + terminal and youll see how much you have excess amps =]


hope all that helps goodluck yo!

[Raji D]

thanks for that guys. See thing is i will probably only get a sub/amp around 150rms coz that will go nicely with my 4x50. Thing is my dad keeps telling me that the current draw will be too much and he thinks that there isnt much residual in the alternator. He insists honda wouldnt make an alternator with so much residual as it would b pointless

I cant see the writing on the alternator which is why i was hoping maybe some1 knew. i understand all the calculations, thanks for that. The only issue is determining what the residual is. This is more just a to be safe thing because there is next to no chance id ever be going to full volume as this would be too intense. If im not mistaken, the nominal current draw at normal to even reasonably loud volumes would only be 5-10Amps

But still i would like to determine the residual to be safe. I am unable to see the markings on it. Also asking a mechanic to do this, do you know if they would charge for it?

[OMG.JAI xD]

lol i think they do charge for it -.-"

try looking for the workshop manual at hondahookup.com or something like that.

i got mine from there.
although i warn you that its 4000pages or so LOL

anyway.
as i said for my eg, they made 40 amps residual and my alternator is 70 amp rating.
shudnt be alot different :/

but 150watts rms isnt alot...
a 3rd gen alternator produces 120 amps.


lol you sure youre dad isnt in the generator age? that only produces 10 amps or so, lol