Help with a '79 bug

[shaneb 10+ year member]

okay so i was helpin this kid out, he bought some pawn shop stuff...//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

he got some kenwood subs and an XPLODE amp (yea, i felt bad, i didn't tell him that xplod was code for piece of crap)

anyway, we hook it up, its probably not anymore than like 400 watts total, but it drains his battery, the bug has like a little battery, prob half the size of norm car stock battery...so i have another reg batt layin' around that i pulled out of my prelude, it's still good. reading 12.5, my question is, will his alternator keep up?

do you think it will support a semi-larger battery...

Click to read more...

 

[johndoe1234 10+ year member]

If its anything like my friends 66 bug it has generator instead of an alternator...

Idk if that will change much tho???

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

yea i have no idea, the thing is old as crap, and the battery in it was tiny, so i don't know what the deal is, it prob doesn't help that the person who helped set it up (we were redoing the interior also) tuned the subs while the car was off....so it drained that ho in like 10 min.

so is it worth hookin' my old batt in there for him?

 

[themommyvan 10+ year member]

It will be fine with the bigger battery.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

ok, correction, it's a 1971

 

[jaredspl 10+ year member]

it's probably a 6 volt electrical, you would need to do the 12 volt swap. I owned a 72 bug a while ago and I had to do all sorts of upgrades to the electrical. best thing to do is ask a VW mechanic.

 

[duece212 5,000+ posts]

it's probably a 6 volt electrical, you would need to do the 12 volt swap. I owned a 72 bug a while ago and I had to do all sorts of upgrades to the electrical. best thing to do is ask a VW mechanic.

I had a 73 and it was 12v...pretty sure it was just the reallly early 60's or even older that had the 6v

 

[Atimm693 10+ year member]

it's probably a 6 volt electrical, you would need to do the 12 volt swap. I owned a 72 bug a while ago and I had to do all sorts of upgrades to the electrical. best thing to do is ask a VW mechanic.

If it was a 6v system the amp wouldn't have ran at all.

Change the battery, and don't tune anymore with the car off. For the most part, 400 watts isn't much current at all.

 

[themommyvan 10+ year member]

I had a 72 also and it was 12volt.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

okay, i talked to him, the subs ran while the car is off, charged the batt back up, and when te car is running, the sub won't work, he doesn't know fi the amp is even turning on, so this is weird, were gonna hook the new batt up sunday and hes gonna try it out running just one sub, i looked up his amp, it's 200rms@4ohms and the sub is 50-300rms at 4 so i guess it will be running on the 200w, we'll see what happens, hopefully itwill work. like seriously, 200 watts? that shouldn't kill a system...

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

oaky guys, i need some help here, apparently my parents threw out my old 12v battery from my last prelude, so i can't just get him a cheap battery in hopes to fix his problem.

now in the instance where it is a 6v system, is it worth him buying a 12v battery? is that the next step in troubleshooting?

it's only going to be 200rms system.

the kid is very very un savvy on this stuff, he's kinda lookin' to me for the answers, so what is the next step i have him take?

buy a 12v battery?

if it is indeed a 6v system tell him he has to do a conversion before buying a battery will help?

get a new car? (wish this was an option)

or add a cap

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

Okay, I just found out that bugs from '68 on were 12v, at least thats what a google result said...

bump it up, anyone know what protocol would be to go from here?

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

help?

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

i can fart louder than 200 watts, seriously. There is no way that will be a problem, you should tell him that his system is crap though............. he might go and tell all his friends hes got the hottest thing in town?

I appreciate your input, and he just made a bad uneducated purchase, we all did in the beginning, at least i did, i'm just here to help him out, not make him spend more money than he needs to.

And if he tells his friends that, so be it. Not my problem.