Pleae Help.. Fried Alternator and alternator to + Battery Wire...no options but.....

[JettaGLI 10+ year member]

I have a 2004.5 VW GLI with 1300 watts of amplifier power running off a stock alternator. (120 AMPS)

yesterday, my alternator to battery+ wire completley melted the fuse link, and alternator wire at the battery end. As you know, the fuse link is a complete box on top of the battery. My alternator is also fried.

Questions 1- Did the alternator fry first (maybe voltage regulator) causing the alternator wire to melt at the battery, or would it be the alternator battery wire at the battery end melting causing the alternator to go bad?

Either way, my opinion based on professionals advice is that there was too much current draw for too long. I have my system at full volume most of the time....I drive a lot.

Luckily BVA Motorsports hooked me up with a new fuse box and a new alternator for a great price.

Now, all along I have known that I am pulling too many amps.

My set up : 1 JL Audio 1000/1 and 1 Jl Audio 300/2 for amps, 2 12 w6 v2s and a 3 way JL XR 6.5" , 4" and tweeter. Obviously the subs run off the 1000/1 and the 3 way mids/highs off the 300/2. I have 1/0 wire from the battery back to my amps going through a 3 farad cap, fused right off the battery with a 150 amp circuit breaker.

My lights dim and voltage drops to just below 12 when at idle. Sometimes it hits low 12s when driving ( of course both of the above occures when the subs are at work).

I have called all over the country, and , as of now a high current alternator is not an option. Price is not an issue so if I have missed somthing please chime in on where to get a high current alternator for my car.

SO..... as of now, I have the new alternator and fuse block. I also went and bought a brand new yellow top optima battery.

On top of all this, and this is where I need opinions, I went and bought a bunch of 1/0 gauge wire and ring terminals to do the big 3 upgrade. There is no way I can leave the stock alternator wiring that goes from the alt. to the + battery due to ring terminal fitment issues on the back of the alternator.

I also bought a 150 amp circuit breaker to fuse the +alt to +bat and I wil place that close to the battery. I will completly bypass the stcock alt to battery+ wire with bigger (1/0) wire. However, I am going to keep the stock battery to chasi ground as well as add the engine block to chasi 1/0 ground.

WIll I be OK taking off the stock alt to battery wire but leaving the stock -battery to chasi ground??? Keep in mind the alt to battery connection will be fused.

I am open to any suggestions on where to get a high current alt, or how to upgrade the electrical system in a better way. At this point, this is the best way I see possible. I have the battery, 3 farad cap, and wiring upgrade. The only thing left is the high current alt which I can't get.

Please help with opinions asap as this project will be under way at 8am pacific time.

Thanks Car Audio! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/2thumbs.gif.fdc3ba010dbb42b61704534b46d02fe4.gif for BVA MOTORSPORTS! If you don't know about them, ask me. I'm don't work for them but will vouch for them with my own money as they are that great, honest, and most importantly have all the parts for speacailty VW parts!

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[hellomota]

I am not sure but I think your cap might have done the trick. 3 farad is too big for you system anyway. General rule of thumb is 1 farad per 1k watts. IDK thou my assumptions might be wrong. And by the way was your wire bat+ to alt+ protected by a fuse?

 

[JettaGLI 10+ year member]

I am not sure but I think your cap might have done the trick. 3 farad is too big for you system anyway. General rule of thumb is 1 farad per 1k watts. IDK thou my assumptions might be wrong. And by the way was your wire bat+ to alt+ protected by a fuse?

So you think I should get rid of the cap with the upgrades I'm doing?

And....yes, VW has a fuse block on top of the battery. The +alt wire goes into the fuse block, through a 150 amp bus bar, and out to the battery.

Alt wire is 4 gauge and so is the wire on the other side of the bus bar that goes to the battery.

One thing I forgot to mention, the 4 gauge wire that comes off the bus bar from the +alt wire...... I had to extend it and didn't do the best job at making the wire connection joint.....= more resistance. Maybe a small problem to the eqaution, but worth mentioning.

 

[JettaGLI 10+ year member]

Would getting rid of the cap, yet adding another yellow top in the back help....or would it be just like adding a huge cap?

 

[JettaGLI 10+ year member]

anyone? Keep the cap of loose it? I'm on my way to the shop right now to do the job.

 

[pwnt by pat 10+ year member]

I posted on vortex.

The cap, if wired correctly, shouldn't have caused any problems. Ditch it anyway and add a yellow top in the back.

 

[badandyturbo 10+ year member]

Keep the cap or add a second yellow top in the back. They should do the trick. Your stock alt. could have been faulty.

 

[JettaGLI 10+ year member]

I posted on vortex.
The cap, if wired correctly, shouldn't have caused any problems. Ditch it anyway and add a yellow top in the back.

Thanks!

 

[JettaGLI 10+ year member]

Well, got it done. Man, all the 1/0 gauge is a pain to work with. I used all coper connectors and solder, nothing but rock solid conections. I did the fulll big 3 and added an optima yellow top. Voltage is more stable and lights barely dim. Well worth it, but under the hood is very ugly at the battery.

I always liked to have a nice distirbution at the battery, but no stereo shop in town had connectors that tood 2 1/0 gauge, and 2 4 gauge for positive, so I just used copper connectors on the battery end too. Oh well, it was worth it.

I also fused the alt to bat wire with a circuit breaker really close to the battery.

I feel kind of stupid.... I have installed a few stereo systems, not a pro by any means, but pretty knowledgeable. I had NO idea that the negative terminal on the battery was smaller than the positive terminal! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crying.gif.ec0ebefe590df0251476573bc49e46d8.gif DOn't ask how I learned, but lets just say it involved a couple of expensive battery connectors and in the end I used plain old nappa battery connectors that laying around in the shop I was doing this at. I had to hook one wire to hte top of the optima and one to the front. It works....

 

[JettaGLI 10+ year member]

As you can see from the above pic, I need to do a little dremel work to get the plastic piece to fit right, it's still ugly though.....really ruins the beauty of the yellow top, but I was in a pinch and didn't have time to hunt down and order all the perfect battery connectors. They are speacial order due to all the connections, at least on the positive side.

The real beauty is in my trunk anyways. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif