Topic: Higher output alternator, larger (fused) wire??

[Enkei]

I can't remember... I think a 200 Amp... Just a side note...When I was selling JL Amps and customers would put them in a Honda Civic.. Then come back to me and say it was turning off. I would ask them..  What size Power wire and ground were you using.. They told me a 4ga.. I said OK I asked them did you up grade your Little Ground wire going from the frame to motor?  And they would just say WHAT??? 

Sure they would use a 4 Ga power and ground to the amp. but the factory ground is like hair.. It's got to be upgraded too...When they did...  No Problems...Then they went with bigger Batt's and a Better Alt... A JL Amp the Slash series works great IF the right amount of current is sent to it and back from it...

[MyBigToy]

It's like putting on a supercharger in some respects.  Keep the power gain to under 150 hp or so, and the stock drivetrain is likely still going to hold up fairly well.  Double the output like KY_Bob has done, and things are likely to not stand up, such as his rear end.

I see how you are! 

[Fowlhunter]

Hey Main One.  I changed from the 105A alternator to a 145A when I did my efan install, my efans are also picking up power from the red box and I do have the same voltage drop when the fan kicks on, I would say it drops about 2 volts but quickly recovers.  Prior to installing the HID's and the relay harness the old lights would dim when the fan kicked on, I can actually feel a little bit of a hesitation while driving when it kicks on.  I don't notice the HID's dim now but I think that's because of the relay harness. With the addition of the new head unit and the soon to be hooked up Alpine amp I thought it would be a good idea to upgrade all the cables, that's where this all started.  I will probably go with a Stinger cable when I do the upgrade, I will have to do a little research to see what the cable is rated for.

[Main One]

The fans have a very large startup current, but once up to speed, their current levels off at a more reasonable level.  I've considered putting an inductor in-line with the fan leads, but never gotten around to it.  An inductor is a device that basically disallows instantaneous current changes.  The more inductance, the more it fights change.  Somewhat like a flywheel fighting rotational speed changes.  If one were to put in an inductor in-line, you should also put a power diode in parallel with it so that when the relays kick off, the current has a path to bleed off.

Alternatively, one could come up with a circuit that ramps up the drive voltage to the fans, which should correspondingly ramp up the needed current.

One final fix that may be the easiest of them all, but I don't know how well it would work, would be to install one of the humongous capacitors that audio installers often install to provide peak power needs for hard-hitting woofers.  Somewhat like the inductor is to current, the capacitor is to voltage.  To keep from instantaneously seeing a voltage change, capacitors will soak up a charge by sucking in current, and help to hold a voltage level by pushing out current when power needs quickly go up.

Upgrading cables is never a bad idea - it's more a question of how much they are needed.  Given my experience with my fans, I don't think I would be in a rush to upgrade, but I've never noticed any hesitation when driving that I would associate with the fans kicking in.  You may have a cable with issues, or maybe just a connection that could use some corrosion removing TLC.  May want to do some inspection of the major power lead connections before getting out the checkbook.