Battery upgrade question

[capitolj80]

So, I'm gonna go ahead and upgrade my battery situation. All told, I'm pulling between 1400 and 1500 watts when I'm crankin it (which is often). I'm fortunate to have a very good alternator (130a) in my sonata, but I know I still need a better battery. Would I be better off replacing the battery under the hood with a hefty deep cycle (and how bid would I need?) or by adding a smaller deep cycle to the truck (and how big)? Thnx guys

[capitolj80]

perhaps something like the Kinetic KHC1400 under the hood or the KHC600 in the trunk. Does the trunk battery supplement the power from the hood batt/alt or does it need to produce enough power for the whole system?

[ttocs]

adding a 2nd battery should only really be considered after upgrading the alt in my opinion. I am going to be running a dual battery setup and considering the stinger 1500 and 900 I think it was but I have a 200A alt and will be over 2k watts myself. At this point put the biggest batt you can fit in it and see how it works out. If its not enough then upgrade the alt.

[Stryker]

By adding a second battery in the trunk you would be putting more load on the Alt. Trying a large deep cycle is a good start, but you should really consider upgrading your Alt. Not too sure what batts cost down south, but a big quality alt is around $400-500... worth it IMO.

before any of that you should be running 0Ga wire. Among other things the big 3 is a must if not done already.

[davewaibel]

dont bother with just a 1400 under the hood, if it physically fits, go for at least an 1800- or 2000- as far as running a 600 in the back, hardly worth the effort, at least an 800, or the 1400, look on craigslist, you can find them pretty cheap from time to time- upgrade the alternator is always preferable, but your alternator can keep up with several batteries, especially if you top them off with a charger from time to time- ie once a month- yeah its hard on the alternator, but for 2 1/2 years, my stock alternator did the job on 6 kinetiks, with out any issues at all- the only reason I upgraded the alternator was I was doing a major repair, and the head was off, and the alternator was right there, so I upgraded it-
If you can find a good cap for a decent deal, I am a believer in them, many on the phorum are not, I have several kinetiks, and 2 alumapro 15farad caps, and 4 power cores- my voltage is dead stable- Have a buddy with a single 200.4 xenon, and a 100.4 xenon, with an additional battery in his escalade, and he has all kind of voltage issues- I have 10x the power that he is running, and have no issues, so I am guessing the caps have something to do with it-

[ttocs]

what is/was your charging voltage at idle dave?

[davewaibel]

13.8 at idle now- 13.1 with old alternator
4- 1200.1 xenon
2 jl 1000/1
2 jl 450/4
1 jl 300/4
2 jl 300/2
1 jl 500/1

[ttocs]

I have heard that standard batteries(not the deep cycle) can sustain damage if they are forced to charge less then 14v often. I have heard of people hooking mutliple batteries to stock alts but they always admit that it was a temporary thing either till the stock alt died or they got around to it.

As for the cap debate I would dare to say that there are probably more people on the other side of the fence from you. I have heard the theory of increasing SQ by decreasing the ripple voltage but I would pay to hear the system that it made an improvement in sq on.... With a good enough alt that can supply the power needed there should be no need for additional caps and the only reason I am adding a second battery is so that I will be able to power the lighting and play the stereo softly or for short bursts for shows and such with the key off and not have to worry about starting it after.

[capitolj80]

great info guys! thnx

[capitolj80]

anybody have experience with the Stinger SPP925 or SPP1200?

[ttocs]

not experience but as I said I am just waiting for a check to come to get my 1500 and 925.

[davewaibel]

there is a really interesting video on ixos you tube, on capacitors- pretty impressive actually- check it out

[ZTwenty8SSR]

Why the different size batteries ?
I was always told to use 2 the same in a dual setup.

[davewaibel]

agm kind of changed the rules on batteries- old school batteries, kind of fell into that category- back with antiques, like isolators- which are no longer needed- if you use them now, you are usually just isolating a car battery so the stereo cannot take it down- currently you can mix and match, based on what will fit, and what you can afford-

[ttocs]

as he said the way I am using mine will be with an isolator so that I can play it with the key off till it dies and then still start it up off of the other one. The agm batteries do not suffer from repeated deep-cycling effects but with that being said if I were putting together a big spl system with no isolator I would make sure I had the same models hopefully not produced too far apart just to maximize their longevity.

[capitolj80]

So I went with a Kinetic HC1800. I'll just be replacing the original batt with it. Between that and upgrading my cables to 0ga (which will also be used on my big 3), I can't imagine that there won't be noticeable improvement.

[ttocs]

dats a big batt. It will fit?


I have a bunch of NIB PG 0 awg ring termials if you have not bought any yet. They look like these :
http://www.ebay.com/itm/SET-OF-2-PHOENI ... 415ff59d36 $5 each

[capitolj80]

I actually just bought a bunch of the ring terminals, but thnx anyways Battery will fit. The height is the only thing that's bigger than my existing batt (just under an inch taller) but I'm 99% sure I have the clearance.

[ttocs]

got any silly puddy or clay? Go slap a blob on top of the batter and then shut the hood and measure how thick its left. I would have for it to be 1/4" too tall and short out...

[capitolj80]

that's a good idea...i did something similar...I rainbowed my power cable on top of the battery up about 1 1/2" and closed the hood..it didn't seem to push it back down any, so i figure i'm good. sure would suck if i'm wrong though since the new one already shipped :0

[ttocs]

well the worst that could happen with a battery that size it it will just weld itself to the hood. I think this is one of those measure twice but cut once moments. Hope it fits but if it doesn't you can send it this way....

Just curious if anyone else heard that it is better to mount the deep cycle gel-cells in the trunk to avoid the heat of the motor?

[capitolj80]

lol i'll keep that in mind i haven't heard that about these kind of batteries...i was told though that I don't want to add a second battery to my stock alt (even though is it 130 amps) cuz of the added stress, that's why I decided to replace the hood batt with it...I'll keep my options open till i get some more info thought

[ttocs]

I know I have been here since the beginning but I could have swore that somewhere on my research of the stingers that someone recomended that they not go under the hood exposed to motors heat. That was not an issue for me as I was going to put both in the trunk and it just doesn't sound right to me but idunno just trying to help you out.

Where did you get it/order it from?

[capitolj80]

actually, I got a Kinetic, not a Stinger. I'm pretty sure I ordered it form Onlinecarstereo.com

[ttocs]

I thought it was KNpower(I think that was his name) that told me that about the heat. I remember it just because he asked if they were going in the trunk or under the hood but I plan on them being in the trunk.