Elite amps on stock electrical system

J.Wright · Post by **J.Wright** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:10 am

Hello all...

Well ive made the move to the new PG Elite amps, a .4 and a .2, for my next system. I'll be installing in an Acura MDX and am a bit concerned with the amp draw these monsters will have on my stock system. I plan to perform upgrade the wiring under the hood and am considering rebuilding the alternator for a higher rating... in stock form it's 130 amps...

I would love any suggestions the members might provide...

Thanks !

Post by **kg1961** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:32 am

you will need to do something like alt and battery upgrade the big 3
those amps draw some real current. my 2012 santa fe has the same problem so im going to use a route 66 unstead of what i have is drawing about 120amp i hate the dimming light thing

J.Wright · Post by **J.Wright** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 7:44 am

If I upgrade the alternator, how many amps should I go to ?

Post by **ttocs** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:17 am

1.) As much as you can afford
2.) as much as you can get

Budget normally dictates. Don't go super cheap and get a $100 HO alt off of ebay, I learned that lesson myself. It lasted almost a year and when it went out I took it into an old dudes alt shop to rebuild it. He said that they used heavy duty parts on the alt itself that were good but that they cheaped out on the voltage regulator.

Now I am currently running that same alt to this day now, 3 yrs later. But I came across an old and old-school phoenix gold at that was never mounted/used. Its rated at 165A and was made by wrangler from what I can find and they rate their stuff fairly conservativly. You can tell its a big boy as they filled every inch of the case with parts to the point it needs an off-board voltage regulator. After asking around who makes the best regulator I was able to find another nicely unused balmar ARS-5 on ebay for a good deal including the alt temp sensor. I have not installed them yet as I am in the middle of another install and I want to paint the case to the alt as I am now starting to take some time to clean up under the hood.

Post by **kg1961** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:23 am

also i would pm/email morgan from pg they have done alot of testing with those amp before they were released so he would be able to get you usable true numbers

Post by **Eric D** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 8:39 am

Why not install the amplifiers and THEN decide if you need to upgrade your electrical system?

It all depends how much of a bass head you are.

I ran an MS1000 on a stock electrical system, and my MS1000 was modified to have slightly more output than the original MS1000 did. I had no problems with my stock alternator, stock battery, and 2ga power wire to the rear.

J.Wright · Post by **J.Wright** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:24 am

Just trying to be proactive....

I'm no bass head... Not even close...

Post by **kg1961** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:38 am

with .2 and .4 are you going to run 4ohm bridged 2ohm ect?

J.Wright · Post by **J.Wright** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 9:44 am

I'll be running 4 ohm both stereo and mono

Drock · Post by **Drock** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:24 am

The big three is a cheap and easy upgrade. Do that first. Then just like Eric mentioned install your gear. If you notice things like dimming lights then look at a deep cycle battery and maybe a larger alt. keeping in mind yes these elites are (capable monsters) you will likely not be pushing them to the max. If you read the tech sheets at max 4 ohm your still not to bad for draw.
I hooked up my .2 and .4 on my test bench yesterday with a optima yellow top and kinetic 80 amp power supply. It's been running now for 24 hr straight. No issue with voltage dropping. So I think a 130 amp alt and a good deep cycle battery is all your going to need.

Drock · Post by **Drock** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:28 am

By the way, the .1 is insane. Four ti 10ds clipped at a quarter gain.

Post by **Eric D** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 11:08 am

Drock wrote:By the way, the .1 is insane. Four ti 10ds clipped at a quarter gain.

No offense, but this comment does not make any sense. Are you saying the speakers clipped? To me that would be considered "bottoming out".

And as for a quarter gain, anytime anyone ever mentions "half gain", or "quarter gain" it is not useful information. 8V input to almost any amp will max its output at zero gain. On the other hand, 0.5V of input would require almost max gain on any amp to get any output from it. I have read so many eBay ads over the years with claims like "never used past half gain". Big deal. As if that means the amp was not abused. The gain setting on an amp alone has nothing to do with the amp's output. It is instead a function of input signal and gain setting.

-Sorry, end rant...

Now, Drock, in the case of your .4 on an 80A supply, try putting a 30A fuse in line. It probably won't blow on music. While testing the Elite .4, I used a 15A fuse for all listening tests, and it never blew.

Post by **ttocs** » Wed Dec 12, 2012 12:56 pm

I would not consider that a good thing. Sounds like the input signal is too high and might be clipping before the amp is. Would need a scope to be sure. Are you using a line driver or anything like that?

dwnrodeo · Post by **dwnrodeo** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 4:25 am

Eric D wrote:Why not install the amplifiers and THEN decide if you need to upgrade your electrical system?

It all depends how much of a bass head you are.

I ran an MS1000 on a stock electrical system, and my MS1000 was modified to have slightly more output than the original MS1000 did. I had no problems with my stock alternator, stock battery, and 2ga power wire to the rear.

x2 Go ahead and do the big 3 upgrade, that is fairly inexpensive and will upgrade the factory cables to something more adequate. I myself have a 130 amp alternator running an X200.4 (120amp) and SD1300.5 (100 amp) with no issues. Then again, I'm NOT a basshead and have 60 amp fuses going to each amplifier that have not blown.

Drock · Post by **Drock** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 6:15 am

Sorry Eric, the source was my iPhone direct to the amp. I have no idea what the input voltage is. I was just simply commenting on how awesome the .1 is

Drock · Post by **Drock** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 7:05 am

Oh and yes, I was talking about the subs maxing out. The amp was no where near its potential.

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Dec 13, 2012 9:16 am

it was not your subs nor your amp that was maxing out. It was you ipod maxing/clipping the signal more then the amp, the subs were just playing what they recieved.

J.Wright · Post by **J.Wright** » Mon Dec 17, 2012 12:37 pm

I just received both Elite amps.... They are the heaviest amps I have ever put my hands on.... !!!

Unreal thermal mass....

caraudiotech · Post by **caraudiotech** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:17 pm

Wait until you get your hands on the Five Channels Of FUNK. AKA the Elite.5.... the best system amp--Period.

Post by **AVICJR** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:54 pm

Is the Elite.5's sub-woofer channel sufficient enough to run the new Elite Sub?

caraudiotech · Post by **caraudiotech** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:00 pm

Sub channel is @ 700W @ 2 OHMS or 1100@ 1OHM with 1 sub your you'll be getting into the +900w range as the amp is conservatively rated

J.Wright · Post by **J.Wright** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:10 pm

Wonder what the five channels of funk does at 4 ohms mono

Post by **AVICJR** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 3:11 pm

caraudiotech wrote:Sub channel is @ 700W @ 2 OHMS or 1100@ 1OHM with 1 sub your you'll be getting into the +900w range as the amp is conservatively rated

Thank you John! And great work on this amp.......it is beautiful!

Post by **ttocs** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:12 pm

that thang is sexy enough to make me consider replacing the roadster66 with it in my current install. Would need another mono amp for the subs or the 9's but they sure do look good.. I almost hope I don't get alot of cash for christmas now

caraudiotech · Post by **caraudiotech** » Fri Dec 21, 2012 6:05 am

J.Wright wrote:Wonder what the five channels of funk does at 4 ohms mono

300 x 2 on the full range channels