Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Audio anyone go 12v to 14.4 ?

has anyone here had to upgrade the 'big 3' wires in their contour after installing a sound system?
if so, any thing i should know before going at it?
im hoping this tutorial will be enough help: http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=007801

my battery is at 12.9V when idle. im almost done completing my system.
altogether i have:

amp- 300WRMS X 1 @4ohms (12v)
amp- 284WRMS x 2 @4ohms (14.4V)
HU- 19WRMS x 4

I dont know how to get to the alternator, anybody know?

a cap will do pretty much the same thing. .5 or 1 farad, dependin on what youre running. thats what i had.

hmmmm, i know some people it worked for and some it didnt. for me it pretty much kept it at a constant voltage rate between 14-14.6 or so. it saved me from goin through altenators i know that much.

Does anybody know if putting a better alternator in will make any difference. I have an efx 1200 battery but I notice when I drive with the system off all the lights are so much brighter and the car runs so much better. So well changing the alternator make things worse or better.

At idle with no accessories on your voltage should be well in the 14V area with out needing the wire upgrade. Also what is the batt voltage with the car off? You should see a 1.5V-2V difference with the car on/off. Now a couple of things:

1- your factory wires may be turning green, make sure your terminals are free of corrosion and the ends of the cables are good to. Best way to check this is to get the voltage at the ALT. (behind front pass tire) which leads to step two....

2- If the voltage at your ALT is different then at the battery you have a cable problem and you should replace the grounds and positive cable from Batt to ALT. If they are the same...

3- start with a battery charger, use the lowest 12V setting (like 1A or .5A) and charge the battery over night. It may be wise to disconnect the battery ground in case you have a other issues in the car (key off battery drain etc) Check the voltage in the morning, both with charger on and once after disconnected from charger, be sure to give the battery 10 minutes or so to stabilize at one constant voltage.

At this point adding a cap will make no difference, you have a problem, adding a cap is not going to solve. Once you find the problem (battery, ALT or cables) you can then fix it properly. You will not need a larger alternator, my guess is that if it does turn out to be that, it is probably just a bad regulator or worn brushes. Both go bad over time.

I do when I turn my key

I had my battery replaced last week because it wasn't holding a charge anymore. I haven't been running my system the last two days and have noticed and incredible increase in preformance from my car. I'm thinking driving at night with headlights, ac, voltage adapter for my laptop plugged into the ai-net aux on my cda-9813 so my girlfriend can watch dvd's on the way back from Utah with hi quality sound was a little more than that 90 amp alternator could handle. I'm going to have my alt recoiled to get a higher amp rate out of it and run thicker cables to see if that helps.