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Author battery change on corsa C sxi
Martin
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Registered: 15th Mar 04
Location: Dumpstable Drives: Aztec Sxi
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3rd Jan 05 at 16:04   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

going to have an rockford x6 amp.

1221watt max 750rms,
-powering-
pioneer TS-W121SPL 750rms 2000peak,

will i need a bigger battery or can i get away with a 1 farad powercap?

IF i need a bigger battery, whats the bigggest i can put in without blowing everything? coz i heard resistors will all melt if i put in too bigger battery?

(oh, i got a directed 2400 2 channel amp powering 6x9s, not powerful really, but dunno if it'll make a difference )



holla!!
corsacman
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Registered: 30th Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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3rd Jan 05 at 17:25   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

You will not need a Cap, there useless, same goes to 6x9's. They will drag the sound stage backwards and intefere with the subwoofer. Have you got any front speakers?? If not invest in components and get a nice amp to power them. As for electrical upgrades to your system, make sure you are running 0 awg to a dissy block then some 4 gauge to your amps. Upgrade the wires under the bonnet, such as the Alternator (+) to battery (+)Engine Block to chassis and battery (-) to chassis with 4 gauge or 2 gauge wire. Then if you are still getting voltage problems invest in a new battery, maybe one from a Corsa Diesel (if it fits) or go to Halfords and get one of there Heavy Duty batteries for the Corsa.
Martin
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Registered: 15th Mar 04
Location: Dumpstable Drives: Aztec Sxi
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3rd Jan 05 at 17:39   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

i've already got the 6x9's though mate
i got them a long time before i got my sub.
they are running at HPF only playing high frequencies, and they are boxed so sub wont interfere with the 6x9 woofer cone.

atm, ive got 4gauge running from battery to X6 amp, and 16 gauge wire running from battery to small 6x9 amp. is this not good enough then...?

corsacman
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Registered: 30th Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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3rd Jan 05 at 18:31   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

16 Gauge is far to fine to carry current to your amp to the battery. What you want to do is run 0 awg to a distribution block and two short 4 gauge runs to the amps. This way you will get minimal voltage drop. Look at www.cablesexpress.co.uk for cheap cable. £6.50 p/m for 0 awg Buy around 4 Meters for power and earth and about 2/3 meters of 4 gauge.

[Edited on 03-01-2005 by corsacman]
Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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3rd Jan 05 at 19:37   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

A) who the fuck told you anything about caps
B) who the hell said that a big battery will fry your resistors
and C) who ever told you to use speaker cable for powering your amps, should be shot...although it might be quite cool if you car caught fire

First question, well sod the cap it wont do anything useful if your battery and alternator isnt supply the power, so i would either get a diesel corsa battery from halfords or go for something alot better and get a optima yellow On top of that, whilst you under the hood, replace the wire running from your battery to the chassis (ground), battery to alternator and chassis (ground) to alternator

If your still suffering from dimming lights or anything, then you NEED to replace your alternator for something better. Its the ONLY solution that works properly!! So you can get one out of a biggered engined corsa and wack that it....i believe the 1.6 corsa's had a 80-90Ah alternator which is alright (obviously make sure its better than what you've already got etc) If it still dims after that, then you will need to get a bigger alternator again....and it will have to be a custom jobby or a re-wound alternator.

Only when you have SORTED out the power and its alright, pop a cap in, just smooth it all off and take some of the strain away from the battery


As for your power cables, i would run 4 gauge (should be fine, although you might wanna go for 2 gauge just to make sure) from the battery into a dizzy block (fused if pos) and then 8/4 gauge from the dizzy block to both your amps 16 gauge cable is SPEAKER WIRE !!! NOT POWER CABLE !!


As for your 6x9s, it seems that you have sense and to use them properly and get them boxed and running on a HPF filter

have fun mate
Richie
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Registered: 3rd Dec 02
Location: Newport, Wales
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3rd Jan 05 at 21:09   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

hmm i see a crispy new year coming for that car
Martin
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Registered: 15th Mar 04
Location: Dumpstable Drives: Aztec Sxi
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3rd Jan 05 at 21:37   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Reply to DOM:

1) corsa_x_15 said about a power cap

2) corsa_x_15 told me about a too bigger battery will fry everything in my car.

3)my mistake, i have 8 gauge running to that amp, not 16, my mbad.


surely though theres no need on spendin loads money on an alternator from say the diesel SXi, cant i just whack a bigger battery in? cause (here he is) corsa_x_15 has a mega loud system [unsure on exact figures lol] n all he has done is whack in a larger battery, uprated negative to chasis on battery, n 2 farad power cap?

holla back


[Edited on 03-01-2005 by Aztec_sxi]
Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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3rd Jan 05 at 22:34   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by Aztec_sxi
Reply to DOM:

1) corsa_x_15 said about a power cap

2) corsa_x_15 told me about a too bigger battery will fry everything in my car.

3)my mistake, i have 8 gauge running to that amp, not 16, my mbad.


surely though theres no need on spendin loads money on an alternator from say the diesel SXi, cant i just whack a bigger battery in? cause (here he is) corsa_x_15 has a mega loud system [unsure on exact figures lol] n all he has done is whack in a larger battery, uprated negative to chasis on battery, n 2 farad power cap?

holla back


[Edited on 03-01-2005 by Aztec_sxi]


well no offence to him, but he bodging it and a bigger battery will fry everything ?!?!?!?!?! if you wack in a 24volt battery, yea maybe, but going for a more powerful battery (bigger Ah) won't fry anything, it just means a) it can hold more juice and b) supply more juice for longer periods at X Ah etc etc

However, having a bigger puts strain on your alternator as well, so you should really replace your alternator anyways.

like i said, the cap is the last thing you do...so if your suffering from dimming after replacing the battery and doing the "big 3" (cables under hood), then you will have to replace the alternator - like i said, get something from one of the bigger versions (go scrappies or something ).

once you have sorted the dimming, then you can pop in a cap to smooth things over and take some of the strain away from the battery, and keep the voltage up abit A cap shouldnt be used to solve dimming of lights etc as it just put strain on your whole electrical system of the car.

but yea, 8 gauge is fine mate But like i said, i would run 4 gauge to your boot, then use a dizzy then out to two sets of 8 gauges to your amps - you might also want to drop the whole lot (ie: 2 gauge into boot and 4 gauge to amps) as im not to sure on how well the 8 gauge will like your amp as i have a feeling its gonna be heavy on the old juice


as a last note mate, its horses for courses isnt it? spend the cash and you will have something that will last and happily supply the power, and probably help towards future upgrades
Martin
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Registered: 15th Mar 04
Location: Dumpstable Drives: Aztec Sxi
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3rd Jan 05 at 23:06   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

dont see many corsa c's up scrappies thou mate. a trip to motorbodies is on the cards, great fun... cheerz for ya help mate, should help me sort my life out
corsacman
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Registered: 30th Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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4th Jan 05 at 09:19   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

You might and probably want need an alternator upgrade. I know people who run 4Kw (rms) through there stock charging systems. 100 Amp alt for the Cosra is around £90.
Richie
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Registered: 3rd Dec 02
Location: Newport, Wales
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4th Jan 05 at 09:24   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Like Dom and corsacman have said, with big power systems (anything over 500wRMS imo) then you will be looking at an alternator upgrade. If your not bothered about getting the full power out of your system, or bothered about dimming lights, then just do it how you want.

Either do it right and cream your pants with the result or skimp on muchos corners and sufferrrrr
Martin
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Registered: 15th Mar 04
Location: Dumpstable Drives: Aztec Sxi
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4th Jan 05 at 21:11   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

for an alternator upgrade, should i just get one off a diesel corsa, or should i go hunting for a non vauxhall part that perhaps produces more amps?
corsacman
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Registered: 30th Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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4th Jan 05 at 22:20   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

First thing is do upgrade the front battery to the best one you can afford and will fit. Then upgrade the 3 wires under the bonnet to either 4 or 2 gauge. Make sure the cable that is supplying powering to your amps is adaqute to carry the current without to much of a voltage drop. If i was you i would use either 0 or 2 gauge to a distribution block then two small 4 gauge runs to each amp. After all this measure the voltage accross both amp terminals, and if its low then upgrade the ALT. Vauxhall do ones that are 100 AMPs that will be fine but for your system i think you will be fine to be honest.

Martin
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Registered: 15th Mar 04
Location: Dumpstable Drives: Aztec Sxi
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5th Jan 05 at 21:02   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

ledgend
Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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5th Jan 05 at 21:50   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by corsacman
First thing is do upgrade the front battery to the best one you can afford and will fit. Then upgrade the 3 wires under the bonnet to either 4 or 2 gauge. Make sure the cable that is supplying powering to your amps is adaqute to carry the current without to much of a voltage drop. If i was you i would use either 0 or 2 gauge to a distribution block then two small 4 gauge runs to each amp. After all this measure the voltage accross both amp terminals, and if its low then upgrade the ALT. Vauxhall do ones that are 100 AMPs that will be fine but for your system i think you will be fine to be honest.




a few changes - i would use 1/0 on the 3 wire changes underneath the hood, as thats where majority of the high current will be.
As for the main power feed to a dizzy block in the back, its not always wise to go for the biggest due scientific reasons (canne remember the post exactly, but it did make sense at the time lol - ill try hunting it out ).
Personally for your setup, 4 gauge would be alright But at the max, i would use 2 gauge
corsacman
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Registered: 30th Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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5th Jan 05 at 23:52   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
i would use 1/0 on the 3 wire changes underneath the hood


Thats an overkill. As the lenght of the cables are small the voltage drop over them is minimal. As for the main power feed being to big, thats nosense. The bigger the better, only thing is 0 awg can be hard to route and get through the bulkhead without drilling a hole in many vechiles.
Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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6th Jan 05 at 13:17   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by corsacman
quote:
i would use 1/0 on the 3 wire changes underneath the hood


Thats an overkill. As the lenght of the cables are small the voltage drop over them is minimal. As for the main power feed being to big, thats nosense. The bigger the better, only thing is 0 awg can be hard to route and get through the bulkhead without drilling a hole in many vechiles.


well if your gonna be drawing alot of current, then bigger the cable on the "BIG 3" will help shite loads.

As for power cable, you are correct that bigger the cable the harder to route. However, it not always wise to use the biggest cable you can afford, as if you think about it - If the cable is too thick for the current being drawn, the electrons have so many different paths within the wire to take that overall power is reduced (been reading up about it ). Therefore you need to select the correct cable gauge for your setup, hence why ICE power cable is rated in watts rather than current load. Obviously you can get away using huge power cables if you use a split charging system because, as you rightly said, the length of the cable will be too short for any major voltage drop
corsacman
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Registered: 30th Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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6th Jan 05 at 18:02   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
As for power cable, you are correct that bigger the cable the harder to route. However, it not always wise to use the biggest cable you can afford, as if you think about it - If the cable is too thick for the current being drawn, the electrons have so many different paths within the wire to take that overall power is reduced (been reading up about it ). Therefore you need to select the correct cable gauge for your setup, hence why ICE power cable is rated in watts rather than current load. Obviously you can get away using huge power cables if you use a split charging system because, as you rightly said, the length of the cable will be too short for any major voltage drop


Not really sure, never heard off this in my life. Ill ask a chap called BLACK-CAT from talkaudio he will be able to give us a straight answer.

cheers
corsacman
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Registered: 30th Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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6th Jan 05 at 22:14   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

Dom, this is the reply from "black-cat" about the above you stated. He is an physics wizard.

quote:
Utter bull$hite! Cable is only rated in watts on cheap wiring kits.

Bigger = less resistance, use the biggest you can.

Dom
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Registered: 13th Sep 03
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7th Jan 05 at 12:06   View User's Profile U2U Member Reply With Quote

quote:
Originally posted by corsacman
Dom, this is the reply from "black-cat" about the above you stated. He is an physics wizard.

quote:
Utter bull$hite! Cable is only rated in watts on cheap wiring kits.

Bigger = less resistance, use the biggest you can.




lol...yea im wrong mate i wasnt thinking correctly and this website was chatting shite then - my old man confirmed that the bigger the cable, the less resistance, therefore less of an voltage drop over any given meter (between different sized cable) etc etc

However, alot of cable even stinger/JL etc stuff is still rated in watts, as its generally easier - otherwise you would have to add all of the Amps required + overheads etc etc

but yea, oh wells, you learn something new everyday

 
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