I have a question will it hurt to add another battery cable(4ga) from the alternater to the battery?

 

No but if you run it directly there will be no fuse. Are you doing the big 3? It definately helped my electrical system with my sub.

 

No but put either a breaker or inline fuse(large one). I used a breaker.

Rick

 

i did it and it makes a world of difference. i was curious if it would hurt...i will get a circuit breaker asap what amperage breaker do i need?100? 150? 200?

 

in all of the articles i have read about the big 3...none have said to add a fuse or breaker in line from the alt to the battery. i just did it on mine and i didnt use either...and have no plans of putting one on.

 

You need a breaker that has a slightly higher amp rating than your alt. On my 2000 3.0L it has a 95amp alt or something close to that so I put a 100amp inline fuse on.

 

can i ask a question what is the big 3 yall are referring to?

 

A lot of alternators have internal regulators so a fuse is not needed. The stock alt in my truck is fused in the fuse box so that seems to tell me that it needs it.

 

big 3: Add larger wires to the following: alt to batt, engine block to body, batt to body. It improves the entire electrical charging system.

 

i added 1 4ga wire from the alt to battery then another 4ga wire from negative terminal to the body

 

big 3 more links inside
http://www.gmfullsize.com/forum/showthread.php?t=76960

 

You should add one more from the engine to the body (this grounds the alternator with a larger wire and completes the circuit). You can use one of the alternator bolts as a mounting point.

 

that is cool,i have read about it several times,but now i fully understand it.

 

Um I am not understanding why some of those articles say that a fuse is optional. If your alternator full fields because of a regulator malfunction/failure then you could have problems because of the amount of amperage, and thus heat that is created by that situation. Understandably if someone has calculated the proper amperage capacity of a certain length cable of a specific gauge then theoretically you would not need a fuse. An alternator can put out sometimes as much as 30% more amperage than what it is rated. Can someone explain why you would not put a circuit protection device inline?

 

.

 

An internally regulated alternator still needs circuit protection. The internal regulator regulates the amount of current flowing through the field windings, or the rotor coil. How is this going to provide protection in the event that the alternator is in a full field state?

 

Is a heavier alt cable really needed? I've added a grounds from the battery to the block, battery to radiator support, and one from the block to the firewall. Fixed the minor problems I had with light flashing with the sub.. sub sounds alot better to. If a heavier alt cable is needed why not redo the entire positive cable?

 

because i have alot of shyt running while the truck is on and it has definately made a huge difference adding the second ground and alt cable...its kinda hard to upgrade the existing powercable because it runs thru a bunch of shyt...anyways i have done it and its made a world of difference...

 

I think that it was on horespower tv where they added additional, and better ground cables and picked up horsepower. A bigger electrical load means that the entire base electrical system should be able to support the additional load. A heavier alt cable should not be needed unless upping the amperage producing capacity of the alternator. At least that is based on my professional experience.

 

Me either. If the factory puts fusible links in the stock 95 amp system, why on earth would you not put some type of fuse in a 200 amp system? That just asking for a melt down.

 

who said anything about a 200amp system?

iam using a stock alternator

 

X2

 

You can just route the new alt cable to the fuse box and use the stock fuse in there.

heres a good how to on the big 3: http://www.caraudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152355

*I would not run a new alt cable with a fuse*

 

Actually, I was just making a general remark about the "big 3" upgrade in general, but it's all the same regardless of alt size.