.... the BIG 3

Got everything I need to do the big 3 and did it tonight. I have 7ft of 1/0 Monster (the silver) 4ft of KnuKonceptz 1/0 black, Tsunami solid brass battery terminals, and a DB Link distrubution block (1/0 to 4 awg) as well as 4 1/0 ring terminals.













Enough product photos though, time for the action shots

1/0 power/ground to alternator, battery to chassis ground, and block to chassis ground.
Black is KnuKonceptz power wire, the white is Monster.

New battery terminals, distribution block. White is Red, black is black.


The black 1/0 here is for the chassis ground. the smaller one is the factory negative coming from who knows where. I ditched the factory chassis ground.




You can see my distribution block (dbLink) it has the 1/0 from the terminal and goes to 4 4 gauge outputs. Attached are the sub Amp 4 gauge, and two reds are the factory positives to wherever. Attached to the terminal is the power for the 4ch amp (blue) and my 1/0 to the alternator positive.




And you can see the white power to the alternator snaked around the top there...


And attached to the alternator. The black wire laying on top of that is the block to chassis ground, I used the alternator bolt. should that be ok you think?




And the engine ground attached to the body...

 

BIG 3 FTW

 

I'm lost. Not to sound stupid but whats the Big 3?

 

Upgrading the factory grounds and the positive wire from the alternator to the positive battery terminal.

 

upgrading some wiring.
It was done to alleviate dimming of the headlights caused by a drop in voltage as my 1200 watt amplifier sucks power from my battery.

the big 3 are replacing/adding to 3 important power wires:
1. Battery to body ground.
2. Battery pos. to Alternator pos.
3. Engine to body ground.

factory wiring is usually not sufficient to sustain voltages with high powered audio systems, so we can either replace or add on to these important wires. I used a VERY thick 1/0 cable for both power and ground, it's kind of an "eliminating the weakest link" sort of thing.

dimming is greatly reduced having done this, but I still need a yellowtop Optima battery and/or a higher output alternator to kill the issue for good.... it's always something else.

 

Mike FWIW, I have a second battery and it's great. It's just a Everstart(I think?) 1100cca battery. With my MB Quart DSC 2000.1d, I only drop to 14.2v at idle with the Big 3.

 

Mine isn't as nearly as clean as this, kinda thrown together out of necessity. but great looking install. really cleans up the gaudy looking old wires.

 

how do you have the second one wired in (and where is it?)

 

thanks! I wasn't completely happy with the way the distribution block is just kind of hanging above the battery, but the tension from the factory power wires and the 1/0 from the terminal holds it solid. I sure couldn't find anywhere to mount it though that I liked.

 

Right now it's just sitting in the back. But I'm ditching the factory jack and setting it up on that little ledge on the back wall and strapping it to the back wall and building a box to cover it up. And I just ran a 17ft power wire from my front battery to the other battery. Then hooked everything up from there.

 

So that charges both batteries from the alternator then? I may do that then at some point, I've already ditched the jack and one jump seat for my sub bocks.

 

Ahh, got ya. Well I don't do the audio stuff so no worries.

 

Yep. It's a cheaper route than buying a H/O alternator.

 

i have both, but my amp spit the bed. lucky me. make sure you have a fuse at both batteries, and some kind of isolator (a old starter solenoid will work) to separate the battery when off.

 

i need some terminals like that for all the crap i have running off my batt.....

 

Do you HAVE to have an isolator? Cause I have a fuse going from my batteries but I don't have an isolator or anything.

 

if the batteries are the same age/brand i think you may be able to get away with it, but i may be mistaken. it is better safe than sorry, the solenoid only costs $10-$20

 

personally i'd just rather spend a little more and upgrade the alternator.

 

that's what i did, lights and amp put too much of a draw on the old wires and old battery, so i got the next size up alternator. had to do some bracket modifying, but it worked out.

 

if you upgrade the alternator it is recommended to at least upgrade the power wire.

 

I meant as opposed to the second battery. I've already upgraded my wiring.... this is my thread...

 

whoops, sorry lol. rock on.

 

the isolator is not needed heck ive got 4 batteries
1 under the hood 3 in the toolbox and the big 3 doesnt need to be in 0 gauge unless your pullin 175 amps plus

 

If you're going to take the time to do it, you might as well go big.

 

i need to do this