bassoon811

I am in to pretty serious bass in my cars and I wanted to know if the 8 has enough current to run a JL Audio 1000/1 to power a JL 12w7. It's a expensive setup, but is suppost to be the best you can buy, and I want to know that it will work before I buy them.

mdw33333

The 8's factory alternator is pretty beefy. You'll probably want to swap out the battery for an Optima battery (faster charging). Use proper gauge wire and connectors, and you should be fine. The equipment is good stuff.

BoxerGT2.5

I would go with what mdw33333 said only take it a step further and add a hefty capacitor (I have always used at least a 1 farad with all my rather large systems. This way the amp is tuggin on the car too much.

rotarygod

The "best you can buy" is a very subjective term. However that system would rock!

The factory alternator is 100 amp. Beef up the factory ground wires from the battery to the chassis, engine, chassis, etc.

I recommend a 1/2 farad cap for every 500 watts.

DJ Freon

I would even consider looking at a batcap (www.batcap.net). They store more energy than a capacitor and make it even less of a strain on your electrical system. I work for a company that sells car audio, and I wish we sold batcaps. We do sell JL Audio, and you're right, a 1000-1 and a 12W7 should rock. Just make sure you get a good solid box to put that sub in. I've seen that sub with the right amount of power tear apart a poorly made box.

RX82004

No it cant actually....ive tested it on my 8 at tweeter b4 i got my setup...even with a monster digicap the alternator couldnt keep up with more than about 20 mins of hard booming b4 currents would get really low...the alternator is 80 amps btw...

RobDickinson

isnt that some sort of hint tho?

If your 80amp alternator and banks of caps cant deliver enough current - its to LOUD.

FFS its only a car your 3' away from every speaker...

army_rx8

not sure what kinda' alternator you have (do you have teh 6-speed?), but mine says o nit 12v100a last tiem i checked that meant it is 100 amps, if i am wrong please correct me.

Omicron

Nope, a 100A alternator is what comes standard with the RX-8. If you've got one that's less than that, someone ripped you off.

rotarygod

It's funny that I mentioned that the RX-8 has a 100 amp alternator and someone here insisted I was wrong and that it was only an 80 amp alternator. I love hearing verification that I am correct!

devoid

Well, I believe technically, both are right. Most alternators don't put out their full power at idle. Ever see a car's light's dim at a stop light? The alternator creates more resistance the higher the revs. Also, it only creates as much as it is told by the car's computer.

I assume that the person who mentioned 80 amps was probably watching his digital read out on his cap, thus the car I hope was idling. As a test yourself, you can have someone sit and hold on the gas for a while, probably around 3k rpm, and see if the alternator kicks up.

rotarygod

I completely replaced the stock wiring on my RX-7. The power wires were replaced with a 4 gauge to the starter from the battery, a 4 gauge to the main fuse block, and an 8 gauge to the alternator. The ground wires were definitely overkill. There was an 8 gauge ground from the battery to the fender, a 4 gauge from the battery to the engine block, and a 1 gauge from the battery to the frame rail. There was also an 8 gauge wire from the engine to the firewall. After I did all of this the cars lights were noticably brighter as there was always more current available.

An alternator is rated at it's max regulated output. They always make less power at idle because they aren't turing fast enough. It isn't due to it being a drag on the system. They would make higher and higher amounts of power with rising rpms just as a centrifugal supercharger does except they have voltage regulators to prevent this. By about 1500-2000 rpms or so, the alternator is making enough current that the regulator needs to work. Below this point it isn't generating enough power. Again think of that slow turning supercharger.

The question may arise as to why a smaller alternator isn't used but with a higher voltage regulator setting. A smaller alternator would be working much harder. Those things get hot. They wouldn't be reliable in the long run. You are much safer running an oversized unit well within it's limits rather than taxing a smaller unit to work it's hardest.