Sub Amp 12V Directly to Alternator Instead of Battery?
 

Quick question: 2009 C6 Corvette Kenwood DNX575S and Installing a Amplified Bazooka Tube (already had from previous C5)

Can you wire the positive 12V power supply for te AMP directly to the Alternator instead of the Battery?

Yes or No?

If no what is the reason as to why one would not - appreciate any direction on this question

Thanks,Matt

I personally never heard of anyone doing that, and I don't think it would be a good idea because of the surges of power an amp pulls I think could affect the diodes in your alternator, plus the ripple voltage the alternator puts out, another thing to consider is wire gauge, generally the gauge wire that should be run to power the amp is larger than the gauge wire that's ran from the alternator to the battery. A battery is the best connection point in my opinion because a battery will kind of act like a capacitor that can handle the surges of voltage from an amp.

That is pretty much spot on with what Crutchfield informed me this morning, almost right before you posted this information, the alternating current/voltages from the Alternator will not be the best for a AMP - the battery will be a more straight forward linear and stable voltage.

Last night I did as many had suggested with the C6 and I pulled the battery and went through the wire harness boot and was able to penetrate into the cabin (an extremely tight fit in the boot) and run the supply to the AMP as needed -

Thanks,Matt

Yep, you're better off going that route. I've even installed a capacitor in the past such as this https://www.crutchfield.com/p_12015D...arch=capacitor on my high powered amp between the battery and amp to absorb the voltage surges of the amp, your amp may not have enough power to justify installing one of these, one simple way you can tell is if you turn the volume up and your lights flicker to the sound of the music you should probably have a capacitor.

the battery is a starting battery which starts the car, that is its primary function. When the car is running, the alternator provides the power to the battery, which runs the electronics. The power from the alternator is not clean (i.e., AC ripple) which is filtered by the starting battery before it powers your electronics, it also stabilize the voltage spikes.
So no, do not run it directly from the alt to battery.


a capacitor is a crutch.....if you have lights dimming you could try a big 3 upgrade (recommended) and for more serious amps, a new alternator.

I'm thinking since he's calling it an amplified Bazooka, that it has a built in amplifier which probably isn't high enough wattage to even worry about it, just make sure you use the proper gauge wire for the power and ground that Bazooka recommends for your specific model.

:iagree: As mentioned, just make sure you use appropriate wires to power the Bazooka.

That is correct - It's just a 8" 100 AMP or BTA8100 Bazooka Tube - it does the job for the cabin of the Vette

Following through with what Bazooka wants and upgrading some of the wiring -

Thanks,Matt

I have worked with electronics for a looong time... I can't come up with any reason why y'all think the alternator is a worse spot than the battery terminal. The only issue I would imagine is the gauge of wire running from the battery to the alternator and a slight amount of resistance it has. The circuit is identical on both sides of a single copper cable. The battery is there on both sides of the cable to act as a filter.