Just Got A Ho Alternator Now What?

[Justin from Detroit1]

You can simply unhook the old wires. The alternator will probably have one wire leaving it, take it off. The battery will have one wire going to the positive, take it off, and one going from the negative to a ground, take it off. Run one 4 gauge from the terminal on the alternator to the positive on the battery. Run another from the negative on the battery to the ground. Done

[Mithrandir]

damn thats simple. I feel kinda dumb but the only wire going to the power on the battery is the alternator? Ill probably need to run 0 gauge though if i decide to get the 2 xxx 12s and 2 1200 watt amps to run em. I can pretty much install the alternator and the wires my self and save money.

[71buickfreak]

1\0 is overkill going from the alt to the batt, all you need is 4ga. the distance is so short you could even run 8 ga with out a problem. the idea is to use wire big enough to handle the current so it doesn't get hot and melt. the shorter the distance, the smaller the wire can be. 2400 watts at the amps won't require much more than 150-175 amps at peak to produce, a sinlge run of 15' 1/0 will do the trick. there's no need to waste the money buyign the 1/0 and terminals, much less all the time it would take to get it run in the tight confines of the engine bracketry, it's just not worth it. And you run inot the problem of it rubbing on something snd shorting because it is larger and not as flexible as 4 ga.

[audiobass10]

I just wanna chime in on this real quick while you're on the topic. Right now i have 4 ga runnin in my Jeep cherokee. I can get a good deal on 100' of 0ga wire on ebay. I'll be runnin 2 Tempests with my next setup with about 800wrms. Should i keep my 4ga or upgrade to 0 ga for any future plans i might have? I've heard 0 ga is a real bitch to work with, but what's your thoughts?

[Justin from Detroit1]

I've never had a problem running 1/0. It's big, but flexible. I'd say stick with your 4 ga. It's plenty for what you are running.