Author |
Message |
Wolverine
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 4:55 am: |
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I have a 1994 ford Taurus with a 115 amp alternator and a 1000cca battery. I plan on keeping the electrical system strictly stock. No alternator upgrades etc. My set-up is a uniden 78 ltw, wilson 5000 center-load on a 3-pad mag-mount, and a Boomer 400 amp wired to the battery with 10 guage wire. Have I reached my limit? I was thinking trying out an X-Force X-400, Magna-force 400 or maybe some type of Davemade or Joker amp. Any Tips would be most appreciated. And as I stated above, I don't want to tax my current amp draw. Thanks in advance. |
Tech671
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 5:48 am: |
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I suggest not running anything larger than an amp with (4) 2879 transistors. The amperage draw will stay below 70a and you'll need 4ga wire to power and ground it. The amps of the 1x4 design will draw too much current for your charging system. |
Sparkomatic
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 7:25 am: |
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I don't know what a Magnaforce is but with a 115 Amper and 1000cca battery you should be able to run up to a XFORCE XT-400. One of my vehicles is a Ranger and it has a 95 amp alternator and I run a Davemade SE400 in it which is the same as the XT400. You better go bigger on the wire size though, I'm using #8 and I know that is borderline. The Palomar 775V is a nice amp if you ever plan on talking SSB. |
bruce
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 12:29 pm: |
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tech671 a guy i worked with at NCR had a GEO metro and put a colba 148 and 250 watt amp in it every time he keyed up it stopped the motor....he was not asmused. |
Sparkomatic
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 4:28 pm: |
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Bruce it doesn't take much to stop a Geo Metro......just letting the clutch out will do that. LOL |
Triplecguy
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 5:14 pm: |
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I didn't know that the Metro had a motor in it. I thought in ran off of pedal power. Guess you learn something every day!!! |
bruce
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 9:09 pm: |
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We got a big chuckle to see that motor and then look at my cady 7 LT eng. |
Sandbagger106
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 10:03 pm: |
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Hey!!! I love my Metro guys. 45 MPG, but I only run a 5 watt HT> Seriously though, it does just what it is designed to do, and does it well. I'm pleased. Cheers, SB106 |
Hootyal
| Posted on Thursday, February 20, 2003 - 10:33 pm: |
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My girlfriend has a 91 metro...The engine is a 3 cylinder 1 litre (spelling?). Pretty quick and you can drive forever on a tank of gas!! Low maintenance also. I put a magnum 257, 200 watt footwarmer and a k30 mag mount in/on it. Works great and you can actually shoot skip with this setup. Defender of the great "EGGMOBILE" HootyAl |
Wolverine
| Posted on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 - 5:06 am: |
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Thanks all. I just want to be "Heard". I'm not trying to be a "70,000 Watt- Big Strap Dx skip shooter. I just can't justify the "Dead Presidents" invested in this hobby to compete on the "Superbowl 6 channel. Call me cheap, or just to afraid of being immersed in so much RF radiation, that 1st I'll start glowing in the dark, then the final straw is that I change into "The Incredible Hulk". |
Sparkomatic
| Posted on Wednesday, February 26, 2003 - 7:03 pm: |
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Wolverine........I have some competition amps that are great on AM but unusable on SSB. Since you mentioned XFORCE I beleive that a Class B X-400 would be good for you. |
Wolverine
| Posted on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 5:40 am: |
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Thanks, Sparkomatic, and Tech 671. No more than 4 sc2879 pills sounds about right. And if you're using a 95 amp alt to run a XT-400, that says a lot. The designations continuous amps draw, and maximum amps draw often confuses me, especially when your amp fuse rating is right between both. Or is it, when the car is running or not? |
Sparkomatic
| Posted on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 9:44 am: |
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Wolverine I have run a XT400 2 driving 4 in my pickup and the 60 amp in line fuse at the battery never blew or showed any physical evidence of being close to 60 amps limit. I ran mine keying 250 swinging to 375 Bird 43 watts(1100 watts PEP). 95 amp alternator and 1000 cca battery in a 14.5 Volt system. I really find it hard to believe that any amps posted amp draw is believable. |
Tech671
| Posted on Friday, February 28, 2003 - 11:58 pm: |
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To the best of my knowledge Fluke meters are pretty accurate. XT400-12 105a. The mfr rates the XT400 @ 400w rms. It does 400w rms. I don't think they are in the market of selling batteries or alternators, they don't overrate their amplifier output, don't see any reason they would exaggerate amperage requirements |
applejack
| Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2003 - 11:09 pm: |
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a boomer 600 has 2 hot wires. is 1 10 ga.feedline fastened with wire nuts sufficient? applejack, I would suggest to use two 8 or at the least 10 Gauge wires Direct to battery, One to Negative post and the other to Positive post, With eyelets that will let you connect them to battery bolts. Then use use good CRIMP on connectors from 10 Gauge wire to AMP connectors, you can also add you radio power cord to these connections. DO NOT TRY and use the cigarette lighter for power for the amp. Hope this helps. Lon Tech 808
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applejack
| Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2003 - 9:45 pm: |
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the reason for the wire nuts is so i can pull it out of the truck quick. it has 1 10 ga. hot to the battery but uses the amps grd. lead screwed to the floor pan |