I was wondering if anyone has upgrade the big 3 for their alternator yet, and if so do you have like a diagram of some sort showing which wires you changed out for it?
nate03
I have a police package and it has a "150 amp alternator with idle boost and 100 amp ignition controlled main power supply under dash and in trunk." I don't know exactly how audio guys do it but I could try and get some pics on how the factory does it. I was looking for some part diagrams but can't find the 9c1s online just the others. How many amps does a typical big 3 use or what gauge wire?
Big three is usually 4 gauge or 1/0 gauge. It's not a very big process. Alternator to battery +, battery - to chassis ground, and battery - to engine ground.
Here is a video showing a guy that did this on his Buick regal. You will notice a huge similarity between the two, because the regal is also based on the w body platform. This is applicable to model years 2000-2013 impalas.
I would suggest doing it exactly like he did. He did an excellent job on it. The only thing I would disagree with is him saying you only need 1/0 gauge when you have a 2 or 3k watt amp. I prefer to base the big three wire size based on alternator output. Stock wire is 8 gauge, and I would use 4 gauge on either a stock application or a car with up to around a 225 amp high output alternator. Anything with an output higher than 225 amps definitely needs 1/0 gauge. Ideally, I would say go straight to 1/0 gauge, but that stuff is really expensive, and hard to work with because it is so large in diameter.
Here is a video showing a guy that did this on his Buick regal. You will notice a huge similarity between the two, because the regal is also based on the w body platform. This is applicable to model years 2000-2013 impalas.
I would suggest doing it exactly like he did. He did an excellent job on it. The only thing I would disagree with is him saying you only need 1/0 gauge when you have a 2 or 3k watt amp. I prefer to base the big three wire size based on alternator output. Stock wire is 8 gauge, and I would use 4 gauge on either a stock application or a car with up to around a 225 amp high output alternator. Anything with an output higher than 225 amps definitely needs 1/0 gauge. Ideally, I would say go straight to 1/0 gauge, but that stuff is really expensive, and hard to work with because it is so large in diameter.
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