2019+ Silverado and Sierra 1500 Alternator Upgrade (Install Process)

[KV14]

On 2/23/2021 at 2:28 PM, Nasir222 said:

Do you have pics posted of your subs+enclosure? I have been told by too many people on forums that even though I have my rear seats raised in my 17" Crew Cab, that I won't have enough air space for dual 12s. I have been searching everywhere for a blueprint or plans for these trucks underseat subwoofer enclosures. I figure I can start there for designing a enclosure. 

You may be stretching it on air space in your 17 because the rear seat does not have the same amount of available air space as the 19+. I created a sealed box for my 14-18 GMC Sierra in the past, but my 19 had the room to create a ported enclosure. I had countless hours in designing the box to utilize every area and tune the port correctly. Once I completed the design, I only had a tiny section of the box blocked off that was not needed, so my recommendation in your 17 would be going sealed. If you ever upgrade trucks to a 2019+, you could get away with a ported enclosure with a fair amount of design time.

 

Here are a few pictures of the box installed. I'll be posting my complete audio build here soon. The build document will have more photos of the enclosure coming to life. I have been busy, and I have a lot of information I want to share, so it takes me some time to get the document put together.

[Chv2020]

On 10/8/2020 at 2:41 PM, KV14 said:

You will not see the DC voltage of an aftermarket alternator increase much differently than a factory alternator. What you are looking for is how much DC amperage you are using and do you need more. You can find some ways listed on the internet to help you determine this information. 

 

Your current 2000 watt draw may seem fine, but you could still be causing an amperage bottleneck at the alternator without noticing. It's possible you not getting the full potential out of your amplifier.

 

I used some paper calculations to determine how much extra amperage I needed over the factory alternator. If you are pushing 2000 watts with a nominal DC voltage of 13.5v, you have added about 148 amps (2000 / 13.5) of demand to the electrical system. If you tested the rest of your vehicle's amperage draw you can determine how many amps you need. I just used my factor alternator's max amperage and knew it had a little extra headroom. My truck came stock with 170 amp alternator and my audio system could potentially pull an additional 162 amps. That put me at needing potentially 332 amps with everything maxed out. Vehicles alternators have some headroom and the amplifier may not be maxed out, so purchasing a 250 amp alternator may provide all the amperage needed or it will at least still improve the total amperage output over the stock alternator. We can't get any bigger than a 250 amp alternator, so determining a need more then 250 amps will not be an advantage.

 

Hope that helps you make your determination.
 

I just purchased a 320 amp you don’t think it will work going the same route how you hooked up your 250?