for those what have a sound system and no cap, this should help u if your lights dim when the bass hits

Parts and Tools:
-cable (i used 8ft but bought 10ft just in case, i used 1awg cable)
-flex tubing (optional, looks cleaner, got 10ft)
-heat shrink (protect cable and ring terminal from touching anything)
-string (measure how much cable u need)
-flat head screw driver (loose and tighten cover clips)
-knife or razor blade (cut wire insulation)
-pliers (cut cable to length)
-dermal (grind and cut some plastic)
-fuse (optional, i used 250A fuse, just in case something comes loose)
-ring terminal (sotter on end of cable)
-sotter and sottering iron (sotter ring terminal to cable)
- allen keys (secure fuse to cable)
-10mm and 12mm socket and ratchet (loose and tighten bolts)
-zip ties (zip tie flex tubing ends to keep in place)

cable and flex tubing


ring terminals


ring terminal sottered on cable


heat shrink on terminal and cable


grind this hump to attach fuse


hump grinded away


fuse installed, make sure that the screws dont hit your fan


take cover off and unbolt bolt


unhook batter, if u want u could upgrade your batter and put diff. terminals on at this time)


unbolt nut, i had to unbolt the second nut and cut some of the plastic cover to make my ring terminal to fit)


cable installed from alternator + to fuse


cable installed from fuse to battery +


complete cable from alt. + to battery +


bolted alt. ground to the alt. here


grind off pain here to attach alt. ground to chassis


cable ran from alt. ground to chassis


connect battery, and the battery - side to the battery


connected to chassis from battery - ( bolted right behind the battery tray, make sure to remove any paint)


install flex tubing (optional) for a cleaner look


install cover and check out your work, start car and make sure everything is good

 

Very nice! I started a thread about doing the Big 3 in the audio section and nobody had any pics of their set-up

 

good stuff.
will be doing this soon.
btw this isn't only for audio setups. you can use this if youre stock. its supposed to increase hp a little too.

 

yup i know, i saw the thread. i decided to tackle it since no one had a diy and a couple ppl asked for one.

 

while we're kind of on the topic, how much good would a complete grounding kit do and how much work is gonna be involved? pull off old cables, throw new ones on right?

 

Nice. Who the hell signed your cover?

 

It's worth doing just for your engine as well, u'll get better starting response from your car. The other good idea along with upgrading your + wires is upgrading all your engines ground wires as well, good write up, I have all my wiring to do this but haven't done it yet

 

If you guys would like more information, I'd suggest www.realmofexcursion.com Its the best informational site for mobile audio, no questions asked.

For those of you who don't know why we do the Big3 upgrade, as Raj stated, it helps keeps the lights from dimming when a large amount of power is pulled from the vehicles electrical to hit those bass notes. Therefore, the Big3 pretty much stabilizes the vehicles voltage resulting in less voltage drop when bass notes do hit.

Yea yea, I know some of you use capacitors, but go to www.realmofexcursion.com and search "Why you don't need a capacitor" in the forums. This will pretty much tell you everything you need to know.

 

adrienne janic, the chick from overhaulin'

 

well, i payed:
$22.50 for 10ft of 1awg power cable (http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDe...rodID=KLMX0PRL)
$5 for 1awg shrink wrap (home depot)
$6 for 10ft flex tubing (home depot)
$15 for sotter and sottering iron (sears, used a torch also works since it was thick cable)
$18.22 for ring terminatls (http://happyterminals.com/index.php?cPath=21_34)
$5-$8 for therminals(sears, pepboys, autozone,...)
$12 for the fuse (http://www.knukonceptz.com/productDe...?prodID=ANL250)
$?? dremal (auto stores, home depot, menards,...)
$3 for zip ties (hardware stores, auto stores)
if u do it my way your gonna have to dermal some plastic, measure and cut cables, sotter ring terminal, change battery terminals, hook up cables, thats about it.

 

I just noticed the link on that thread. lol

 

I would do it Raj's way. The soldering for one keeps your mind at peace with no worries of cables coming out of the crimped connectors. And KnuConceptz wiring is pretty good stuff.

 

HI,
I am doing big 3 upgrade on 3g TL. I have couple questions.

Did you remove the positive wire from the alternator or did you just added a 0 gauge wire from alt. to battery?

Is the fuse required when you connect add the 0 guage from alt. to battery? i saw on couple other websites that people doesn't use fuse.

 

i added the cable from the alt to batt and the oem cable is still their. its not required, more a piece of mind and just in case scenario

 

great stuff

 

nice will try soon

 

I am trying to do this but now my car won't start.
The problem occurred after I removed the old alt to battery and replaced it with 0 gauge just as in the picture. I have yet to install the fuse on that wire but that shouldn't keep it from turning on right?
When I removed the wire from the fuse box will that effect anything? When I run power back to that box it works again.

 

Ok after reviewing the pictures I don't think I was supposed to remove that other wire... Shit.

 

Rajca, any mod causing your hood not to completely close?

 

awesome! but her man voice..not so much.

 

ALL those wires need to be connected.

 

Of course you need the fuse in there. How else is the power supposed to be transfered over to the other side of the cable?

It's like telling someone to walkacross a river without a bridge. Unless they're Jesus of course. LOL

 

Ya after I took a look at it and used my brain I realized how stupid I was

 

Hood closed just fine. No problems at all

 

Your avatar pic shows the hood not properly closed at passenger side.

 

If u notice that the big 3 was done on my ssm tls. Not my smr cls6. The hood is proped up like that because of a manifold spacer

 

Thanks for the DIY. I have wanted to do this for some time now.

When I did my system in my truck the guys at best buy wanted to do this with a redtop battery insted of a capacitor on a 800w system. I've had that system for over 7 years without problems. I did just replace the redtop tho

 

usually if you wire the amp directly to the battey with a properly sized cable you don't have any issue's, after all the alternator is only capable of outputing 100 amps if it's a high output unit, 70-80 amps is typical even with a 100A rated alternator a 6 gauge wire is more than capable of caring the load, 1 awg wire is a major overkill and should have been ran to the amp and not the alternator.

 

where you said "take cover off and unbolt bolt" what was the purpose of unbolting that bolt? how did this upgrade help with the dimming lights? did you notice a huge difference?

 

u see the small dim red circle on the harness going to the alt? thats teh bolt im talking about.
lights didnt dim when the bass hit. so i was satisfied

 

are you also running a capacitor? or just the big 3?

 

what was the reason for removing that bolt? i didnt notice any wire connected to it in any of the pictures. all that i noticed was that black small bracket.

 

i had a capacitor but wasnt enough. just a harness that keeps it in place. easier to work around with the bolt removed for the time being

 

sorry for all the questions, just trying to figure out the best way to do this. do you still have the capacitor hooked up?

 

the car got totaled

 

sorry to hear. i guess i worded my question wrong. were you still running the cap after you did the big 3?

 

yes

 

bring this back from the dead kinda... do you really have to ground the ALT?

 

The Alternator ground is the whole Engine + Tranny, You actually ground it with the Tranny Ground BUT To make an even more powerful Ground, Is to Ground the ALT directly to Chasis just like some Hondas do OEM.

You can Not do it, But its soo Easy that its not logical to let it be.
Its like a Double Bonus from doing the Big 3 and its not that difficult really.

 

Can you tell me where to wire in the 8 track input. I want to mount my Motorola from my 68 Chevy. It almost fits in the TLS.