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The Big 3 Upgrade improves your vehicles charging system, giving all it’s electrical equipment the current it needs to perform it’s best.
Anyone with an amplified aftermarket car audio system, especially those over 1000 Watts, should seriously consider performing this upgrade. If you’ve noticed dimming headlights, slow window roll down speeds, or voltage drops it’s time to do a Big 3 Upgrade.
Wires to Upgrade / Installation Steps:
1. Alternator charging wire to Battery positive
2. Battery negative to chassis ground wire
3. Engine Block to chassis ground wire
1/0 Gauge wire is recommended as it will provide the lowest resistance and potential current flow, but any size larger than the factory wires will be an improvement.
OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) wire is always recommended over CCA (Copper Clad Aluminum) because of it’s superior conductivity and corrosion resistance.
Examine your vehicle before purchasing an Big 3 Upgrade kit to make sure you have all the necessary tools to do that job, and that you buy the correct length of wire.
*Keep in mind that some car’s batteries are located in the trunk of the vehicle, these will require longer runs of wire.*
Installation Tools and Accessories:
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/cat_i3_amplifier-installation-accessories.html?utm_source=YouTube&utm_campaign=How%20To&utm_medium=Youtube%20Description&utm_term=big%203&utm_content=Install%20Tools
More information on the Big 3 Upgrade:
http://knowledge.sonicelectronix.com/car-audio-and-video/how-to-big-3-upgrade/
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Big 3 Upgrade step by step
How come he hooked up the old charging with along WITH the new one? why not just leave the old one disconnected at both ends?
Praise the LORD for creating electricity.
Hi. Can i add all these ground wires on existing ground wires ? Is it okay or should i remove the previous grounds and install the new ones ? Please helpp
Always use a fusible link to the battery positive, unless of course you're okay risking destroying your charging system and causing a massive fire…
New dumb dumb learning to DIY my jeep can you use a colored paint instead of a clear coat after Installing the ground? (Make it look nicer but still be effective)? Great vids as always learning a ton from your vids thanks
Is that just amp wire?
Did u fuse the power wire? How much fuse do u recommend to run? How about the oem power wire did u still connect that too with the big power wire?
i have a 2010 xc90 volvo where the battery is in the back, how do you approach that.
great video, definitely leart a few new things
So I don't need to ground my alternator?
Did you leave the stock battery ground hooked up?
Doing the Big 3 today on my 1996 Audi A4 Quatteo. Already have it in service mode(front bumper, rad support, etc removed). This video helped me make the decision to leave my factory power wire intact, just adding to the OE wires with my Big 3 kit(got mine from Skar Audio, 1/0 gauge kit). The engine to chassis ground isn't going to be too bad, it's easily accessible now that the front is off the car. The battery to chassis ground has me somewhat concerned, as the whole battery tray area is quite rusty. It's gonna be a lot of cleaning to get her right I think lol. Thanks for this truly helpful watch!! Made this job WAY easier to understand.
Stainless steel hardware connected to regular carbon steel makes corrosion much worse. Do not do that. Stick to factory body bolts.
I've installed 'the big 3' in several vehicles. What I noticed, after the fact, was easier & more consistent starting, and the interior lights were slightly brighter.
Of note, on every connection point, I applied a very small amount of dielectric grease. Yes, this grease prohibits electrical conductivity – when pressure is applied (ie. when you tighten a nut or bolt) the dielectric grease pushes out of the way, thereby allowing a solid metal-to-metal connection, but the remaining dielectric grease acts as a 'seal' from outside elements. I've been doing this for over 15 years and it has helped increased the electrical consistency with each vehicle I've done this on.
It is a smart move to make sure there is a 30 amp fuse on the wire that leads from the alternator to the battery – the fuse is best placed as close to the alternator as possible. This is just in case the sheathing of the wire becomes damaged and exposes the wire inside – the fuse will pop before it would short out anything electrical (ie. ECU, fuses, relays, etc).
Maybe next time you use the right cable lugs. At the alternator for example you used a M8 lug on a M6 screw. And its better to use industrial standart lugs than those thin "hifi" lugs.
Also you can use electrically conductive paint.
Thx bro 🇺🇸
Good video.
If you only deal with larger gauge wire once in awhile, it is hard to justify spending $40-50 on a larger, hydraulic type crimping tool. so see below.
Instead of "crimping" you can "solder" you end connections. Just make sure you have "solid" connecter, and not two pieces crimped together for best results. Take your connector drill a small hole where you would normally crimp. Dip the wires into flux and place into the connector. Now heat the connector, once hot keep the flame/heat on the bottom as much as possible and now feed your solder through the hole. Once done make sure to add a heat shrink piece to cover up the hole and secure connector to wire.
Can i do this on my 04 dodge stratus 2.4 also the problem im having is the lights diming
You never add a wire. Always CHANGE the wire to an uprated current wire of the correct cable type. the simple reason for this is that you need to allow for the maximum permissible amperage of the cable run. Adding a wire really doesn't make it any better, if one wire fails, you have a live floating around also unless both wires are rated for the maximum permissible amperage and a bit more, you'll overload the wires and cause a fire, if you haven't already got that with a broken live cable.