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Battery Wiring Upgrade

rwat96

NAXJA Forum User
Hey guys, new to the forum here :)
Anyways I am wanting to upgrade the ground wiring and the wiring from the alternator to the battery, but I have not been able to find clear information on what to do with the charging wires to the alt? I have a mild audio system in my jeep (about 600w rms total) and it causes dimming when cranked and I plan to upgrade my headlights and install some aux lighting in the future. Also i should note i just recently upgraded to a 136 amp grand cherokee alternator as well because my stereo killed my other alternator. Any suggestions or pages covering this would appriciated.
 
Dimming headlights has more to do with voltage drop. I used to have the same problem. I'm still running the same stock alternator and the dimming is no more. The combination of upgrades I made was to install better power cable to the amp(2 guage for a 500 watt amp), I picked up a better battery, refreshed all my grounds, and upgraded my headlight harness. Dimming has disappeared. I'm running stock alternator and battery cabling as well. Just went through and cleaned all the major ground and positive contact points.

The major point is to make sure your supplying your amp with quality cable. Not all cable that is label a certain size is actually that size. In my recent fridge install in my van I found the power cable that had previously been installed was closer to 10 gauge than the 4 gauge it was labeled as.


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Dimming headlights has more to do with voltage drop. I used to have the same problem. I'm still running the same stock alternator and the dimming is no more. The combination of upgrades I made was to install better power cable to the amp(2 guage for a 500 watt amp), I picked up a better battery, refreshed all my grounds, and upgraded my headlight harness. Dimming has disappeared. I'm running stock alternator and battery cabling as well. Just went through and cleaned all the major ground and positive contact points.

The major point is to make sure your supplying your amp with quality cable. Not all cable that is label a certain size is actually that size. In my recent fridge install in my van I found the power cable that had previously been installed was closer to 10 gauge than the 4 gauge it was labeled as.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ya I knew a higher amperage alternator would not fix the dimming, I just did it because the extra power wouldn't hurt, especially with wiring upgrades. And the wiring to my Amps is adiquate and actually the Guage it's suppost to be. I am running 8awg to my speaker amp nd 4awg to my sub amp. So the problem lies in the stock ground wiring, and I want to upgrade the charging wires too while j am in there as they are wimpy as well .
 
I ran 4gauge off the alternator thru an audio type enclosed inline fuse holder (pick your amperage), then connected to the the positive post of the battery. Has worked great for years now and was cheap to do.
 
I ran 4gauge off the alternator thru an audio type enclosed inline fuse holder (pick your amperage), then connected to the the positive post of the battery. Has worked great for years now and was cheap to do.

Don't you have to run the wire to the PCM first though or you won't be able to run the car off the alternator if the battery goes bad? Or did you do thaf?
 
No. The factory one just goes thru the fuse box. I didn't do anything with the field wires, which go to the pcm.

Ah ok thankyou!
 
I make battery cables if anyone is interested. Been selling them over at CherokeeForum for s while.

What is your pricing/options?
 
http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f73/upgraded-battery-cables-221513/

Pretty much in a nutshell, 4 awg kits are $125 shipped, that's including the fuse holder and two 150 amp fuses, and positive/negative military style terminals.
The 2 awg kits are the same except in thickness and go for $160 shipped.

Ok sounds good, I may be interested when I get a few other things my jeep needs out of the way that just came up as it isn't running right at the moment and my u joints are about to pop lol.
 
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