Audio Upgrade and Battery

[John E Heikkila]

Hello all, new to owning a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and new to the forum.

 

I am looking to add my audio system to this new car of mine. I have 2 amps totaling 1000w RMS between the two of them, I am sure they never really get to the full 1000w as I do not crank the knob wide open. The 2 amps power 4 speakers and 2 10" subs. I would be adding component speakers to the front, 6x9s to the rear deck, and 5x7s to the rear doors (the rear doors will be powered by the head unit. I picked up a PAC adapter to keep the factory headunit and sync, but add a 4 channel RCA connection.

 

I wanted to replace the battery with a more powerful one, like a kinetik 2000w but it just won't fit. So I am thinking about using the 1/0 gauge wire I ran to the trunk and connecting that to a 200amp isolator and then to a 2000w kinetik battery in the trunk and running all of my equipment off of that battery.

 

My question: Is this OK to do in a hybrid? Since there isn't a traditional alternator. Or do you think that the Motorcraft 65rc is enough?

[Easy Rider]

I think you are on thin ice here.

Hopefully somebody knows for sure .......but I kind of doubt it.

 

TWO amps......500 watts each.......WAY overkill and the charging equipment might be over-taxed even at 1/4 volume.

Changing the battery probably won't be enough.

[murphy]

The factory 12 volt battery can barely keep up with the load of the car. It will not survive the load of a system that big. The charging system (DC to DC converter) is programmed with the charging characteristics of the factory battery. It doesn't know how to charge a bigger battery.

[John E Heikkila]

OK, so what if I kept all the speakers on the head unit and only used one amp to power the subwoofers? Is there anyway to have a system in a Hybrid?

[Easy Rider]

OK, so what if I kept all the speakers on the head unit and only used one amp to power the subwoofers? Is there anyway to have a system in a Hybrid?

If your sub-woofer amp isn't more than a couple of hundred watts.....AND you are careful to NOT run it in ACC mode when the car is really off......then you should be OK.

 

And don't give up based on just a few replies over a couple of days.

There still might be someone who visits here infrequently who can help you out.

 

Putting in an after-market system really isn't a problem; getting carried away with power that has no real useful purpose is where the problem comes in.

[John E Heikkila]

My sub amp is 400w rms, I can sell my speaker amp and get a 200w rms speaker amp, pushing 50 to each speaker. That would be 600w rms total, and would be what I ideally want in my car. It is rare that I go passed half volume with the stock speakers, so I doubt I will hit half often with these speakers, I just want better highs, mids, and lows, hence wanting to replace the speakers and adding subs. So I would bet that my amps would rarly ever push more than 400-500w at any given time. I don't know if this is OK or not, according to Easy Rider's last post, it would still be over kill.

 

If anyone has any suggestions on how to make my original setup or this current thought work, please let me know.

[acdii]

What you might consider doing is finding a deep cycle battery in the same dimensions as the stock battery. That will give you some extra capacity for the stereo, and add in a CAP or too to smooth out the power flow so the DC converter doesn't take the hits. Just remember to turn everything off before you turn off the car, and also turn the volume down when you do, so when you turn it on there isn't a huge spike of power across the 12V system. You should be OK with the lower watt amps, but the killer amps would not work well in the Hybrid, you will have electrical issues for sure since it isn't design to run anything more than what the factory installs. The Sony system pushes 390 watts, so 400 watts should be fine.

[John E Heikkila]

How does this battery look? Kinetik KHC1200 1200 Watt Powercell I had planned to replace battery, this one I think is just about the same size, and should fit.

[John E Heikkila]

How does this battery look? Kinetik KHC1200 1200 Watt Powercell I had planned to replace battery, this one I think is just about the same size, and should fit.

[Easy Rider]

How does this battery look? Kinetik KHC1200 1200 Watt Powercell I had planned to replace battery, this one I think is just about the same size, and should fit.

Just from the description, that looks like a decent battery but trying to rate it in "audio watts" to attract the audio "nut" is probably misleading.

It is a decent price for an AGM battery of that size........but likely is made in China, which might not be so good.

 

BUT.....the battery really is NOT the problem, as it does not MAKE any power.

The real problem is with the alternator in a conventional car or the DC to DC converter in a hybrid.

If that won't make enough power to keep up you could fill the whole back seat with batteries and not help any.