i have about 1200 watts on the system and the oem alternator i think is 80 amps. i want to get an extra battery in the trunk. i can either get the kinetik hc800 or the hc1400. i do not know if my stock alternator will be able to handle the battery under the hood and the hc1400. i can buy the 1400 from a friend for about 140 so its a good deal. but im afraid that my alternator will die if i use the hc1400 instead of the hc800. does anyone know if i could go with the hc1400? o and i also have a H/O alternator with 130amps but i dont know if it actually does more than stock at idle so i dont know if the h/o alternator would be any better at powering the extra hc1400. any help would be appreciated.

that is a good deal from you friend for the battery. just make sure it wi.ll fit.

IIRC, most HO alts don't really get HO until they are spinning a lil faster. At least, that is my experience.

well i dont think im goin to stick with the H/O alternator. and with my stock alternator, its gonna have trouble powering two batteries so i decided not to get my friends deal, but my brother is going to buy it from him tho. i did however bought a optima yellow top. for some reason tho when i checked the voltage on the yellow top with my heating and defrost on, it was really low about 12.1 volts. i did a replacement of my stock battery under the hood n kept the cap in the trunk. with the heat and defrost off the voltage jumps back to 14.1. everything is good until the heat is turned on. with the audio turned on, things are still above 13.0 what am i doing wrong here? i thought optima yellow tops were supposed to be the best?

IIRC, most HO alts don't really get HO until they are spinning a lil faster. At least, that is my experience.

that is why i decided to keep the stock alternator b/c i dont even think it does higher than stock amp output at idle.

optima's are not the best battery, just the best marketed.

kinetik, stinger, ect. are good batts. xtatic

also, keep inmind that most factory alts, put out max power at highway speeds. 2500rpms or so

A HO alt would be the way I would have went. It will not hamper your system, but you will not see eleventybillion amps of current at idle. Which is what it sounds like you want.

well i returned the optima to autozone and they said it was bad so i got a new one. ima try to put it in and see how the voltage drops with heating on... really i think the only difference between the yellow top and my battery is that the yellow top is a deep cycle. i just thought it would be smart to put the yellow top under the hood if i didnt get another battery in the trunk.