How I Cut Off The Plastic Snd Its Just Fiber Glass Should I Saw It Shorter Or What????

 

best way to maximize your system is to optimize the way all components work together.

if you haven't had the 3300HP tuned for the box already, you want to make sure you have a low enough d/k so you don't overdrive the amp and hurt it, and you want to make sure you have good swing (most people look for around a 1:4 d/k to modulation swing). 2w is a good starting point for a d/k and then tune for 1:4 swing ratio.

do NOT clip limiters, etc... you may sound louder, but the signal won't be as clean, and you may get lots of splatter over adjacent channels.

get that swr as low as possible. go for max ground plane to get out the best - power is good, but antenna setup is critical. gotta know what you want the 1000w for- are you going for all-around transmission, or are you going to use it for keydowns where directional is best?

cable- 2/0 is good, but 1/0 fine-stranded welding wire would be better at this power level.

coax- RG8X minimum. there are other coaxes available that can carry a much higher wattage, but i have no experience on these. i wouldn't want to give you incorrect info, so i can't comment on these.

is your amp a high-drive, or does the mfr recommend a kicker amp to drive it properly? 1000w w/o a kicker may not have enough drive to get you to the 1000w goal (again, depends on the amp - some amps have kicker circuits built in (i.e., 1 driving 4) and some just straight up 2SC2879 pills. the larger comp boxes generally require a driver amp, usually a 2-pill.

the second alt is functional, but not practical (most people remove their a/c compressor and bolt the second alt to that. convenient in terms of mounting and running belts, not so nice if you live someplace hot and need that a/c. some folks have mounting brackets fabbed up, but then you have to find a serpentine belt the correct length for your new setup (not always easy, kind of a trial-and-error proposition).

again, for that level of current draw, i wouldn't waste time or money with a rewound factory alt. i would go straight for replacing the factory alt (stock Toyota alts on the 3.4 motors don't put out a lot - i forgot the exact amt. on my 98 T4R, but i'm pretty sure it wasn't even 100w). i would look at Powermaster, Leece-Neville, or some other h/o alt. a nice plus is that some of the comp alts have voltage regulators built-in.

batteries - i would at the MINIMUM replace the stock battery with an optima yellow or blue top, or even add a second deep cycle battery with an isolater. a maul, as you mentioned earlier, is also a viable option, they can be configured for one or two alts, multiple batts, etc...

after wiring your battery(ies) up to the alt(s), you want to make sure they charge and can feed that hungry amp. alts make their rated output at a given rpm, so you need to know that rpm for max output. you also have to take into account drag on the engine from the amp(s). after upgrading and tweaking up to this point, especially with the larger cable if you choose to go that route, the amp will be drawing a lot of amps from your alt and batts.

like i mentioned earlier, lots of the comp guys at keydowns simply go up to the line and floor it when they key down to keep their alts' rpm up. lots of times if they don't just floor it, they may stall out the motor.

sorry, this is kind of a long post... but this is a compromise between "ultimate cheap" and a practical, functional system that's optimized for what it is and what its intended use is. lots of it is just optimizing components and the way they interact to get the most out of what you have, before replacing/upgrading equipment.

i've seen people try to get by as cheap as possible, and while it may work for a while, it's not necessarily optimum or good for the equipment. lots of times it results in a nice cloud of 10ohm smoke.

hope this helps! i know there are more knowlegeable people than me out there, maybe they can jump in with their experience as well.

 

Yeh, my connex is setup. It's got a 2watt d/k swinging up to 47 watts. So I'm setup ok here.

My swr is Super sweet. 1.2 at the highest point, 1.1 across the rest of the band. 1.9 to 2.0 with the box on.
I am running new rg8x. I tried running bigger rg6** something but it was way to hard to run as it had no ability to flex hardly at all, so back to rg8x I went.

It has a 1 pill 2879 driving into 4 other 2879's. Some consider this a highdrive box, and some don't. Weird I know, and yes I've asked many people. I was told by the mfg....to set my radio dk low and let it swing as high as possible.
But anyhow Merlin, I don't want to sound monotonous with this all. Luckily my ac unit doesn't work anymore and I was planning on removing it anyhow. All i really need to do is rig a bracket for a second alt to take it's place. When I go about doing this, I will certainly post a writeup and some pics.
ROCK'N-ROLL MERLIN....

 

It's Friday night and I figured rather than get into trouble with friends I would get started on my dual alternator setup. The first thing I need to do is remove my AC compressor (it doesn't work anyhow), because this is where I am going to be placing my second alternator. By removing the ac compressor and placing the alternator in its place, I won't have to upgrade to new pulleys.....I will only have to fab up some alternator brackets. This thread will be a kind of a "build-up" thread showing the steps I've taken to get my charging system capable for 1000+watts. I will post some pics of what's going on, and would like it if you all would critique, criticize, or inform me as I go along with this. I know very little about cb radios, but have done extensive fab work and automotive work.......I have a 130amp Gm Alternator if I can fit it in place, if not I will go for an aftermarket 160+amp.
alright I gotta get the air compressor fired up, and get out all my Mac and SnapOn tools...yeeeeeehaaaaa
-yota167
pics to come later

 

I have decided to go for a dual alternator setup. Mostly because I really want the extra power and adjustable volts for my radio, but of course this will also come in real handy with a myriad of other modifications that will be added to my tacoma as soon as I get another daily driver ie. winches and an onboard aircompressor.

Here are some pics of my rewoval. The process took about 15 minutes to remove the compressor and lines. Before removal I checked the schrader valve on the compressor line for pressure, and as I expected there was no remaining refrigerant in the system. Next step is aquiring an alternator that will be the easiest to fab brackets for. I'm hoping my extra gm 110amp alt in the garage here will work for the time being untill I get around to buying a sick160 or 200amp unit from ohio generator.

Has anyone done this mod to their Tacoma? I can't even find a dual alternator bracket setup for this truck. I have to laugh because I have found all kinds of pre-fabbed dual alternator setups for silly import cars but not my Tacoma.

Picture before removal:

Picture after removal:

Picture of compressor on bench:

 

try a search on the net... i'm sure someone, somewhere has done this and has a writeup on it. if anything, a plasma torch, or some other kind of cutting implement, some thick sheet metal, and a welder and grinder ought to do it.

maybe you can use the original compressor bracket as a starting point for a template (trace it out onto cardboard or manilla folders) and then just add material to it until it both fits under the hood and you can mount the alt to it.

if you stick with the gm alt/case, i believe you can simply upgrade to gm-cased alts later that put out lots more voltage than you will probably ever need.

 

Merlin, I also thought that someone, somewhere has done this to a Tacoma.
Unbelievably, I was unable to find any Tacoma writeups. I serached tacomaterritory.com, trd websites, audio websites, you name it I searched it. Brian894x4.com had tons of great info on this topic, and I was suprised he did exactly what I'm doing now, except on a toyota pickup 22re. Esentially the same locations and everything as I have on my 2.7L Tacoma. That brian894x4.com site just didn't show any of the bracketry for the alternator replacing the ac compressor

I did remove the original compressor bracket and am doing just as you stated: using it as the template for a new bracket for a GM style alternator. I got the GM alternator and will be fabbing up a bracket this week hopefully, if not this week, this weekend. I'll post some pics of the fab process as soon as I get a chance.
Take care Merlin.
-yota167

 

very nice setup man. i hope i'm not hi-jacking your thread if i ask a few questions but here it goes.

I have a Uniden 520 XL which i'd like to keep since it fits perfectly where my ash tray used to be and i don't know that it'd be worth it for me to upgrade radios. One thing i'd like to upgrade though is my output. I'm assuming my radio puts out 7 watts or whatever the FCC limits it to. Can i simply add an amp, say 125 watts or so (like this one), and be good to go or is it a little more complicated than that?

 

Nah, you certainly are not hi-jacking anything. That Magna Force Amp is a great amp, but those are designed with ssb delay; meaning if you ever want to talk on upper side band channels, and lower side band channels, it will work for that....however you have to have a sideband capable radio. Very few folks talk sideband anymore, but you should know that it is a much more efficient means of two-way communication because it uses your voice modulation as the main carrier unlike the regular citizen band.
As far as your radio goes:
Yes, you can have that radio "worked on" by a cb tech at one of your local shops if you are not up to the job yourself. You will want to get that radio ready to drive a 1 pill modulator and to do this you need to have the deadkey turned down to about 2 or 3 watts, and then have it swing up to it's max potential around 15+watts. This is called a "peak and tune" in the radio world and will make the little box(amp) work to it's fullest potential. Other than that, the most important thing in the whole radio system is the ANTENNA. Get a good Wilson Mag mount, a 1000, or 5000. Tune the antenna's SWR, and you'll have a great sounding setup which will be heard when you need it most......however if I were you, and I am not, I would spend the money and buy a good dual final radio like a connex3300hp, a magnum 440, galaxy33 or 99v, and get it supertuned. You will not need an amp because these radios are very very "high performance". But if you are really stuck on the uniden 520 then you could run an external amp. I don't think it is the best setup( that radio is built pretty cheap) but it would work just fine.

 

well already got a wilson 5000 so i'm good there. how much can one of those radios you suggested put out? and how much is it to "peak and tune" of one of them? oh and what is sideband? (by upper and lower channels i'm assuming you mean ch 1ish and 40ish?

thanks for the info man.

 

You could see upwards of 50+watts from any one of those radios. They have such great audio and such an awesome amount of "modulation swing" that they sound louder even with less wattage.
Sideband is a band of frequencies higher than or lower than the carrier frequency, containing power as a result of the modulation process. The sidebands consist of all the Fourier components of the modulated signal except the carrier meaning your voice is the ONLY form of signal being transmitted therefore it is clearer and not cluttered by the "dead noise" of a carrier.
a "Peak and Tune" as it's called, usually costs about 50 to 60 bucks. Tell the tech what you plan on doing with your radio, and they can set it up accordingly. Some tech's will clip limiters and add mod-kits. Make sure you tell them you don't want anything "clipped" as it will over-modulate your tx(transmit) and cause you to sound muffled on the recieve end of another's radio. Just a few things to think about....

 

this is sounding more and more appealing. would it be worth spending a little more for the Connex 4300HP. i read it goes up 70 watts. what kind of range can you get with 50 watts? is there a chart that shows wattage to distance anywhere? (right now it seems like my setup can get somewhere between 1 and 2 miles at most)

 

Distance in relation to amounts of wattage is one of those variables that can never truly be compared. The weather, topography, groundplane, antenna setup, coax, recieving stations antenna setup coax and everything else I stated above as well as rf interference the list goes on and on all affect transmition distance as well as receive. Essentially the only thing extra watts do (NOTE ANYTHING MORE THAN 4watts AM CB is ILLEGAL) is give you more "punch through the airwaves". I don't have the time to go over this topic, as it is incredibly interesting, and very technical. Maybe rather than type it out of my thoughts, I ought to try and find a ham-article on this topic and post it for you.

The 4600 is a good radio. Just a beefed up version of the 3300hp. One problem with them is they tend to sound "overmodulated" to anyone that is close to you. Turning them down helps, but having a 400 dollar radio which get's replies from people as sounding muffled will drive you nuts. It'll sound great at long distance though.

 

all good to know. thx for the info once again rngrchad.

 

Anytime. If you have any questions just post'm. If I don't know, I'm sure Merlin would.