Ho alt or Batts??

I got a yellow top I don't need.

 

how big is your alternator? i would probably go with the batts first.

 

I think I would choose the alternator first, esp if yours only puts out 80 amps. Adding another battery will just add something else that needs to be charged.

 

Ouch, the OP has a double edged whammy. First he has the small Honda alternator and next he has Honda's Electrical Load Detector (ELD for short). The ELD has high and low output modes and generally only reads current draw through the fusebox while things connected to the battery are not seen by it.

In high output mode, life is great, and one will get charging voltages in the 14.x range. In low output mode, life is horrible and the ECU will reduce the alternator's charging voltage to some point between 12.5 and 12.7 volts. For a more, in depth understanding, you can read about it here: http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=auto_pres

Thanks to the ELD, I managed to suck the battery dry while driving around in my 1997 Civic EX coupe. Now, my ODB1 ECU doesn't even know what an ELD is.

 

i have a friend with a neon that has 6 or 7 batts in his car. i cant remember if he added new ones or not.

anyways he has a stock alt in his. as long as the batts are new and fully charged you shouldnt have a tough time keeping then topped off while driving, but i also believe he has a charger to top them off before big shows.

he has never had voltage issues that i know of either.

 

AQ subs liked to be tuned a little high.. they are the most comfortable at 38hz. even tuned that high they dig really deep.

If you go with the AQ subs, you can contact the owner, his name is DJ and give him your max measurements for a box and what kind of car it's going into and he will give you the measurements you need to make a box... he's a good guy and always willing to help..

 

air leaks? what was the cause of the air leaks? did you use silicone caulk? I'm not that handy either with building but i had no problem building boxes... cuts can be done at lowes so actually the assembly of the box would be your only problem.. use a lot of wood glue and once the box is together before you putt the top on the box, line it with caulking. pretty simple. Oh, and use A LOT of screws. one screw for about every 2 inches.

practice makes perfect.

 

i just put it up on the RE calculator so you'll know what the cuts and the box would look like.

Note: the RE calculator isn't spot on so that's why you can see that it's not exactly what DJ said.

I would also do some double baffle in the like DJ said.

 

bottom plate : 30" x 25"
box top plate : 30" x 25"
box left plate: 24.25 x 10.5 x 24.25 x10.5
box right plate: 23.5 x 10.5 x 23.5 x10.5
box back plate: 30.00 x 10.5
box front plate: 24.75 x 10.5
port L1: 19.25 x 10.5 x 19.25 x 10.5

well, it's not 38hz but DJ does know what's good for his subs. the RE calculator says 34hz BUT the port L1 length wasn't correct. so if DJ says about 37hz then i'd figure it would be around 36 to 37 hz with the correction that the Re callculator messed up with. lol. I would trust what DJ says... the RE calculator is good for getting the box cuts.

you may want to double baffle the front. just make two front plates then you can just add .75 to the length of both left and right plates so the double baffle will fit flush.

 

Well, personally i think it's a bit lacking for the amount of power you'll be running.

with that, i would suggest you check your cars voltage when you have the system in. set the gains properly, then test it out, if your voltage drops below 12.4V then i would back off on the gain til you get good enough voltage so you won't mess up your car and the system. Then once you get enough dough to get an extra batt then you can put your gains back at the proper level.