How many watts is the factory electrical system?

[MustangLife]

I have a 2003 Mustang GT with the factory mach 460 still installed. I have a NAPA battery I'm ditching for a better one. I'm going the "Kinetics" route instead of an Optima. Supposedly these are much stronger. But anyway Kinetics says most factory systems range from 800-1200 watts There batteries are add-ons or battery replacements. So anybody know what our systems watts would be?

Thanks
Josh

 

[ar0wan]

Your stereo runs off of your alternator when the car is running..
and doesn't the 460 illustrate the wattage, I'm pretty sure it does in the S197s.

 

[AdRock]

The Mach 460 is supposed to be 460watts

The Mach 1000 is supposed to be 1000watts.

And it's your cars stereo system, not it's electrical system.

 

[MustangLife]

The Mach 460 is supposed to be 460watts

The Mach 1000 is supposed to be 1000watts.

And it's your cars stereo system, not it's electrical system.

Watts doesn't just include the stereo system. Like for example a CRT monitor will consume 80 watts of power. In a car a small light bulb will use 8 watts of power. Your forgeting about everything else in the system. Theres alot more to it than car audio. So basically the radio, the head lights, a/c, tail lights, etc etc all consume watts.

watt definition watt (wät)

noun

the basic unit of electric, mechanical, or thermal power in the SI and MKS systems, equal to one joule per second or 10 ergs per second ( of a horsepower): for electric power it is equal to one volt-ampere: abbrev. W

So does anyone know how many watts the electrical system in a mustang consumes with a mach 460 counting the 460 watts from the stereo?

 

[Drew0318]

Right, but when used in reference to cars, nobody uses it that way.

Volts/amps, yes. But generally not in terms of watts for the electrical system.

That's what the confusion is about.

In regard to stereo/electronic terms, yes.

People usually upgrade the alternator with bigger stereos, to cope with the increased amperage draw. But there again, it's not too common to see it referred to with "watts".

You're not necessarily wrong, it's just not a common term used to describe it.

 

[Ordie]

The car stereo draws amps/volts from the alternator, i.e. the power it uses.

The OUTPUT of the stereo is watts.

IF you want to know how much power the stereo uses out of the supplied power from the alternator you want to know how many amps it draws.

 

[n0v8or]

Total "system watts" is generally defined by the capacity of the alternator. If you have an 80-amp alternator that can continuously output 80A at 14V, that's 1120 watts. For a 100A altenator, the number would be 1400 watts.

If all of your electical loads add up to more than the capacity of the alternator, there will be no reserve to charge the battery, and it will gradually become discharged. This often happens during snowstorms, when vehicles are at idle for long periods of time with headlights, defroster, sound system, and windshield wipers all on. You wil see cars stopped/abandoned along the side of the roadway for no apparent reason.

 

[ar0wan]

The car stereo draws amps/volts from the alternator, i.e. the power it uses.

The OUTPUT of the stereo is watts.

IF you want to know how much power the stereo uses out of the supplied power from the alternator you want to know how many amps it draws.

Exactly. You'll want to upgrade your alternator, not your battery.
If that's even necessary..