The Big Three upgrade

[Cabinfever97]

I have never given much thought to the wires going to the battery. After a conversation with a local car electronics shop I did and it makes sense. They said to get the most out of my alternator I should increase the size of the alternator to battery, battery ground to block, and block to frame ground wire. They say the wire from the manufacture is "adequate" . However if you increase those wires size you will get better performance from your alternator since you will deliver optimal voltage to the battery without voltage loss. In their opinion, and I agree, the alternator will work less to keep the battery charged.
Lengthening the life of the alternator. Likewise the battery will have quicker recovery putting less stress on it increasing the battery life as well. From what I have found the 3 can be changed for around $100.

[rsdata]

are you talking about the tow vehicle battery? Yes all of what is said makes sense BUT only if you have some high demand (high wattage) lights or audio that requires all that additional battery power...

IF you are talking about charging your trailer battery, well running thicker wires to the 7 pin connector that supplies 12V power to the trailer will also help to recharge the trailer battery when running to your next generation. I have bought from e-trailer dot com separate 12V charging wires that run from the TV battery to the trailer battery with a 20A fuse connected to the positive cable to the trailer to keep a deeply discharged trailer battery from pulling too much current from the TV battery and overheating the wire.

[clarkbre]

What's the current size of the wires are you looking to replace and what voltage drop are you experiencing?

For example: a 100 amp alternator is not going to provide more than 100 amps if you increase the wire size. It will run at maximum efficiency. However, if you have a 100 amp alternator and wiring that can only carry 75 amps, then an upgrade to match the wiring to the alternator output would be worthwhile.

Another example: if you have a 100 amp alternator, 3' of 4/0 wire and running at 12v DC, your overall voltage drop is .029v (0.25%). I highly doubt an increase in wire size is going to be noticeable without a multimeter.

[Cabinfever97]

Talking truck. I run a 160Amp alternator. When running the 4 ways with the work trailer on my lights blink slightly with the 4 way. I had a 125 Amp before. After the alternator upgrade it helped but still there. That's when started asking questions and doing research and found the info about the big 3 upgrade. Also when plowing it seems to take longer than I like to get the battery back to the top. So I will try the cables since it is widely recommended, even with the factory alternator for better performance. Just something I never gave much thought to and found interesting.