big 3 and still dimming? bad battery?

[Xjeff]

hello so I installed my mid/high amp today and noticed my lights r dimming again. i'm thinking it the pos stock battery. I have 0gauge big 3 and 0 gauge to distro block and then about 6 inchs of 4 gauge from distro into my amps, both say 4 gauge inputs. my ground wires total 3' from both amps to ground, (as with the power cables 4gauge from amp to distro then 0gauge distro to ground. sanded down all my grounds to bare metal. tested my alt it sits at about 14.8v with no load on it and my battery is "good" 12.8v with no load on it, but its only a 510 cca wet cell battery (this is why i think its the battery). when at full tilt on songs my voltage is dropping from 14.8v to about 13.7v which is not great, but not putting a lot of harm to my electrical system. so from this i would have to say its my battery, but if anyone else thinks its something else please let me know, thanks for taking the time to read

P.S. I'm thinking about going with a kinetiks 1600 or 1800 to fix this, but before i drop $200 on a battery i want to make sure its not a simple wire too small or something.

[05trailblazer]

its called 'real world' results. your actually not dropping too llow so you should be good. start worrying when you hit below 11s even 12s

[05trailblazer]

also bro if your thinking of getting a battery dont go kinetik route i had one the one on my Sig and compared to the xs power; xs is the way to go. just to let u know on how to spend your money well

[Xjeff]

possibly my alt too? i have a 1500rms amp and using say 200rms from my mid/highs amp and i figured that the peak amp both they CAN but not always pulling is ~120amps and then the amps from normal car functions so im guessing at full tilt + lights + heater its possible for my electrical system to want to pull ~140amps and stock alt is 85amp in my car. i know its probably never sees any where close to that but probably drawing more than 85amp so would a new 200amp alt be better spent over the battery?

[05trailblazer]

it wouldnt be a bad investment(alternator) if your staying with that vehicle. example iff your going to be doing bigger builds and such

[av83]

possibly my alt too? i have a 1500rms amp and using say 200rms from my mid/highs amp and i figured that the peak amp both they CAN but not always pulling is ~120amps and then the amps from normal car functions so im guessing at full tilt + lights + heater its possible for my electrical system to want to pull ~140amps and stock alt is 85amp in my car. i know its probably never sees any where close to that but probably drawing more than 85amp so would a new 200amp alt be better spent over the battery?

Yeah, that alt is definitely holding you back. But, as was said, you're not doing bad of only dropping a volt or so. Especially with a single stock battery. An alt is always a great investment, but just try putting a nice agm up front and see what happens.

[TeamProdigyMike]

If your voltage is in the 13v range you should not have any noticeable head light dimming. Mine drop down to 11.7 on hard notes and i don't have any headlights dimming. I would change the battery first. And i agree with tho there guy no kinetic. xs power or stinger are the be

[Xjeff]

Hmm well I've read every car is different with the head light dimming, hear some stories of people who got a ho alt, new beefy batt and ran multiple big 3 runs and we're sitting at 14.7v and would still dim lights hard on the littlest bass notes, I don't know if they ever fixed it, probably at that point I would take 2 batts and put them in the back and say screw it lol. But yeah I'm going to buy a new battery, and if that doesn't work ill just throw it in back and wire my amps right to it, avoid my whole cars electrical system

[gckless]

Lights in a car tend to be sensitive to voltage changes. Dropping to where you are isn't bad. Shit, some vehicles stock don't charge over 14V. Simply put, you are drawing more power than you are producing or have reserve for, and that's the reason you're dropping. A better/bigger under-hood battery is where I would start if you can't live with it.

[05trailblazer]

Hmm well I've read every car is different with the head light dimming, hear some stories of people who got a ho alt, new beefy batt and ran multiple big 3 runs and we're sitting at 14.7v and would still dim lights hard on the littlest bass notes, I don't know if they ever fixed it, probably at that point I would take 2 batts and put them in the back and say screw it lol. But yeah I'm going to buy a new battery, and if that doesn't work ill just throw it in back and wire my amps right to it, avoid my whole cars electrical system

just remember what batteries are good 4 you. stay away from kinetik. bad investment.

[Xjeff]

Anyone bought from nick the battery guy? Does his battery stand up to xs? Cus I know his are about half the price

[trumpet]

Check for resistance at the grounds for your headlights.

[Xjeff]

Ok how do I check my light grounds? I have a ddm guessing that you mean use that.

[KTMrida4life]

If you still have your stock battery.. and especially the original OEM battery terminal clamps, thats probably the problem. Ive seen so many crazy things happen to a car because of a crappy connection to a crappy battery. Car wont turn over, lights dim, alarm goes off, gauges bouncing around, headlights dimming, bad voltage drop.. etc.

Buy a better battery, preferably an AGM of some kind, and once it comes time to install it cut the old terminal clamps off, redo the factory wires powering the car with new ring terminals (cut them, restrip and crimp) and I bet it makes quite the difference.

[KTMrida4life]

Remember it doesnt matter how good of a job you did installing everything or how big of cable you used, or what amps/equipment your running.. if theres old crappy wires/connections going to the big fuse block that ultimately powers the whole car, which includes your headlights, you might have some dimming.. some people do the big 3 and add batteries and amps but forget to make sure the wiring powering the car is not corroded to heck and is making as good of a connection as everything else. It is a system..