2003 sierra dimming prob.

[juslivin 10+ year member]

Hmm, i just installed a sundown saz-1000D in my 2001 GMC sierra and i have no dimming problems at all with stock electrical. I can even run it on full gains and i don't have any dimming problems.

I drilled a hole in the floor of the cab and grounded my amp in 1/0 to a bolt in the frame.

I also ran the positive wire from the battery in 1/0.

Edit - oh yeah i never dip below 14 volts.

 

[ado 10+ year member]

could you explain to me how to do that because my amp ground is a really long way from the battery

Using your DMM set it to OHMS. Put one lead on your amp ground and then use a piece of wire to go from your other lead to your batter negative. You'll need a 10-15' piece of wire to get there. It is just temporary to make your lead longer.

 

[jeremy.vaughn 10+ year member]

ummm i understand the amp negative part.... but why do you have to run another wire to the battery??? and which one do you use????

 

[smoka 10+ year member]

What size wire did you use for the big 3 and to connect the two batts. Did you run a seperate wire for both pos and neg?

Has this been dimming since you first upgraded the audio or is it something thats grown worse over time?

FYI the reason why your HU doesn't dim is because its probably digital (led) and will just turn off when the voltage gets too low. Same with your amps, they probably go into protect mode when the voltage drops too low.

Your batteries should be fine for car audio, you just have to realize that they are not ment to be deep cycled so everytime you have to jumpstart your car it means less life out of your batts.

It wouldn't hurt to check the batts. If one has a defect then both will have problems if you don't have an isolator. Try disconnecting them and let us know the voltage you read across the terminals. Also what voltage does your car idle at?

 

[jeremy.vaughn 10+ year member]

the big three wire is as big as my pinkie and all the other wire is thumb thickness

 

[ado 10+ year member]

ummm i understand the amp negative part.... but why do you have to run another wire to the battery??? and which one do you use????

It is just a temporary wire since the leads aren't long enough to reach that far. Regular 12-14 awg wire should work fine. It is only used for testing the resistance between where your amp ground is and your battery ground.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

It is just a temporary wire since the leads aren't long enough to reach that far. Regular 12-14 awg wire should work fine. It is only used for testing the resistance between where your amp ground is and your battery ground.

How would you factor in the added resistance of the extension wire?

 

[jeremy.vaughn 10+ year member]

whch wires do you connect to to check the resistance? amp negative and which other wire, im kinda confused.

 

[ado 10+ year member]

Ok, I drew you a picture below. I'll explain it a little more.

1. Get your wire you are going to use to reach your battery.

2. Measure the resistance of that wire.

3. Measure the resistance from your amp ground to battery.

4. Subtract resistance of wire you measured in step 2 from resistance from step 3.

All of that isn't really necessary, but it will be the most accurate. It will be quite obvious if your resistance is too high which would cause a bad ground which equals poor performance. Make the measurements and post what you get.

 

[jeremy.vaughn 10+ year member]

well now my high/ mid speakers went out.... for no reason... so now all i hear is bass, except for when the speakers click randomly ARRRRRGGGHHHHH!!!!!

 

[jeremy.vaughn 10+ year member]

and the highs will come back on when i kill out the truck and restart it....; this works sometimes and other times it will do the same thing, which is NOT WORK!!!!! and the voltage drops around 12.8 to 11 volts on hard hitting songs.. i havent measured the voltage on higher volme

 

[jeremy.vaughn 10+ year member]

umm anyone got an idea

 

[smoka 10+ year member]

Did you unhook both batts and test their resting voltage?

 

[jeremy.vaughn 10+ year member]

no but with the truck off they sit at 14.44 14.54

 

[ado 10+ year member]

Did you do what I told you to do.