big 3 fail?

[Mr.meyhem 10+ year member]

so i did the big 3 today. it doesn't seem like it worked.. lights are still dimming really bad. i did batt + to alt +, batt - to alt case, then batt - to chassis. so why isn't it working? i might try sanding my ground some more but is there anything else i could have done wrong?

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[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Nope sounds like you did it right...you aren't using any bass boosts or anything else that would be causing clipping would you? And did you check to see what voltage you are dropping to? The voltage in my pathfinder doesn't really drop at all but i still get dimming

 

[Mr.meyhem 10+ year member]

my civic doesn't have a stock volt meter but i have one on the way. i will try sanding down the chassis ground and see if that does anything. i was at half volume on both sub and music and they were dimming bad... I'm only running 1500w if that.

 

[rosshimself13 10+ year member]

my voltage drops alot in my frontier, but i dont get dimming because i installed hid headlights.. of course this isnt a help to you but did you run your ground from front battery to rear battery? or amp if you dont have a second battery..

 

[pieper88 10+ year member]

The big 3 isn't some magic fix for electrical inefficiencies. If you alt/battery can't supply the power you need then adding larger power won't fix your problem.

 

[Mr.meyhem 10+ year member]

no second battery. and i wanted to add it to see if it would help. and I'm not seeing any results so I'm felling like i did something wrong. i don't have the money for a new h/o alt. and a second batt won't do anything if my alt can't even keep the one i have charged.

 

[BnGRacing 10+ year member]

Wouldn't you just find it hysterical if you went to DIYMA and asked someone for a cheap 1 farad capacitor and it worked? Look enough and you'll spend

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

Please stop recommending caps to ppl.... just stop

 

[stevew007 10+ year member]

my civic doesn't have a stock volt meter but i have one on the way. i will try sanding down the chassis ground and see if that does anything. i was at half volume on both sub and music and they were dimming bad... I'm only running 1500w if that.

well you cant say it failed because you did'nt sand the chassis ground. i remember on my grand am the batt ground went from the terminal strait to the fender screw and my light dimmed with a 300 watt amp. as soon as i replaced the little 16gauge ground with an 8 gauge and cleaned the rust off it never dimmed again.a clean ground is your friend

 

[murph 10+ year member]

Please stop recommending caps to ppl.... just stop

exactly caps like everyone says do more harm than good

 

[Mr.meyhem 10+ year member]

ill try to sand it better. I'm thinking bout getting a different battery terminal that can take 2 negative wires. idk if i can find one that will take 2/0 tho. i found some marine ones that i hear work great but i think those only go up to 0/1... should i just try to shave the wire and go with that?

 

---------- Post added at 10:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:38 PM ----------

 

ill try to put some pics up... how exactly do u put the pics in a thread thats already been made? haven't figured that out yet

 

[CHEMMINS 10+ year member]

Whats yer alternators output? It may just be possible your stock wiring was more than capable. Hence why the new wiring isn't helping. Also how old is your batt and what size? What vehicle is this?

 

[Mr.meyhem 10+ year member]

its 80a alt. 09 honda civic lx coupe. I'm not sure if the batt has ever been changed i just got it before summer. idk what size.. its not very big so i would prbly end up getting a better one before a new alt.

 

[CHEMMINS 10+ year member]

80 amp alt....if you are fully loaded, chances are you are using 50-60 of those amps. More in the summer with A/C. Your stock batt is also very small. You need a bigger alt. Plain and simple. Upgrading your wiring will do nothing for you, until you have more amps avail.

 

[Mr.meyhem 10+ year member]

yeah. thats what i figured... but my car is the base model. so it shouldn't be using more than 40a. and both my amps are high efficiency.

 

---------- Post added at 10:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 PM ----------

 

and i don't have 550 for a mechman alt. it would only be 220a too...