Brake Light on and dimming

[plyer3 10+ year member]

The Brake Light icon on the dashboard lit up today and strangely my lights are dimming on vol 18 and above when it shouldn't. Had the DC 230amp alternator installed earlier in the week and I was getting zero dimming. A few days ago on the freeway, I pressed hard on the gas to speed up and all my lights on the dashboard lit up for a second or two but that problem has not showed up again. Played my system on full vol friday night to test out alt and electrical and went fine.

Checked all my wiring and everything looks fine. All my lights are working as well, checked the brake lights and everything.

The Brake Light icon keeps coming up and off sometimes, sometimes it would dim and flash. Most of the time the Brake Light sign lights up a little then stays fully lit, after a while it goes back to low light.

Any idea on the problem?

Honda Accord 99 w 2 kinetik hc1400 and 230amp dc alternator. big 3. all 0gauge wires.

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[Horsemanwill 10+ year member]

have u checked ur brakes?

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

have u checked ur brakes?

are you talking about brake lights? they work fine. so do my brakes.

 

[blong4life 10+ year member]

What about your brake fluid level?

 

[quins90lac 10+ year member]

hey give me one of your bats before you get in a wreck. he meant like checking the pads and the rotors

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

brake fluid level is fine and so are the pads and rotors.......they all work fine. the main problem is the electrical, with the alternator i shouldnt be having the bad dimming.

 

[Ceebes 10+ year member]

brake fluid level is fine and so are the pads and rotors.......they all work fine. the main problem is the electrical, with the alternator i shouldnt be having the bad dimming.

Are you sure you didn't disconnect something you wern't suppose to when you installed everything? Check your fuses too, I blew a fuse and my dash light wouldn't stay on. Check it out.

 

[Upgrayedd 10+ year member]

Is the alt charging? If there is an issue with dash wiring it is possible you aren't charging since the stator goes through the charge light. There is a possibility that the dash is pulling power or ground through the brake light.

 

[Enellz 10+ year member]

Is the alt charging? If there is an issue with dash wiring it is possible you aren't charging since the stator goes through the charge light. There is a possibility that the dash is pulling power or ground through the brake light.

I agree, is it charging. Go get it tested

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

ok just did a test today, it seems like my voltage stays around 13.4-14.1 when playing subs around vol 18-20 but lights are dimming....

i didn't get this problem until recently. when i had the alternator installed, everything seemed to work fine with no dimming on vol 25...

i will prob go to Autozone to get my alternator tested. my batts stay on 13.4 front and back. also i noticed that when i put my dimm on the screws for the terminals on the rear battery it couldn't read, i had to put the dimm pos and neg below the screws(bought from lowes since the original was too short) in order to get it to read the voltage. doubt that has anything to do with it.

also would it be a good idea to get another battery? maybe another hc1400.

oh and the brake light icon was gone while driving back home from school today although it was on driving to school(right when i pulled into the street).

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

seems like my voltage is dropping, pretty bad. i'll have the alternator check out tomorrow.

 

[Upgrayedd 10+ year member]

have it checked in the car before pulling. The alt itself may be ok.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

have it checked in the car before pulling. The alt itself may be ok.

yea going to autozone to do that later. thanks, hopefully it's not the alternator.

 

[plyer3 10+ year member]

Ok, just went to Autozone and had the car checked out. It looks like my front hc1400 is dead, the rear was fine. He measured the alternator at 32amps on idle.........

so the alternator is bad as well? gonna order an hc1800 for the front.