cheap power, help please?

[pimpnhonda03]

i'm just getting into the car audio world and i have a problem

What is the cheapest thing that i can do so my amp will draw less power?

at night when my volume is sorta loud, the lights dim a lot when the bass hits. When the car is idling at about a grand, when i turn on the system, it drops to about 800 RPM. For 10's they are really loud, but it draws so much power. The battery is new, I cleaned and greased all of the posts. The sony 760 is brand new and works fine. Any help would be awesome

thanx //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif

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[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Ouch.

I'm running 2 optidrives putting out a combined 1000 watts off a stock 75 amp alt. and wal-mart battery and I have no power problems whatsoever.

Go to a hardware store and pick up a cheap volt meter. Check your voltage at the batt with the engine running then check it at your amp's terminals. You should get close to 14 at the batt. and hopefully 13.5 or more at the amp.

Then turn your amp on a check again. I can't believe that sony would give you that much trouble.

 

[geonn 10+ year member]

yea either another battery or a cap should help that. if that dont youll need a new alterantor but the battery or cap should wok

 

[Phatillusion 5,000+ posts]

Are you running the amp at 2-ohms, if so that can make your headlights dim, regardless of how small the amp is. I had problems with my lights dimming on a cheap 250wt amp. I got a bigger amp and am running my speakers off of 4-ohms instead of 2-ohms, and I have no problems with the headlights anymore. (That would be the cheapest way to go). If your amp won't supply the power you need at 4-ohms, then get a cap.

 

[kyball 10+ year member]

Its a better idea to go on ebay and by a cap. I had the sony 760W amp and it to drew a lot of power. to the point where my headlights were also dimming. I went out and bought a brand new 1farad capacitor for 45 bucks and that solved the light problem. If you bought another battery it wouldn't help as much as a cap. Extra batteries are generally used for comps, where your engine is off and you still need power. Another solution is buying a better alternator. something like a 110 amp alt. that would defenitly solve the problem. I saw those running for about 120 dollars. Another reason for buying a cap is its designed for this purpose. It stores energy temporily, and that lets it go on demand. where is a battery is designed for store more energy but its long term. I hope this helped.

latta

 

[surchrysler]

caps are only good for db drag a audio battery in the truck is the way to go if you have the room under the hood that is good to save trunk space.i curently have one audio battery and can turn up all settings with the car off and the lights on and get no dimming thats with 1000 watts. i am preparing to and another 1500 wt off bass and 500 off mid/hi fora total of 3000 wt. i will probaly and 2 more batterys and 3 caps so it will have constant juice (batteries) and three caps so that it will hit hard as well as a high power altenater.

 

[caraudiogod 10+ year member]

Definately need a new capacitor..thats if your looking for going at it the cheap way. For every 500 watts add a 1/2 of a farad. 1000 watts = 1.0 Farad, 1500 watts = 1.5 farad. and so on.. But that should take car of your problem.

 

[natem33 10+ year member]

To shed light on the theory of adding another battery, that would not solve the problem. If the alternator already isn't powerful enough to supply the needed power for the stereo system how can it produce the power to accomodate an additional battery too? A cap is the cheapest way to go and would probobly help your dimming lights and tighten up your bottom end bass sound. Next you could have your alternator rebuilt so that it has higher output. You could get a new alternator, but judging by your name you drive a Honda which means zero extra room under the hood. From my understanding it is big bucks to get a Honda sized alternator with high output.

 

[stones 10+ year member]

I had the same problem with dimming and such and a capacitator was the first thing I tried, It didn't help.

So I put in a bigger alt and it made a world of difference.

One thing to remember though is- You can put the biggest alternator in the world under the hood of your car and wont make a difference if your battery and engine ground can't handle the extra amperage, so make sure that the the ground cable from your engine block to your frame and you ground cable from your battery to your frame is at least 4gauge in thickness, small power wires cause resistance, and resistance can cause voltage drops, in some cases beefing up the engine and battery ground alone will fix dimming problems, so if you want to try somthing cheap first, try changing the ingine and battery ground.

P.S.- Don't forget to beef the power wire up on your alt as well!