Dealing with voltage drop on heavy hits better?

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Hey guys,

I've got a question. Not so much a problem per se, but I've recently installed a second battery into my system in the trunk to help stiffen my voltage, and for the most part it has helped immensely. Where it's most noticeable is with rock/metal music. The heavy kick drum hits no longer drop the voltage, or very minimally at best when playing full tilt.

My problem lies with the droning bass hits of rap,trap,EDM music. Lower the frequency, the worse the drop. The voltage drop is still not as bad as it was. I havent actually measured the drop yet but looking at the voltage guage on my amp I would say it's anywhere from 12.8-13.5v during a really heavy hit. Used to drop to like 11v or less before the second battery.

But the question now is, how can I further stiffen that voltage for the droning bass hits? Just more batteries? I already have a 310A singer alternator. Eventually I'll be doing a dedicated ground from front battery to the back one as well which should improve things slightly I'm guessing. But what is everyones opinion on best way to stiffen that voltage to be as close to 14v at all times, even with the heaviest of bass hits?

FYI - This is on a RF T2500-1BDCP running at about 1500-2000w, and my batteries are just a regular AC Delco Starter battery under the hood (good health) and a Optima Yellow Top in the trunk (almost new).

Click to read more...

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

not a fan of yellow tops myself - ive killed a few - but its way better than nothing back there.

you have a singer hair pin alternator ? or just a normal high out put alternator ?

i might suguest trying to do a second run of 1/0 wire from the front battery to the rear battery in red/positive and in black/negative

have seen guys say that they drop less with more runs as the electricity is there being produced - but needs to flow freely front to rear.

i should have my singer hairpin here in less than a week - and im thinking right now my one run of + and - zero guage pure copper welding wire is not going to be enough to feed my needs properly either with out experiencing drop like you are.

side note:

have you checked your meter to make shure its displaying acurate voltage ?

ive had 3 dmm meters all hooked up to the same battery at the same time and they all read diffrently :/

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

not a fan of yellow tops myself - ive killed a few - but its way better than nothing back there.you have a singer hair pin alternator ? or just a normal high out put alternator ?

i might suguest trying to do a second run of 1/0 wire from the front battery to the rear battery in red/positive and in black/negative

have seen guys say that they drop less with more runs as the electricity is there being produced - but needs to flow freely front to rear.

i should have my singer hairpin here in less than a week - and im thinking right now my one run of + and - zero guage pure copper welding wire is not going to be enough to feed my needs properly either with out experiencing drop like you are.

side note:

have you checked your meter to make shure its displaying acurate voltage ?

ive had 3 dmm meters all hooked up to the same battery at the same time and they all read diffrently :/

I think it's the hair pin yeah...It was the most expensive, highest end one he could build for my car. 6 phase hairpin I believe.

2nd run of wire may be in the works for the future...But wire is expensive ($80 per run), so I'm not exactly jumping for joy at the idea of buying enough wire for 3 more runs (extra power+2 ground).

And also I wasn't talking about the meter on a DMM when I said voltage meter. The RF T2500 amps have a built in LED voltage monitor that is dead accurate. It operates in much the same way as SMD Designs special precision voltage meters do. It has absolutely no delay in showing voltage fluctuations.

 

[undone1 10+ year member]

agree with optima being subpar too what they used to be..

1.upgrade your ac delco to agm..it will not last being pulled on by system..

2.run another front to back positive if you do not already have 2 runs..

3.negative run to back...meh..sometimes it helps..

4.short of the long is agm up front (34/78)think that is your size..group 31(don't know if your yellow top is already)in the back

5.be better to run 2 group 31's in back vs one...

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

agree with optima being subpar too what they used to be..
1.upgrade your ac delco to agm..it will not last being pulled on by system..

2.run another front to back positive if you do not already have 2 runs..

3.negative run to back...meh..sometimes it helps..

4.short of the long is agm up front (34/78)think that is your size..group 31(don't know if your yellow top is already)in the back

5.be better to run 2 group 31's in back vs one...

I wanna go with XS power one of these days but I'm not sure if they have a battery the proper size for under my hood or not. Do you think a different battery will make much difference? Upgrading from the AC Delco to the Yellow top under the hood didn't make much difference. It wasn't until I stuck the AC back in and put the yellow in the back that I finally saw a huge difference in my draw...My voltage meter no longer even dips into the yellow, and on some low hits before it could dip into the yellow and even RED (low voltage) before the second battery.

This is how bad it was before (voltage meter on the right) https://www.dropbox.com/s/oq163tpbi8ymenh/Voltage%20Drop.mp4

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

But now when listening to rock/metal the voltage meter barely feels a tickle with the second battery. It's just those heavy bass hits I wouldn't mind stiffening the voltage just a LITTLE bit more. While I'm sure 13.2-13.5v isn't THAT bad of a drop. This amp in particular definitely performs optimally when the voltage isn't dipping. I've noticed a huge sound improvement in the response now that the voltage is much better. Kick drums hit with alot more authority and the response and attack is much more even than it was before. Before it was almost like some of the kicks would be louder than others in a run and some would trail off and become muddy.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

Eventually I'll be doing a dedicated ground from front battery to the back one as well which should improve things slightly I'm guessing.

You should be doing this first and not be guessing..

I would upgrade every single ground..

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

You should be doing this first and not be guessing..
I would upgrade every single ground..

Well I don't have all the money in the world to just do what I want when I want.

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

so you do not have a negative run in zero guage yet from the front battery to the rear battery ?

i got this wire. it was absolutely the cheapest / best deal per ft for what your getting i could find ( going with new / not used wire on the fourms )

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350981874289?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649

if your on a budget like i am - you can use this from home depo

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Blackburn-Type-ADR-2-Conductor-1-Hole-Mount-Wire-Connectors-for-1-0-Stranded-Max-Wire-2-Pack-ADR11-21-B2-5/100172941

i got a few of them and they work just fine - i have them under my hood and connecting all 3 of my rear batterys - carefully drill out the mounting tab bolt hole to the size of your battery bolt.

you already have the best single alternator you can have for your viechle - why not make it eazy for that alt to do its job ?

i kno buying wire ***** im about to buy the same thing again and do multiple runs and also dual imputs to amp

and possibly dual alternator positive to front battery positive.

because

electricity can never flow freely enough.

forever ago i saw a guy with a crx that had something like 40+ runs of positive and negative from the front to rear. he had so many runs in that car about half of them had to be run external underneath the car. i thought it was silly at the time - but when your chasing that last little tiny bit of anything you can get -

in your case - you want to get electrical from your alternator to your amp.

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

Let me put it this way then...

I would put money into improving the ground situation between the rear of the vehicle where the amps are mounted and the front of the vehicle where the alt is located, before I spent money on a third battery...

make sense ?

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

so you do not have a negative run in zero guage yet from the front battery to the rear battery ?

Not yet no. Just using a chassis ground in the trunk. Dedicated neg run is probably going to be the next thing on the list.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

Let me put it this way then...
I would put money into improving the ground situation between the rear of the vehicle where the amps are mounted and the front of the vehicle where the alt is located, before I spent money on a third battery...

make sense ?

That's going to be in the works. Was just asking what the best option was for getting a stiffer voltage on bigger bass drops.

 

[brian84corvette 10+ year member]

i have no problems at all with that royal exelence wire. it went in eazy for me - no issues - im buying more of it.

and its about the cheapest you can get.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

get some

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

i have no problems at all with that royal exelence wire. it went in eazy for me - no issues - im buying more of it.and its about the cheapest you can get.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

get some

I'm in Canada though so shipping is a bit-ch on price.

 

[gamehawk55 10+ year member]

I read that when buying welding cable though you need twice the size to get the same substance in the cable. So a 2/0 welding cable is the same approx. to a 1/0 of good OFC cable from like KNU or something?