Does cold effect the subs and/or amp?

[kotec123 10+ year member]

I have notived a decline in preformance from my system. Im running an alpinr mrd-m1005 and 2 10" d6's. I just recently took my RF 1 farad cap off (as reccomended on here) and it sounds a little better, but def not as good compared to when it was warmer outside. Its basically 5 degrees and lower in my car all the time becuase i park outside. And once u actually noticed that after like one hour of driving the preformance went back up, but i dont know if that was something else of what. I also am noticing light dimming now, and am wondering if dimming is bad for my car, because my rpms are jumping around as it is when i turn up my ssystem.

thanks

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[kotec123 10+ year member]

help!

 

[dbhittin 5,000+ posts]

i notice at night my system is louder when its cold out

 

[Sleeklsc 5,000+ posts]

kotec

its is like that in my car....

slowly turn the volume so all componts of your sytem get to within safe operating temp.....should sound normal after that...may take some time though...

 

[M@nJo 10+ year member]

if your rpms are acting weird when you play your stereo, then something is seriously wrong with the install.

as for performance, amps and subs need to get a little warm up before pushing to its limits.

if youre getting dimming, why take the cap off? thats what their for right?

otherwise, do the big-3 and see if that helps with dimming issues

 

[stones 10+ year member]

The sub woofers sensitivity goes down as the temperatures get really cold due to the surround and the spider stiffening up, the sensitivity returns as the suspension warms up and becomes more pliable.

Amplifiers are like a computers motherboard, when cold they can actually handle greater current demands, unfortunately the speakers glued together suspension components are more brittle and will damage more easily making it necessary to allow the components to warm up.

 

[kotec123 10+ year member]

if your rpms are acting weird when you play your stereo, then something is seriously wrong with the install.
as for performance, amps and subs need to get a little warm up before pushing to its limits.

if youre getting dimming, why take the cap off? thats what their for right?

otherwise, do the big-3 and see if that helps with dimming issues

well the thing is that i dont mind a little dimming, but they wustion i was asking was "is it bad for the car to have dimming?"

i was thinkin of doin big three, it seems like a fairly complicated job.(noob here)

 

[kotec123 10+ year member]

i notice at night my system is louder when its cold out

im not talkin about night vs day cold....im tlkin i live in the windy city and its snowing/ feezing every day...hahha thanks for input tho

 

[stones 10+ year member]

Dimming means there is a voltage drop.

Slight dimming is no big deal, a 1/2volt drop will cause a visible difference in your headlights but so long as the system is running in the 12 to 14 volts range everything should be OK.

Severe and repeated voltage drops(below 12volts) can damage your vehicles engine management hardware (computer), If your vehicle is an older model with a carburetor instead of fuel injection then that does not apply.

Severe dimming also means that your alternator is working like a little girl in a Chinese horehouse and will burn up its bushings faster.

Recommendations(these will help ease the stress on the alternator)

-Add a second charging lead from the alternator to the battery's + (add, dont replace).

-Add a second ground wire from the engine block the vehicles frame/chassis.

-Add a second ground wire from the negative battery to the vehicles chassis(sheet metal on fender)

Use a minimum size of 8 gauge wire for upgrades, make sure all grounding points are clean bare metal for best possible connection.

If these do not work well enough you will have no choice but to upgrade your alternator to one of a greater current output.

 

[93 saturn sl2 10+ year member]

I noticed too that my subs dont hit nearly as hard as they do in warmer weather. I was driving and I thought that my amp wasnt working because my subs were barley hitting, once they warmed up they sounded fine.

 

[kotec123 10+ year member]

my amp reads that its getting 14.4 volts steadily......Ive been told that the amps voltage reading could be wrong??i want to do big 3 like u said,i wudnt wanna mess anything up tho, so i might wanna see if anyone can do it for me...unless u guys can convince me that its an easy job

 

[stones 10+ year member]

Read this

http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=007801;p=

And this if you already haven't

http://www.caraudio.com/vb/showthread.php?t=124175

Remember it is not mandatory that you use 1 guage wire, an 8 or 4 guage wire will make a significant improvement over stock as well.

 

[kotec123 10+ year member]

yea i know wire isnt the issue....and ive already read over those, but im just wonderin if anyone has done it before, becuase i wanna see if a noob like me could do it

 

[stones 10+ year member]

I've done it on several of my vehicles.

It's really simple once you see where the wires will be routed in your head.

Stand in front of your car with the hood up and stare at the engine, now imagine the spots where you can connect the wires, now do it.

 

[93 saturn sl2 10+ year member]

Im about to do the batt - to chassis, and engine block for now. Looks very easy to do.