Electrical upgrade

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

HU isn't going to have that much effect here. What are you running the SA's at resistance wise? 1, 2 or 4 ohm?

If running @ 1 Ohm the Williston Dyno shows that amp pulling 338 Amps to make 2920 watts which is 61% efficiency, later he provides an efficiency rating @ 1 ohm of 72%. (Maybe after the amp had warmed up) (14.05v x 285.6A) / 2916. Either way you look at it even at half gain, unless you're measuring with a multimeter and have a general idea of what the amp is outputting that amp at half gain, it is still drawing enough power to shutoff your Tacoma. If you went into protect at 9 Volts you basically ****** your car's battery dry before the amp went into protect mode. I'd put a multimeter on the speaker output and try to get down to 1000W output until you get some electrical upgrades, otherwise you'll be forced into replacing the alternator soon anyways once the internal rectifier fails on it.

It does a little bit and here's why. Lets say I have a HU that has 5 volt RCA pre outs. I gotta amp that I wanna run. I set my gain correctly with a DMM and a 40 Hz tone, in this example just a sub amp. I don't have to turn the gain up as much vs. a 2 volt HU because thanks to the increased voltage pre outs. In his case, I looked up his HU https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158WX...0829&msclkid=74723dcf274219def9e363edcf89ab8b

and no wonder he has the gain 1/2 way, that HU has 2 volt pre outs. Pretty weak but just means he has to turn the gain up a tad more than usual. Big deal? No. Gonna affect anything? Nah not at all. Just have to watch out for any audiable noise that comes into play if any. Logn time ago HU had believe it or not 8 volt pre outs.

OP, if I was you, reset your gain using a DMM (Digital Multimeter) they can be had for around 5-10 bucks fairly cheap. Umm...just looked up your subs' rms output, watts, and 600 is what they are. I think a lot of people stated they're under rated so I would start with the 600-800 watt range and go from there. Run a 40Hz tone at 75-80% volume from max volume from HU, and for 600 rms I would set the DMM to 24.49 for 800 watts set the gain number on DMM to 28.28 There's some youtube vids on how to set gains properly and easily. Another way is if you have an old speaker laying around, and you can use that method as well. Only thing is you have to know the limitations of the song your playing, such as if it starts to distort or sound like ****, back it off until it sounds clean again.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Yup because of the internal protection, thankfully your amp has it. God knows how much signal distortion you had before the Amp shut off. Just a friendly FYI, if your amps protection circuit trips at 9 Volts then you've ****** your truck's electrical system and battery below a 0% charge. While I don't recommend it, if you ever do it again, make sure you don't shut off the truck soon after doing something like that because it probably wont be able to start back up.

State of charge with vehicle turned off:

View attachment 19890

That's aka resting voltage. Really doesn't imply if the vehicle is running which should be right around 14.4

Have bought a few batteries new that had resting voltage of about 12.8 before swapping within my vehicle so that's good number. Any idea how often they're charged sitting on the shelf?

 

[Louisiana_CRX 5,000+ posts]

2005 Tacoma. How big of a battery do you think I’ll need?

Nice truck I wish I still had pics of my old Tacoma install but they were lost in my old phone . I think this is the only pic I have of it .. I traded it in on a new 08 Tundra but it was still my favorite truck ever .

 

[02WS6]

It does a little bit and here's why. Lets say I have a HU that has 5 volt RCA pre outs. I gotta amp that I wanna run. I set my gain correctly with a DMM and a 40 Hz tone, in this example just a sub amp. I don't have to turn the gain up as much vs. a 2 volt HU because thanks to the increased voltage pre outs. In his case, I looked up his HU https://www.crutchfield.com/p_158WX...0829&msclkid=74723dcf274219def9e363edcf89ab8b

and no wonder he has the gain 1/2 way, that HU has 2 volt pre outs. Pretty weak but just means he has to turn the gain up a tad more than usual. Big deal? No. Gonna affect anything? Nah not at all. Just have to watch out for any audiable noise that comes into play if any. Logn time ago HU had believe it or not 8 volt pre outs.

OP, if I was you, reset your gain using a DMM (Digital Multimeter) they can be had for around 5-10 bucks fairly cheap. Umm...just looked up your subs' rms output, watts, and 600 is what they are. I think a lot of people stated they're under rated so I would start with the 600-800 watt range and go from there. Run a 40Hz tone at 75-80% volume from max volume from HU, and for 600 rms I would set the DMM to 24.49 for 800 watts set the gain number on DMM to 28.28 There's some youtube vids on how to set gains properly and easily. Another way is if you have an old speaker laying around, and you can use that method as well. Only thing is you have to know the limitations of the song your playing, such as if it starts to distort or sound like ****, back it off until it sounds clean again.

You are completely correct and apologies I should've been more clear with my response. Pre-out voltages will have a definite effect on setting the gain for your amp. Everything Boomin said here is correct and setting your gain with a DMM to 600-800 range would be even better than my 1k suggestion.

That's aka resting voltage. Really doesn't imply if the vehicle is running which should be right around 14.4

Have bought a few batteries new that had resting voltage of about 12.8 before swapping within my vehicle so that's good number. Any idea how often they're charged sitting on the shelf?

12.8 is perfect resting and 13.8-14.4V is the charging voltage recommended with the vehicle running. I think you may of misunderstood what I was trying to say. I'll try to clarify better.

OP said the Amp went into low power protection while he was play a song. The undervoltage protection for that Amp comes on at 9 Volts. (https://www.taramps.com.br/en/produto/md-3000-1-2ohms/) OP said he assumes the Amp hit that 9 Volt under protection level while the truck was running:

Found a super low song on YouTube to demo it for my buddy and pushed it to hard and hit 9v apparently Bc my amp went into protection mode

While I find it hard to believe he was able to get the charging system down that low, in the unlikely event that he did, I wanted him to understand the amount strain that he was putting on the electrical system and that a resting 10.5V was 0% charge. Hopefully, If he understood a resting 10.5V was 0% he would understand how bad it was for his car if he was running it down into 9V while running. (I can only imagine how happy his alts rectifier was!) I recommended to NOT shut off the truck right after doing something like that (if he did it again) as his car battery would effectively be dry and he would be unable to start it again without a jump.That is beyond any other potential long term damage that it may do to his alternator or other systems on the car.

 

[Prestondrew40]

You are completely correct and apologies I should've been more clear with my response. Pre-out voltages will have a definite effect on setting the gain for your amp. Everything Boomin said here is correct and setting your gain with a DMM to 600-800 range would be even better than my 1k suggestion.



12.8 is perfect resting and 13.8-14.4V is the charging voltage recommended with the vehicle running. I think you may of misunderstood what I was trying to say. I'll try to clarify better.

OP said the Amp went into low power protection while he was play a song. The undervoltage protection for that Amp comes on at 9 Volts. (https://www.taramps.com.br/en/produto/md-3000-1-2ohms/) OP said he assumes the Amp hit that 9 Volt under protection level while the truck was running:


While I find it hard to believe he was able to get the charging system down that low, in the unlikely event that he did, I wanted him to understand the amount strain that he was putting on the electrical system and that a resting 10.5V was 0% charge. Hopefully, If he understood a resting 10.5V was 0% he would understand how bad it was for his car if he was running it down into 9V while running. (I can only imagine how happy his alts rectifier was!) I recommended to NOT shut off the truck right after doing something like that (if he did it again) as his car battery would effectively be dry and he would be unable to start it again without a jump.That is beyond any other potential long term damage that it may do to his alternator or other systems on the car.

not trying to sound rude but you are no where near correct. The voltage does not drop and stay at 9 volts. it only does it on a low part of the song then goes right back up to 13.8v. The only way to get the amp out of protection is to turn it off and back on and I’ve done it several times and the truck started right right back up without a problem. The amp is not draining the battery completely, I’m not an idiot. The longest it’s been pushed at full power at one time is ab 30 seconds. Plus who in their right mind would turn off any vehicle with one battery and run any kind high powered amp. That’s asking for a dead battery

 

[02WS6]

not trying to sound rude but you are no where near correct. The voltage does not drop and stay at 9 volts. it only does it on a low part of the song then goes right back up to 13.8v. The only way to get the amp out of protection is to turn it off and back on and I’ve done it several times and the truck started right right back up without a problem. The amp is not draining the battery completely, I’m not an idiot. The longest it’s been pushed at full power at one time is ab 30 seconds. Plus who in their right mind would turn off any vehicle with one battery and run any kind high powered amp. That’s asking for a dead battery

I know perfectly well that it doesn't stay at 9 volts. The alternator is constantly charging the system, problem is your Amp is pulling more power that your alternator can produce causing your Amp to go into protection. Do that enough times and you'll burn up your alternator's internal bridge rectifier or depending on a number of other external factors, drain your battery down enough to where your truck doesn't start. I never said that's what you would do, only that it was a possibility based off of known facts. IE: 3000W Amp vs ~100 Amp alternator. There are a ton of other variables at play and I'm not going to speak to all of them, only the fact that your Tacoma can't handle the current load your Amp is drawing and how fixing it isn't cheap and recommending that you run the Amp at a lower gain until such point you can afford a HO Alt. The rest is up to you.

 

[Prestondrew40]

OP, if I was you, reset your gain using a DMM (Digital Multimeter) they can be had for around 5-10 bucks fairly cheap. Umm...just looked up your subs' rms output, watts, and 600 is what they are. I think a lot of people stated they're under rated so I would start with the 600-800 watt range and go from there. Run a 40Hz tone at 75-80% volume from max volume from HU, and for 600 rms I would set the DMM to 24.49 for 800 watts set the gain number on DMM to 28.28 There's some youtube vids on how to set gains properly and easily. Another way is if you have an old speaker laying around, and you can use that method as well. Only thing is you have to know the limitations of the song your playing, such as if it starts to distort or sound like ****, back it off until it sounds clean again.
Thanks for the advice but the box is 5.3cubes before displacement and 4.3 after so they are getting a good amount of power. This whole setup was based off of advice from several people on this forum