Flickering interior light?

[robbie_turner 10+ year member]

does this mean that my amp’s are not getting enough power as my light flickers with the beat of the music. Can I regulate the power going 2 the amps as im sure this can not be good for them?

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[Nikuk 5,000+ posts]

does this mean that my amp’s are not getting enough power as my light flickers with the beat of the music. Can I regulate the power going 2 the amps as im sure this can not be good for them?

if you're dimming then you are almost surely getting voltage drops. Or, your sub-stage is hitting hard enough to shake some ground packs in the car.

Do you have a volt gauge in the instrument cluster? If so, does the needle drop alot when the bass line is going strong? Then yea, voltage drops.

Look around for tidbits about electrical upgrades (Big three, good ground, batt, alt).

 

[robbie_turner 10+ year member]

so is this going 2 harm my amp. and also does this mean im not getting the best performance out of my amp?

 

[Nikuk 5,000+ posts]

so is this going 2 harm my amp.

Possible, but really depends on the details of your install. Amp brand & model will help... Some amp's dont mind a lil voltage drop... others crap the bed with under 13.5 vdc.

and also does this mean im not getting the best performance out of my amp?

Yes.

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

It can cause damage to your whole car's electrical system, screw worrying about the amp. Do the big three, if that doesn't work upgrade the alt to keep up with your systems needs.

 

[robbie_turner 10+ year member]

if just started with a Sony amp 250w 2 power 2 6x9’s and a jbl combined amp and sub 2* 10inc. Iu know it’s a little tacky and maybe this is why im have a few problems. Its nothing great I have done it on the cheap side but it sound good enough 2 me

 

[robbie_turner 10+ year member]

It can cause damage to your whole car's electrical system, screw worrying about the amp. Do the big three, if that doesn't work upgrade the alt to keep up with your systems needs.

i have just done a search on the site for the big 3 but nothing much is coming up. could it be 2do with the way i have wired the system up. i have taken 2 power cables from the bat and joined them but in the same place for the ground?

 

[Nikuk 5,000+ posts]

i have just done a search on the site for the big 3 but nothing much is coming up. could it be 2do with the way i have wired the system up. i have taken 2 power cables from the bat and joined them but in the same place for the ground?

Yea, our search engine does **** a little bit...

Big three refers to upgrading the batt to chassis & alt to engine block grounds, as well as the alt to batt positive wire with bigger (more efficient) wiring. Be sure to fuse the alt to batt wire. This usually helps quite a bit. Especially for something that'll cost less then $20.

 

[robbie_turner 10+ year member]

so u dont think it was my wiring considering im a newbie 2 all this and didn;t get ne help

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

Naw man, it's hard to screw up wiring and if you do you'll know right away. Your car just wasnt designed to handle the extra volts needed by the amps. Try that big three upgrade and if that doesn't work, and you think you may want a bigger system down the road... get a alternator upgrade.

 

[robbie_turner 10+ year member]

was thinking maybe it is the size of my battery, because most US cars are allot bigger than the UK ones so u guys will probably not have this sort of problem.

 

[johnecon2001 5,000+ posts]

not really bro, its all the in the alt, if it can't keep up with the demand for power than you have dimmage. If you want to upgrade the batt, go ahead... but you should also try WHAT I TOLD YOU BEFORE. Its gonna cost you a lot less than buying a new battery by doing the Big 3. And it usually works just as well.

 

[Nikuk 5,000+ posts]

was thinking maybe it is the size of my battery, because most US cars are allot bigger than the UK ones so u guys will probably not have this sort of problem.

Oh we do... you'll see some folks running around with as lil as 600 rms having head & tail lights that are almost strobes... eh.

Try the big three. Easy $10-20. Should help at least a tad.

If still bad, spend $80-160 on a good battery. Hey, not bad to have a good battery in your car anyhow, right?

If still bad... spend $150+++ on a bigger alt. If it comes to this, go big the first time (so you dont ever ahve to buy another) and buy whatever warranty you can get with it (so you dont ever ahve to buy another).

After all that, you still have bad dimming... get a new car. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/titanic.gif.8089b7552c370bcc138aa121756d0c0b.gif

 

[sumone 10+ year member]

anyone correct me if you see fit

Q: what causes light dimmage?

A: voltage drops

Q: what causes voltage drops

A: when the (electrical) current demand is

a) more than what can be supplied by the alternator

OR

b) more than what can be handled by the wire

OR

c) some other reason that needs to be looked into more in-depthly

Q: what does that mean

A:

a) it means that the alternator can not supply the amount of current needed at a specified operating voltage (usually 14.4 or 13.8) just because the demand is more than what it is capable of. most alts don't put out their max (or close to it) at low engine rpmage. so take that into consideration too.

b) in the case that the alternator is able to supply the amount of current demanded, the size of the wire may be too small to handle all that current. therefore there's more resistance in the wire leading to a voltage drop. sometimes the use of a smaller wire than necessary is done on purpose. for example, the battery+ wire to the starter motor is pretty small, but a voltage drop is expected in order to supply the amount of current.

c) some other reason....one example of this is before, I would have very bad voltage drops even with the big 3....when the coolant level was low. I noticed that the more coolant I had, the less significant a voltage drop I got. Until it came up that the reason why my coolant level was consistently low was due to an intake manifold gasket leak. after that had been fixed, and the coolant level is sufficient, voltage drops are way much less (not to mention I've went from 600watts rms to 1000watts rms [components & subs]). pretty odd and would have to be looked into more in-depthly to figure out the link. but this was just my case....so there may or may not be other "other" reasons.

 

[snavid972 10+ year member]

how bout a capacitor buy a 1 farad cap and see if the dimming will stop i had the same problem guys and bam no more flickering