Headlight dimming with only a 600RMS watt amp?

[CAT MAN 5,000+ posts]

a lot of cars have very sensitive headlights. Mine don't dim at all with 1700 //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

mine do on 1500 and a big az batt. but i think my ground has a bit to do with it

 

[ST0NGE 10+ year member]

Thanks for all the answers guys, I really do appreciate it.

I will be getting the alternator and battery checked tomorrow hopefully.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

yeah get everything checked, i was running a Hifonics 1210d on my MK4 2003 jetta and it did fine (90 amp alt). Also for the big three, the chasis & engine block share the same ground connection, its located under the battery, there will be four screws under the battery you take those out and you will see where the ground is linked up. As said previously you must preform all parts of the big 3 if you want it to help you at all. but even then on 600 watts you shouldn't be getting that kind of voltage drop, let me know how the battery and alt test go.

If you need any other help with the big 3 just ask me, I just did it on my jetta a few days ago.

 

[ST0NGE 10+ year member]

yeah get everything checked, i was running a Hifonics 1210d on my MK4 2003 jetta and it did fine (90 amp alt). Also for the big three, the chasis & engine block share the same ground connection, its located under the battery, there will be four screws under the battery you take those out and you will see where the ground is linked up. As said previously you must preform all parts of the big 3 if you want it to help you at all. but even then on 600 watts you shouldn't be getting that kind of voltage drop, let me know how the battery and alt test go.
If you need any other help with the big 3 just ask me, I just did it on my jetta a few days ago.

Thanks I will definitely look into that this weekend!

Update:

Just got back from Advanced Auto to get my batt and alt tested. Both are good. Battery was 12.69V I believe with car off. And the alternator was around 14v with car on.

And these numbers are before finishing the big 3 like I was supposed to.

So could I just have sensitive headlights or what?

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

Couldn't tell you from there, man, my jetta ran at 13.6 before I did the big 3, mine barley runs a little over 14 now that I have done it. So you're running a better electrical than me.

Can't help you there, but I do suggest you still do the big 3. Hopefully everything goes okay for you, have you ever run any other amps to your car?

 

[whitedragon551 5,000+ posts]

Finish the big 3. Try changing the spot of the ground. Try a bolt already there from the back seat belts or something similar.

 

[akheathen Premium Member]

well, think about it- you are pulling your running voltage ground from the chassis, so, it makes sense that you need to feed the chassis the running ground, otherwise, you are trying to tap more from the battery, but all that power still needs to be fed back to both the amp and battery somehow. finish the "big 3", not "mediocre 2"

 

[ST0NGE 10+ year member]

Yeah guys I'm definitiely going to finish the big 3 this weekend, it makes sense how doing 2 out of 3 really wouldn't do much.

And yes, before this system I was running a Kenwood 300W RMS/600 Max amp to push two Kicker 10C124 (150W RMS each), no headlight dimming then, but wasn't much power.

xmakeafistx: Where did you ground your amp in your jetta?

 

[ST0NGE 10+ year member]

Update:

Just finished the big 3. It was a ***** being 32degrees but it's done haha.

Anyways, with my car running I get 14.80 for voltage which is fantastic.

However, when I crank up my music the headlights continue to dim to the bass of the song, but I don't think its AS bad. Not much better though.

The lowest I've seen the DMM read while playing my music with bass was about 12.6V so not too bad there either.

I am going to redo my amp ground in the trunk tomorrow.

 

[xmakeafistx 10+ year member]

Thats a great voltage, I'm surprised that amp is pulling that much honestly.. On my Hifonics 1210d bxi series I dropped into low 12's and even then my lights BARELY dimmed.

Also I have my amp grounded to this metal bar that goes a little ways behind the seat, its right in the middle you can't miss it. There's also another one along the metal frame under that back flap behind the seats, that one is a pretty good ground point.

 

[ST0NGE 10+ year member]

Okay I'll look into doing that today.

The song that makes my lights dim the most is Young, Wild, and Free by Wiz. The beginning bass notes are hard hits that make the lights go nuts.

So I am going to re-do my amp ground today and report back.

Thanks!

 

[ST0NGE 10+ year member]

Just replaced the amp ground in the back with some KnuKoceptz 4ga I had from the big 3. No difference in dimming or voltage.

 

[J31Rob 5,000+ posts]

Have you checked your battery? Old/worn batteries don't like having a large load pulled from them.. if that's the case, you're stressing the alternator & that's where your drop is.

 

---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 PM ----------

 

..also, keep in mind that 99% of mixtape music is crap. Clipped signals EVERYWHERE. So even if your gains are set properly you're going to clip at lower volume than with music recorded in proper quality.

 

[bgowdy 5,000+ posts]

i dont understand mine. i dont know what my stock size is and i dont have the big 3 done. i did upgrade the wire from alt to batt tho. i used a stinger 4 ga. i have 3 batts. i get very limited dimming on 2400rms. i had a saz2000d and it never dimmed with no extras batts. i dont understand how mine dims now(its not clipping, i oscoped the amp) but didnt on the sundown. i was thinking it had to be the difference in the efficency?

 

[ST0NGE 10+ year member]

Have you checked your battery? Old/worn batteries don't like having a large load pulled from them.. if that's the case, you're stressing the alternator & that's where your drop is. 

---------- Post added at 12:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:17 PM ----------

 

..also, keep in mind that 99% of mixtape music is crap. Clipped signals EVERYWHERE. So even if your gains are set properly you're going to clip at lower volume than with music recorded in proper quality.

Yep I posted in this thread that I got my battery checked at Advnaced Auto and it is good, however is stock from 10+ years ago.

I do listen to a lot of mixtape/underground type music but even on professionally recorded music I get dimming while listening to my music normal-high listening volume.