help with electrical set-up

[macsdad 10+ year member]

ok, i have a 2008 dodge caliber r/t with a factory installed 9 speaker boston acoustics system, i have installed an audiopipe apsm1300 on two re audio se10d4's. i had some light dimming so i did the big 3 upgrade, there was some dimming prior to the amp/sub install, i did the big 3 upgrade and i still have some dimming. would a battery upgrade negate this problem? the caliber has a 120amp alt. btw, i love the apsm1300, kind of skeptical about it after the mixed reviews, but it does the re's just fine. if i need a new batt, i need one that is economical/cheap and that will fit. thanx in advance.

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[mast240 10+ year member]

what size wiring are you powering it with... sometimes too small can actually put more strain on the electrical.

a battery upgrade would definately help... just make sure you go with a deepcycle battery, preferably an agm cell

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

i have a 4ga rockfordfosgate amp kit and 1/0ga big 3 upgrade, what is agm cell?

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

absorbent glass matt.... its just the type of cell the battery uses... like lead-acid, or gel cell... agm batteries have the best deep cycle properties (holding a charge for longer on strong loads)

what impendance are you running your subs at?

but it most likely is your battery... especially if its still the stock one from the factory, as those are designed just to handle the power requirements of the stock car.... not anything more

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

i have them in series, they are supposed to be at 8ohms but are 6ohms, so the amp is seeing a 3ohm mono signal in parallel.

 

[disturbed471985 5,000+ posts]

Grab a deka from bad4health around 120 shipped to ur door. Good for atleast a good 2k..

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

i don't have a lot of space in the batt location, 9inches lenth x 7inches wide x 7inches deep. will deka or anyone else have one within that range that will do what i need?

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

a kinetic kch1200 ... would fit, then you could throw a kch800 in the rear to match your wattage

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

will the kinetic do the job alone? i don't really want a two batt set-up, daily driver for personal enjoyment not competition. any other ideas?

 

[sexy 10+ year member]

Well since you actually know what impedance your subs are at and you seem to understand electrical stuff I would like for you to do a little more testing and you will be able to solve the problem with out wasting money on things you don’t want or need. Wire size is very important so I hope you have that end of things done already. The AP amps put out tons of power but they are also one of the amps that take a ton of power to use. Use a volt meter to find out what you really need hook it up at the AP amp and run your music hard for a minute or two. Record your voltage what was it at idle with the engine running and warmed up not cold. What did it drop down to when playing songs with lots of base. Then do the test again with the meter hooked up at the battery. If your wiring is all good then you should be getting about the same readings. If your voltage dopes from 14.4 with the music off down to 12 or less whit the music hitting hard then it has absolutely nothing to do with what battery you have. You will notice that with the car not running your battery voltage will be or should be 12. Something that’s your resting voltage. With the car running your voltage will be around 14v this is the easy part if you are dropping down below 14v and staying down you are using more than your alternator can produce. When playing music and the base hits hard you will see the volt meter jump down for a second and it should recover back to 14v immediately if your alternator is big enough remember your battery is only giving you 12v and your alternator is what’s giving you 14v. The reason you want the engine hot when doing these test is because your alternator will not produce as much power when its hot therefore you will get false readings from a cold engine test.

 

[mast240 10+ year member]

will the kinetic do the job alone? i don't really want a two batt set-up, daily driver for personal enjoyment not competition. any other ideas?

the 1200 would def help alot... you couldpick one up and try it out... if its good, then keep the set up.. if you still need a lil more the 800 will work good... each car is a lil different, so its kinda tough for me to say whether or not it will stop your dimming all together.

also: there are other battery choices out there... i was just using kinetic as an example... but do some research, and you could probably find one that will fit your needs for cheaper

 

[macsdad 10+ year member]

first off, love the profile pic, thank you for the detailed response. i understand the elec stuff because of guys like you on here that actually try to help and not B.S. i got my ap because of honest opinions on here, even though someone called them audiopoop. i enjoy mine it does everything it said it would, never gets hot, beats the mess out of my re's makes them blend perfectly with the factory installed boston acoustic set up. i will try these things suggested and will post the results, thanx again.