Holy voltage drop batman

[jdawg90 10+ year member]

well not really.... but i do have a few questions.

http://s209.photobucket.com/albums/bb240/deatron3000/?action=view&current=voltage002-1.flv

When i started my truck, drove it 200 yards and put it in park i checked the voltage and it was at 14.0 running. I played "bass i love you" once (before i took the video) and checked the voltage after the song with the radio off and it sat around 13.6-13.7 idling.

I then took this video... is it normal for it to drop next to none at the battery but drop at the amp?(the beggining of the video when checking voltage at the battery, the music is on... kinda hard to hear over the engine) It's hovering around 13.6 at the battery and doesnt change at all when the bass hits, but drops from 13.6 to 13.0 at the amp when the bass hits.

at the end of the video when im checking the voltage at the battery it remained at around 13.6 (keep in mind music is off) i even got in the truck and revved it a little and it stayed at 13.6 and dropped to 13.3 then jumped back up... wtf it never got that low playing music. After the video i let teh truck sit and started it and it was back up to 14.0 idling... wtf is up with this?

I have no electrical upgrades (stock amp is 130A) and stock battery. During the vid the amp was grounded to the floor but i just grounded it to the frame so im hoping that will help with the voltage drops. I know im fine as im above 13v but am getting a bigger amp soon. Right now i have a pdx-4.100 (400rms) and a kac-9102d (850rms) and was playing the music at full tilt (set gains with a multimeter). Do you think i will be okay if i replace my kac-9102d with an relatively efficient amp that does around 2kw if i do the big 3? This is just for daily... no competitions or anything.

Click to read more...

 

[ultimate157 5,000+ posts]

The alternator will usually drop in charging voltage as it heats up.

You will see voltage drops between the battery and the amp, that's the nature of the beast. How much you get will differ depending on the total resistance of the circuit, the load, and the alternator's ability to charge.

I'm running 2400w on a stock 126A alt with amp's wired directly to the battery. No noticeable dimming or voltage drops.