how can i keep the volts up?

[pxcr440 10+ year member]

i am running a pair of alpine typre r 12 's the duel 4 ohm and a rf 500 and when it hits hard it drops my volt to around 8 and i have a redtop battery , soon i will have 4 alpine type r's and either a concept 1200 watt or a rf 1500.1 what would help control the power more

thanks for any help you can give me

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[wyclef_007]

Hum well U should seriously try to use some capacitors on ur system. It should fix ur voltage problem.

Clef

 

[ramos 5,000+ posts]

Just the voltage drop like this while the car is running? If so it sounds like your alt is not charging. Check the belt and make sure it's on and tight. Then go to advance or autozone and have them check your alternator. They will do it for free. My wifes car has a 55amp alt and is using the same amp and a 400.4 with no problems what so ever. Let me know what you find out //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[zane 10+ year member]

I'm in agreement with Ramos here......

The alternator is clearly the problem, as it either isnt charging or can not keep up. A cap would NOT be your solution to a struggling charging system as all it would do is provide another component for your allready weak alternator to supply voltage to. Overloading an alternator in such a way is asking for trouble.

As Ramos said, take your car to Advamce Auto or Auto Zone and they will test it for free to isolate the trouble. If you are able to do this test on your own, you simply need a Multimeter that can measure voltage while the car is running and while it is off. Generally with a decent multimeter- both of these measurements can be taken right at the battery with little margin for error.

take it easy,

-zane