installed secondary battery, still have dimming headlights

[juststartin 10+ year member]

ok i just finished up my second battery install. i have the big 3 under the hood all 1/0 gauge. I have my fused power wire going to the back of the truck to 2nd amp, then just grounded battery in the back of truck to chassis. I used all 1/0 for my runs. My 2nd battery is a kinetik hc2400 my starting battery is an optima red top. I have 2 orion 1200D amps pushing 4 L5 kicker 12's. The amps are not straped. Each is wired to 1 ohm. I still have dimming headlights and i wasnt sure as to why. I do not have a high output alt. My vehicle is a 2005 explorer, has aftermarket OEM replacement alt. Stock is 130 Amp Alt. All of my grounds are good, under the hood and in the back. Am i getting the headlight dim simply from not having a better alt. or is it something else? please help, thanks for the input..... Also... 1 of my orion 1200D sub amps is beginning to produce a 60 hz humm after about 15 min. of playing time. The amp gets pretty darn hot too. My other orion gets warm, but it doesnt get burning hot to the touch like the other one. Do i have some burned up parts inside the amp or something? i have brand new RCA cables for both amps, the cables were like 50 bucks each, monster brand. My head unit is an older pioneer-DEH model. It has 3- 2Vpreamps. Do you think i need to invest in a new head unit with 5v preamps?

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[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

At a bare minimum alternator wise you would want 70 amps of alternator per 1000 watts plus at least 50 amps for the car. 2400 watts would require a 220 amp alt. The extra battery will help fill in the gaps when the alternator is not able to cover for the audio+car but a battery will not stop a voltage drop when the system can pull 100 + amps that the alternator can't put out. Also along the lines of maintaining a charge if you listen to it loud often and your alternator is not keeping up is not allowing your batteries to be able to maintain a near full charge in many cases.

 

[juststartin 10+ year member]

ok so a 220Amp alt. should be big enough to hopefully power the system? i know dc and mechman and a couple other places make like 270-390 amp alt. and price wise, there is no way i can afford to buy one of those. I did find a couple 220 amp ones that i think i can afford. As far as my amp issue with it giving off a 60 hz humm after about 15 min. of playing time, any ideas on why is does that or how i can fix it? Is it time for a new amp? lol

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Get your amp looked at...

 

[juststartin 10+ year member]

As far as a new head unit that has 3 5V Preamp RCA outputs, how much does the 5V impove your signal quality compared to most head units that provide 3 2V Preamp outputs? i would think it impoves the signal quality pretty well if you use pretty good cables. My head unit now is an older model pioneer with 3 2V preamp RCA outputs and just recently i had to ground the outputs to keep my engine whine down. So ive been concidering getting a new head unit and the units with 5V outputs have been cathing my eye.

 

[winkychevelle 10+ year member]

Hi volt RCA is mostly marketing schemes but it does help reject interfering noise and allows you to turn you gain down. As far as the amps turn the gain down if u don't have the electrical to back them up they will fry and I believe they are clipping as well if they are getting that hot. Could be the voltage but I'd definitely drop the gain a bit.

Back the the rcas u prolly won't notice a difference in hi volt to low volt. Ice always used low volt with no problem

 

[ColterDC 10+ year member]

I do not have a high output alt.

This just proves the point that a 2nd battery is useless compared to getting an alt that can actually handle your power demands.

Should have spent that money you wasted on a 2nd battery on a HO alt.

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

The battery will help as a buffer/reserve, but the source (alternator) seems to still be insufficient.

If a new alternator is out of the question, you'll just have to look at your other options:

-Triple check your ground. If you are getting unnecessary resistance due to a less-than-perfect ground, that could be an easy fix.

-Check the amp that is having issues. Are both amps set up identically?

-Maybe you would be okay with running only a single amp, halving your power demands?

Just be patient and logical and things will usually work out. If it means saving up for an alternator, then so be it, too.