Installed the system, BAD Dimming!! Help

[thatkidbob 10+ year member]

ok idk what ur talkin bout but its not that hard for a car to keep an extra battery charged...i had my JL 1000/1 running off stock everything and it would dim really really bad and would drop to close to 10V but then now i had the PowerbassXA3000 and Orion HCCA-5000 on one extra battery in the back stock alt and it doesnt drop at all...so idk what ur talkin bout

^There are plenty of people here with extra batteries that still get dimming or flickering. Maybe you're special. Hoooooray you.

 

[thatkidbob 10+ year member]

First off it is not flickering, when I hit a hard bass note it dims for the note then the lights brighten back up...I would really hate to add another battery since a 5 cu ft box is taking up more than half of my trunk...The alternator that I am looking at says its about 80A at idle and 160A at 3000rpm...another site sells a 200A for $369 but Im limited to funds...I was thinking of going with maybe a bigger cap and with the 160A alternator and If the new one has 55 Amps more that should be enough to take care of a dimming problem I would think...

caps don't help... hell, i remember one post where Loyd removed the cap from a system and gained .3 db's or something like that...

A bigger alt will definitely help with dimming.

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

my setup: big3 in 0awg, 2 batts, 2 caps, stock alt. no dimming //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

going from 4 to 0 awg really helped.

 

[SSon22s 10+ year member]

Measured terminals at the battery with the car off it was 12.7V...Started the car 14.34V...Turned on the system,measured the battery to 12.2V...At the cap it dropped to 11.8V...I would think it would drop lower than 12.2V...Do you think an alternator still would help?

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Doin the big 3 will save you in teh long run especially if you wanna upgrade to even more power, just make sure your alternator doesn't overload and start takin the amps power from the battery...that would be bad

this happens all the time its not bad its what is suppost to happen lol EVERYTHING WORKS HAND IN HAND with a car electrical system.if you have the cash get both a better alt and a second battery. if not then you have to weigh out how you will use the system. even if you change out the alt i would make darn sure the battery under the hood is up to the task. i wouldnt suggest 6 batteries on a 50 amp alt and i wouldnt suggest just an alt without a good deep cycle battery at least under the hood. i like my kinetik (battery), i like HO alts just know what they really do

 

[TreyE 10+ year member]

^There are plenty of people here with extra batteries that still get dimming or flickering. Maybe you're special. Hoooooray you.

i guess so lol also i think my car has a beefy alt...2004 GMC Envoy...or maybe im just a miracle child

 

[TreyE 10+ year member]

Measured terminals at the battery with the car off it was 12.7V...Started the car 14.34V...Turned on the system,measured the battery to 12.2V...At the cap it dropped to 11.8V...I would think it would drop lower than 12.2V...Do you think an alternator still would help?

a cap would cost prob just as much as a battery...go here...

http://www.batterymart.com/battery.mv?p=SLA-9A78DT

oh and dont worry they dont say BIG CRANK or w.e on the side lol

 

[SSon22s 10+ year member]

What will upgrading my car battery do?? What should I look for when upgrading it?

 

[TreyE 10+ year member]

What will upgrading my car battery do?? What should I look for when upgrading it?

it will help your car hold a charge aka not dim when hitting long notes or notes....and what to look for is it not doing it anymore...you will have to get some 0ga to run to the battery unless im wrong and you can run 4ga between batts...

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Originally Posted by thatkidbob

^There are plenty of people here with extra batteries that still get dimming or flickering. Maybe you're special. Hoooooray you.

i guess so lol also i think my car has a beefy alt...2004 GMC Envoy...or maybe im just a miracle child

never had an issue with an extra battery in fact i know plenty that dont...only way they would is if they played it too long without the engine on and also a high output alt isnt always high output

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

i would look at amp hours of reserve and what is covered by the warranty. cca is overrated in street use

 

[swangin68 10+ year member]

first go to 1/0 cable from the batt to cap...alt or batt wont do anything if ur wire isnt up to par !!!!!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

 

[TreyE 10+ year member]

first go to 1/0 cable from the batt to cap...alt or batt wont do anything if ur wire isnt up to par !!!!!//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/iagree.gif.15d6c075ee8d3913ba26866d06993068.gif

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

You can go to 4/0 on the positive and not see any benefit if you don't upgrade the ground path as well.

You really can run plenty off the stock alt on most cars because music is dynamic. The amperage drawn by the system is not a constant and between transients is actually quite low. Factor in a good battery with a very low resistance path to the amp to smooth out the transient demands and you can do a lot without getting appreciable voltage drops. The keys are solid wiring and good batteries. Leave the cap out unless you know exactly what it can and can't do and the needs of your system fall into the "can do" category.

 

[SSon22s 10+ year member]

Well I am planning on running some 1/0 from the battery back to the cap and ground wire...