lack of power

[papafouse 10+ year member]

im running 2 alpine type x's on a kicker zx 1500.1 i did the big 3 and have a optima battery and a 10 far. cap my lights still dim a little, and my battery gauge still drops, some times down to 12.5

help!!!!

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[Worlddre 5,000+ posts]

more often than not excessive voltage drop is caused by a less than optimal grounding point

 

[papafouse 10+ year member]

thats 1 thing i didnt try, thanks

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

the cap isnt helping much at all. better would be to have a battery in the rear instead of the cap, and like said above check your grounds. what kind of car is it? what kind of stock electrical does it have?

 

[papafouse 10+ year member]

its a jeep grand cherokee laredo, the optima is in the back, i dono what the stock electical is but im running all 0 gauge wire

 

[sacsking916 5,000+ posts]

its a jeep grand cherokee laredo, the optima is in the back, i dono what the stock electical is but im running all 0 gauge wire

any idea of the size of the alt? or under hood battery? probably would be good to add that optima under the hood and get a similar sized battery for the rear to be on the safe side. how did your grounds look?

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Been in car audio since 1988. An old fart.Dont understand why you ran 0 gauge wire ?? 4 Gauge should have been big enough at 15ft, and a 60 amp fuse should be plenty for that amp?? If you put a bigger inline fuse and with the o gauge wire, your drawing too much juice and ruining your alternator and not giving enough time for the battery to charge up! You may think about a bigger alt as well!I had 4 g running to an audiobahn hct 2200 at a 1ohm load and the hct 4125 at 2ohms on my mids and used a 6farad cap on the 2200,and straight 4g wire to the 4125 and a 150 anl in line fuse to a dist block, and had no issues and grounded both amps at seperate locations in a 98 xcab chevy with the stock 140 amp,all 4 gauge.

??

 

[Kangaroux 5,000+ posts]

Been in car audio since 1988. An old fart.Dont understand why you ran 0 gauge wire ?? 4 Gauge should have been big enough at 15ft, and a 60 amp fuse should be plenty for that amp?? If you put a bigger inline fuse and with the o gauge wire, your drawing too much juice and ruining your alternator and not giving enough time for the battery to charge up! You may think about a bigger alt as well!I had 4 g running to an audiobahn hct 2200 at a 1ohm load and the hct 4125 at 2ohms on my mids and used a 6farad cap on the 2200,and straight 4g wire to the 4125 and a 150 anl in line fuse to a dist block, and had no issues and grounded both amps at seperate locations in a 98 xcab chevy with the stock 140 amp,all 4 gauge. ??

The kicker amps are underrated and will draw around 150A. While that does fit the bill for 4g it doesn't hurt to run 0g instead

 

[05trailblazer 10+ year member]

indeed i agree but yes it will dim out a lil i have the same amp and it barely dims out

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

12.5V means your alt is providing less than the vehicle+system is drawing. plain and simple.

if you increase engine RPM and the voltage jumps back up, then you know you draw more than the alt output at idle, but less than the alt rating. either turn it down when at idle or get a larger alt. more batteries will only help maintain 12.8V or so, not 14V.

if you drop regardless of engine RPM, but jump back up when you turn the volume down, then you know the alt is just too small and you should upgrade.

keep in mind that a drop in supply voltage is a drop in amp power output - most amps provide about half their rated output at 12V compared to 14.4V.

 

[papafouse 10+ year member]

i'll try it it sounds logical

 

[papafouse 10+ year member]

i'll let u know after i try it if it works, thanks

 

[dipitydoo 10+ year member]

for basically a stock electrical system without major component upgrades, and with that amp, i don't see things being signficantly out of the ordinary. mind you, that voltage drop you experience might decrease output by perhaps a decibel or so, but its audibly not that huge.