Light dim, battery, cable and ground question???

[falconflyer04]

Hi Guys,

I have some simple question that's been bothering me and I would like to get some answer...

So here is the deal ;I have two amplifiers installed in my car which are running sub and front stage, they are 360Watts and 500Watts RMS each...

Everything sound perfect but when at full blast the light does dim! Now I know that a caps is not the solution and I will not waste my money on it and I am tired to try to convince the mechanic guy that he's full of u know what when he's trying to make me buy one!

Since I bought my car, it came with an anormaly small battery that doesn't even use the the full battery crate, so I was thinking of upgrading it to a bigger one since it's starting to feel it's age, would that help my sound system?

Second of all, I mesured my resistance for my ground wires to the battery and with the extended wire calculated off, I have a value of 8.4ohm (DMM set at 200m Ohm)

Is that a too high number?

And finally, this system is wired with a 4 gauge power wire; is this enough for the amplifiers I am running? Also, is there a way to calculate the load in amps that my amplifiers are pumping on the car electrical system?

Thanks

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[jdawg 5,000+ posts]

you can add up the amplifiers fuse rating and get close but really now way for sure without a clamp meter, what car? You might want to upgrade to a AGM battery, really that isnt elot of power that should cause any problems.

 

[falconflyer04]

So if I add up the fuse rating I get around 80 amps... that means both amplifiers together at full blast could pull a maximum of 80 amps!?

I will upgrade the battery soon like I mentionned, could this solve the light dimming?

Oh and btw the car is a hyundai elantra (Falcon Tuning - ElantraQuebec.com)

As for car audio, that's what's installed in it ;

-Pioneer DEH5800 Sound Deck

-Eclipse Component 6.5" Front Speakers with Crossover and Tweeters

-Soundstream LiLWonder Generation 3 LW4.500 Bridged for Front Components

-Eclipse 6x9 4 way Back Speakers (plugged on headunit for rear fill)

-JBL GTO Sub Mono Amp

-JBL 12" 1200 Watts Ported Subwoofer

As for the ground, are they good enough considering the resistance rating I gave ya?

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

Yeah a battery could help if the one in there is insufficient. A Kinetik would be a nice upgrade. Or even an Optima. I'm guessing you have a stock alternator? How many amps is it rated at?

With that amount of power, dimming shouldn't be an issue with a pretty average stock electrical system

 

[1hawaii50 10+ year member]

I'm running about 1600w rms in my complete system with no dimming issues. I've got a stock battery, but I've upgraded all of my power ground cables with 1/0.

 

[I Like Waffle]

I cant believe noone has mentioned the resistance of your ground. It should be lower than .3 with the lowest setting on the meter. Sounds like a serious issue with your ground, remember newer cars arent made of good meta/frame designl like older cars so its hard to find a ground.

 

[falconflyer04]

Thanks guys!

So ground relocation and new battery are the next step! What is the lowest resistance setting on the DMM? 200m? Could relocating the ground solve this issue?

 

[Bumpin' Goalie 10+ year member]

Thanks guys!
So ground relocation and new battery are the next step! What is the lowest resistance setting on the DMM? 200m? Could relocating the ground solve this issue?

Possible. Make sure it's connected to bare metal. And try to find a spot that is part of the main chassis.