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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dmac1991" data-source="post: 8282208" data-attributes="member: 654681">For 1, you don't need a High Output alternator for the equipment you have.How are your gains set?Are you using bass boost?and another thing. You said when you idle, voltage is at 13.9, turn your radio up, voltage drops .2 - .5, then you turn your headlights and it goes back up, that right there rules out your alternator being the problem.The more electrical you use, your alternator compensates for it by charging your battery. Just sitting idle with barely anything on, your alternator isn't in use. Once you kick on the headlights and everything else, that tells your alternator that you needed more electrical, so it kicked on and jumped your voltage up.When I first got into car audio, I had a shop install my system. Was a puny little 500 rms amp. They tuned it by ear, and I had horrid light dimming. So much where I drove at night with my system basically silent. Come to find out, they had the gain **** near maxed out, were using bass boost and only used 8 gauge wire.Went and searched around on the forums a bit, and learned how to set my gains. Yanked all that old **** out. Got an 1300 rms amp, some 4 gauge wire, tuned my amp the right way, and my light dimming problems went away.Optimas truly are junk no matter how much of a steal for the price you got it for. Replace your stock battery underhood with a better AGM battery. They're not costly. You can find a solid one for around $150 at your local Sears, Oreilly's, Autozone, etc... Make sure your ground is secured tightly to the chassis on a paint free surface and not corroded. Check your gains and make sure you aren't clipping the amp, causing excess current to be pulled which isn't good for your electrical system.Report back to us after you have thoroughly checked your system</blockquote>

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