Lights dimming

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

So this is in a 2013 ram 1500. Just installed a sundown sia-2500. Did the big3, all 0 gauge knu wire. I had a ground from the previous amp on the seat bolts, now if I remember that's not a ideal spot. Could this be what's causing the dimming? Oh and got a agm up front, no room for a extra battery.

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[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

Bad ground won't cause dimming unless it's the headlights' ground. Reason for dimming is lack of battery power.

 

[Bobbytwonames 5,000+ posts]

Bad ground won't cause dimming unless it's the headlights' ground. Reason for dimming is lack of battery power.

My 2005 Dodge has great electrical and my interior lights still dim with the bass if my door is open. It must be a Dodge thing. 320 mechman, big 3, 40 ah of dingdong lithium and an AGM up front. I haven't checked my headlights or running lights for dimming. I'm only running 3,500 watts to the bass. @ikpthegame, it must be a Dodge thing.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

So this is in a 2013 ram 1500. Just installed a sundown sia-2500. Did the big3, all 0 gauge knu wire. I had a ground from the previous amp on the seat bolts, now if I remember that's not a ideal spot. Could this be what's causing the dimming? Oh and got a agm up front, no room for a extra battery.

Provided you sand down the area down to shiny metal grounding to existing bolts should be fine. Your problem is that your electrical system isn't adequate to power a 2500W amp and I don't think you'll find anybody in here that would suggest running such a large amp without a custom alternator or more battery.

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

Guess I'll look into making a custom battery tray to hold 2 batteries to start with. Btw my voltage never drops below 13.5 while idle. And the only part that was ground down was the washer on the bolt, since it's on top of carpet, I gotta fix that also, I didn't run that wire, and just found it while installing this amp.

 

[metalheadjoe 10+ year member]

Guess I'll look into making a custom battery tray to hold 2 batteries to start with. Btw my voltage never drops below 13.5 while idle. And the only part that was ground down was the washer on the bolt, since it's on top of carpet, I gotta fix that also, I didn't run that wire, and just found it while installing this amp.

The bolt threads' contact is a good enough conductor for a ground. However, that bolt is grounding to the body, whereas the big three doesn't add any conductivity between the battery and the body. What I recommend is to connect your ground bolt to the frame to complete the circuit. If you have enough exposed threads under the vehicle, you can attach a ring terminal with a nut and connect the bolt to the frame. If you don't have enough exposed threads under the vehicle, you can either get a longer bolt or some threaded rod that matches the bolt threads. I used threaded rod on my vehicle. One benefit of threaded rod over a longer bolt is you can still remove whatever is bolted down without working on the underside of the vehicle. Pictures show the chassis-ground in my Explorer. Underside bolts look nasty because I coated all exposed metal with liquid tape. I also recommend using loctite.

The most noticeable improvement to my electrical system was adding LiFePO4. Upgrading my alternator to a 320a helped stabilize voltage but did not stop headlight dimming, as the delay between amplifier demand and alternator supply is long enough that you will still notice the lights dimming. A capacitor would help bridge the delay between demand and supply, but the c-word is a no-no around here due to unreasonable expectations. I would add a second battery closer to the amp and go from there.

Sorry for the novel. Good luck.
- Joe

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

Oh thanks for the info, but unfortunately I got no space to mount a batt close to the amp, my main in about 7ft away.

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

Quick question, how do I figure out the ah of a battery?

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Quick question, how do I figure out the ah of a battery?

This should be published by the manufacturer.

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

Idk I got a AutoZone Platinum agm and idk if it says on it or not. Just like the agm at Walmart don't say either, just that it's 850cca

 

[ikpthegame 10+ year member]

Found out the duralast agm I have up front is a 80ah, I'll have to dbl check the agm at Walmart, get a discount on them since I work there. I'm assuming it's gonna be around the 80ah too cause it's a h7 and that's what's factory in my truck. On a side note, I think I found a spot for a second battery close to the amp, in my center storage unit, so I'm thinking of adding another 80ah batt, hopefully that will help.

 

[mastershake575]

Found out the duralast agm I have up front is a 80ah, I'll have to dbl check the agm at Walmart, get a discount on them since I work there. I'm assuming it's gonna be around the 80ah too cause it's a h7 and that's what's factory in my truck. On a side note, I think I found a spot for a second battery close to the amp, in my center storage unit, so I'm thinking of adding another 80ah batt, hopefully that will help.

Don't add batteries, get an aftermarket alternator that will actually create the power you want.

Running multiple batteries (especially for a daily setup) is a waste, your just band aiding the problem. The problem is your car cannot physically create anywhere close to 2500RMS so make it so it can.