New Alt Still voltage drops!

Definitely. I've been in Iraq for a few months and the wife went out to start my car which has been in the garage since I left (and I mostly rode a motorcycle while home) and the battery is dead as a doornail. Pretty sure I'll have to replace it when I get home.

 
I've received alot of information from this thread. Thanks! I have a question though. When checking for a voltage drop with music on, do the components have to be connected to the amp? The reason I ask is, I get minimal drops when playing 0db test tones at full tilt with comps disconnected, but when I connect my comps and play regular music I get voltage drops.

 
With nothing connected to the output of the amps, there is no current drawn. I=V/R. With nothing connected, R is infinte and I is effectively zero. Zero current flowing out means zero current in. Since the voltage drop is proportional to the current flow, not current means no voltage drop.

 
ok, so your playing your system at full tilt... thats about 80 per viper 1200 amp and 25 of the 200.4, and we will go about 40 for your car to run stock stuff. so add it up....80+80+25+40= 225, and your alt is only rated at 150-160 at idle...so there is your voltage drop. when your amps want to draw too many amps from the alt then the voltage drops, when it gets down to about 12.x it starts to draw off your battery, putting stress on your alt and battery. so at this rate of you playing it at fullt tilt and dropping to like 10.x as your say your gonna melt down your alt and kill your battery.

also check your gains so your not over drawing them or cliping them. you need more alt (second one), or more batteries. more batteries would act as a buffer between the amps and the alt giveing more time to play your system at full tilt b4 you drop voltage that low.

 
If the alt isn't keeping up, adding batteries is going to make things worse. Once a battery is below a full charge, which it will be as soon as the current demand surpasses the supply from the alt, it is now a load on the alt until it is fully charged once more. The ammount of a load that it presents is dictated by the internal resistance of the battery and the degree to which it is discharged. If you add more batteries to this you have reduced the internal resistance seen by the alt and increased the current demand from the batteries. The batteries will provide a bit of a buffer, but having two batteries won't double the time that it takes to drag the voltage down that low and once it gets there it will be more than twice as hard for the alt to dig back out.

A daily driver system is not the same as a SPL comp system. The daily driver is expected to run continuously and needs a constant supply of current whereas the comp system is only going to run for a minute at full tilt and then have a chance to recharge. To that end, a daily driver system needs a big alternator to supply the system and the car with all the current that it needs to run at whatever volume the user intends to regularly play it. A huge number of batteries does not do the daily driver a lot of good, if the alt can't supply the power needed at the RPM that thte vehicle is typically operated, then it needs to be replaced or tweaked (overdrive pulley) so that it does. Adding batteries is a very temporary band-aid but in no way fixes the problem. For the SPL system, on the other hand, The alt really has no chance of keeping up with the current demand of the system running at full tilt so huge banks of batteries are needed to make sure that there is enough reserve power to provide the needed current without allowing the voltage to dip much.

In this situation, I still have to think that there is a bad connection somewhere in the power supply chain. Have you had the battery checked again to confirm that it isn't bad and that it will hold a charge?

 
A second battery or thrid in his case certainly will not cause added stress to the system. Assuming you have all good batteries - they will be of the same voltage through out as everything is connected. We can agree that above 12V the Alt is running the show, but the large spikes are what cause the problems. If you have more reserve capacity below 12V it becomes harder to drop below that amount. Bass is NOT constant, we all know this too. How long do you think it takes a good battery/ALT to recharge if you can see the spikes on a voltmeter and between voltage comes back up?

Anonymous -you have friends right? One of them has jumper cables. PLEASE with Voltmeter in hand (very important) Check your car voltage at the battery car on - system off, no accessories on. Let the car run for 2 minutes at idle, make sure voltage is the same. Connect friends car battery (HIS CAR OFF) Let your car idle another minute, check voltage at your battery and at you friends battery to make sure they are equal.

Now then - Play your system for normal audio tracks you listen to daily at the normally loud level you would (with voltmeter on your car batttery) Make a note of what the lowest number you see. Play 1 or 2 songs like this. Then disconnect your friends battery (allow 2 minutes for your car to charge so the test is fair) And play the same songs at the same level - take note of the lowest number you see and report back to us with your findings and let us know what type of battery you have purchased.........

Most jumper cables should be adequate, but if the clamps are not secure on the terminals, you may have a loss from resistance. Other then that, this litte test should provide factual information on how over blown "stress" from a battery is.

 
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