New high output alternator and new battery and still having problems, Please read

[DrTre5189 10+ year member]

Okay I am getting very frustrated because my system never works right. I have a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee and an American Bass sound system. I have 2 12" subwoofers pushing out about 1000-1200 watts RMS. When I originally got the system, it would work but cut out often. This was with my stock alternator and the battery I currently had. It was an Interstate battery of some sort. Anyways it could play a full song but then it would just completely cut off until I had the music turned down for a few moments. It would then cut back in. This went on for awhile until my battery completely died one day and I needed a new battery.

Took my car to the shop and I told them I wanted a very powerful battery but they ended up getting some Bosch battery which is rated at 140 amps. I don't know how good that is. Anyways, I hook up the sound system again. Now, what happens is a little different. The bass would play when turned up loud but it would cut in and out from very loud to very quiet. The subs were still playing bass when they are playing quiet but it is just barely. This goes on and on, back and forth every few seconds. You can see how annoying that would get. As the bass is going in and out, I noticed the amp would flicker from normal to protect mode each time. So I unplugged the system and decided to just take it the professionals when I had the chance.

I drove the vehicle around for awhile and I started noticing this new noise coming from underneath the hood, a whirling/humming kind of sound, which I pinpointed to be the alternator. It would get louder as I drove and it was always humming even when the car was stopped. I noticed my vehicle was becoming very sluggish and my battery light would come on while I was driving all the time. I knew my alternator was failing. Eventually it completely died and I couldn't start my car, could not jump it or anything. I ordered a new high output alternator and went and got it installed the other day. It is a Mean Green Alternator for my 2007 3.7 liter Jeep Grand Cherokee. I believe it is rated at 200 amps. I went and got my sound system hooked up again. However, it is still doing the exact same thing. Playing the bass loud and then it flickers back and forth between protect mode and normal. I have a new battery, and a new alternator and the system is still cutting in and out. What is going on here? I am starting to think that this new battery is definitely not meant for a high end car audio system. That is the only conclusion I could come up with. The sound system wants to play and sometimes it does and it sounds amazing, but the bass will just shift back and forth from loud to quiet. Do I need a huge battery like something from Kinetik or what?

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[sexy 10+ year member]

You need a DMM and some idea of how to use it if you want to have a system with lots of bass. Your wiring needs to be very good, you need to have upgraded the big three, when asking for help it is important to list what car you have and what equipment you are using, like what amp/amps what ohm load your subs are at,

 

[DrTre5189 10+ year member]

I have a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee and I do have the big three upgrade as well as this new high output alternator and new battery. I think the battery is lacking in power and I think that is my problem. My subs are the American Bass TNT 12 inch subwoofers. I think they push out 600 watts RMS each for a total of 1200 watts RMS. My amplifier is the American Bass Phantom 2500 model. I have 4 gauge wiring running through the vehicle. I do not know anything about the loads, I let the professionals install my equipment. I feel like they do not test it out enough before they send me on my way. I am having the same problems again and again. The bass will play normal when it is turned down fairly low. But at higher volumes the amp just blinks in and out of protect mode every other second. The bass will play loud and then dim to a softer sound and so on. I looked my on current Bosch battery and it said 140 amps. My new alternator I believe is rated at 200 amps. I am thinking I need a second battery and just have that run the sound system while the current battery runs the vehicle. I plan to go back to the shop to see what they say, but I am really just trying to throw some ideas around in this post to see if I can narrow everything down. I don't just want to guess, I want some ideas here.

 

[chsvick5 10+ year member]

0 gauge wire might be needed my friend has a hifonics 2601 with 3 kicker cvx in a single can dodge ram 1500. He has an optima and had 4 gauge running. His amp would turn off after a turning up. He change it to 0 gauge and got the big 3 and had no more problems. When ur music is playing check of the 4 gauge is too hot

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

Either that alternator is not putting out the amperage it is rated for or you have other issues.

How are your grounds? What does your voltage drop to during music?

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

get a DMM and go through everything while its playing and tell us what your voltage is doing.

check it at the front batt and at the amp.

also check your ground and stop taking it to a shop. more often than not they dont care enough to do the job right.

where did you get your alt from, there are a lot of cheap alts out there that say 200 amps and do about 60...

 

[DrTre5189 10+ year member]

The thing is I don't know how to check the voltages or the ground. I have always just left all that up to the shops. I'm sure it is not hard to do and I could look it up and figure it out. But I'm not sure I would really be that confident in what I was checking out anyway. I don't know what exactly to look for or what it all means. It is just dificult to ever get a straight answer. I want to know exactly what is wrong and no matter how many times I tell these shops my problems it seems to still never get resolved. I don't know what I have to say to get the point across. I have invested a ton of money trying to get this working. My alternator brand is Mean Green. You can look up their website online.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

meh, looks like it could be a bit iffy, I had never heard of them before, and shops will always give you the run around, they are they to make money, and they can make more by "trying" to fix a problem than they can actually fixing it.

get a digital multi meter and then come back here, we will help walk you through the best options. also take some pictures of your grounds and we can help to tell you if they are up to par or not, ive spent a lot of time in my back yard cleaning up the messes that shops have made out of a well paying customers vehicle.

 

[DrTre5189 10+ year member]

More or less, what is the most likely causes for my problem? I just want a general idea. Is it possible that I am correct, that it might just be that I need a second battery or something? Or is that the least likely explanation.

 

[jockhater2 10+ year member]

More or less, what is the most likely causes for my problem? I just want a general idea. Is it possible that I am correct, that it might just be that I need a second battery or something? Or is that the least likely explanation.

I really think it is a combination of things. But I really think you do not have sufficient grounds. Also what size wire did they install?

You can test the alternators output when you get a DMM. Just play a 30-40 hertz test tone @ 0db or -5db.

And see how bad your voltage drops. Because it shouldn't drop with a 200 amp alternator running 1200 watts.

2 12" inch Sundown Audio Zv3 Subwoofers on an Exile X5 380A iraggi alternator, xs power batteries - YouTube

Skip to 30 seconds. It is as simple as that. Buy a Digital multi meter. Connect the Red lead to your positive battery post and the black to your Negative. And give your alternator a Load. In this case it will be your amplifier via Music or a test tone. And see where your voltage drops too.

Grounds are very important. I did dedicated runs of ground wire. That's how important they are. Make sure you check that you have a ground from your battery to the engine block, and the frame. And ground your alternator casing to the frame. (the casing grounds itself automatically to the engine block)

Use at least 4awg wire for your grounds.

 

[mlstrass 5,000+ posts]

mean green alts ****. Had a team mate who went thru 3 of them in about 6 months.

As mentioned you need a DMM to see what voltage is at the amp. Cutting in/out from amp going into soft protect means it's probably dropping into the 10v range...

 

[DrTre5189 10+ year member]

I believe I have figured out the problem. It looks to be my ground wire. Here is what I noticed. The amp was blinking in and out of protect mode every two seconds. It would hit hard bass and then switch to soft and quiet bass. Eventually, today the amplifier just stayed in protect mode. The light quit blinking and it stayed a constant red. At this point there wasn't even any soft bass hitting anymore. So I started at the amp and decided to check the wires. I have three main wires that I noticed. The big red power wire that leads all the way through the vehicle to the battery. The skinny, thin blue wire and then also the big thick green wire which I guess to be the ground wire. Now, I happened to notice that when I fiddled with the green wire and tugged on it and moved it around, the bass would kick in. All of suddenly, out of nowhere the bass is pounding super hard and sounds amazing. However, this doesn't last too long. Eventually the bass will cut out again, and the amp will continues to flicker between normal and protect mode.

I knew something had to be up with that wire, something just wasn't adding up. So I decided to follow the path of the green wire from the amp to where it is grounded. It is a short wire, of only 2 or 3 feet. When I noticed the area it was grounded at, the problem was immediately apparent. The connection was very loose and every time I tugged on the wire a bit you could see that it wasn't securely tightened down. The piece of metal that the wire was grounded to could be moved up and down and back and forth a bit. Also the metal the wire was grounded to looked very dirty with a quite a bit of corrosion. The final thing I noticed, was that the wire was melted/burned just a small bit at the point of its grounded connection. Also about an inch down the wire, there was a small melted looking area. Often times when I tugged on the wire a little bit, there would be some sparks at the area the wire is grounded. I'm not sure what exactly that indicates, just mentioning it.

So I think I really found the problem. When the wire is adjusted just right, the bass and the subs and the amp work beautifully. For once, I almost got through a whole song today of hard hitting bass. So I do not believe that it is my brand new alternator or my battery anymore. My vehicle does not seem to struggle like it used to since I have gotten the new alternator. Before, my alternator was whining, and the vehicle really struggled to accelerate and what not. The battery light came on all the time and it got to the point where it finally just died and I couldn't even jump my car because the alternator was completely shot. This new high output alternator seems to be doing the job with ease.

So I guess from here on, I should probably get a new wire that isn't melted and damaged. Then, go and clean the ground connections of corrosion and everything else. Re-hook up the new wire and make sure it is securely tightened into place. Does all this seem to make sense now? Is there really all my problem was?

 

[Timmy13091 10+ year member]

I believe I have figured out the problem. It looks to be my ground wire. Here is what I noticed. The amp was blinking in and out of protect mode every two seconds. It would hit hard bass and then switch to soft and quiet bass. Eventually, today the amplifier just stayed in protect mode. The light quit blinking and it stayed a constant red. At this point there wasn't even any soft bass hitting anymore. So I started at the amp and decided to check the wires. I have three main wires that I noticed. The big red power wire that leads all the way through the vehicle to the battery. The skinny, thin blue wire and then also the big thick green wire which I guess to be the ground wire. Now, I happened to notice that when I fiddled with the green wire and tugged on it and moved it around, the bass would kick in. All of suddenly, out of nowhere the bass is pounding super hard and sounds amazing. However, this doesn't last too long. Eventually the bass will cut out again, and the amp will continues to flicker between normal and protect mode.
I knew something had to be up with that wire, something just wasn't adding up. So I decided to follow the path of the green wire from the amp to where it is grounded. It is a short wire, of only 2 or 3 feet. When I noticed the area it was grounded at, the problem was immediately apparent. The connection was very loose and every time I tugged on the wire a bit you could see that it wasn't securely tightened down. The piece of metal that the wire was grounded to could be moved up and down and back and forth a bit. Also the metal the wire was grounded to looked very dirty with a quite a bit of corrosion. The final thing I noticed, was that the wire was melted/burned just a small bit at the point of its grounded connection. Also about an inch down the wire, there was a small melted looking area. Often times when I tugged on the wire a little bit, there would be some sparks at the area the wire is grounded. I'm not sure what exactly that indicates, just mentioning it.

So I think I really found the problem. When the wire is adjusted just right, the bass and the subs and the amp work beautifully. For once, I almost got through a whole song today of hard hitting bass. So I do not believe that it is my brand new alternator or my battery anymore. My vehicle does not seem to struggle like it used to since I have gotten the new alternator. Before, my alternator was whining, and the vehicle really struggled to accelerate and what not. The battery light came on all the time and it got to the point where it finally just died and I couldn't even jump my car because the alternator was completely shot. This new high output alternator seems to be doing the job with ease.

So I guess from here on, I should probably get a new wire that isn't melted and damaged. Then, go and clean the ground connections of corrosion and everything else. Re-hook up the new wire and make sure it is securely tightened into place. Does all this seem to make sense now? Is there really all my problem was?

Yes it does //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif op make sure u sand any paint off where your grounding do it right ull be golden

 

[DrTre5189 10+ year member]

I wanted to attach some images of the wire and where it is grounded at, so here they are. The problem for me, is that the area the wire is grounded at is very hard to reach. It is located under the back seats of my Jeep. I am not too sure how to access the area when there is only a little opening for me to reach down into.

Here is the pictures...

 

[Chriszle 10+ year member]

Looks like it got so hot that it started to melt the plastic. You may need to replace the wire, and use something besides what looks to be a self tapping screw to solidify the connection.