Pro Help Please

[SFCMcCarty]

I have a 2009 Subaru Impreza Outback Sport; I upgraded to a 100 amp alternator, did the big 3 upgrade(4 gauge), added a second battery 2x OEM replacement (fused 4 gauge battery to battery), 1/0 gauge from second battery fused to 50 farad cap distributed to 2x 4 gauge one to Skar RP1500.1 at 1 ohm to 2x 12" SDR Subs and a Kicker 4 channel (Max output 600 watts) to JBL Front components and rear 2-way JBLs. Sounds awesome but I know I can get more from my subs but, my cap shows an immediate voltage drop when the subs hit (Turned up about 1/2 way.) Result: Kicker amp goes to protect and then eventually turns back on. Is this a ground problem (Multimeter appears to to read voltage but, dont know if anything is grounded properly(new to the multimeter game))? Or could this be an Alternator problem?

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[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

Never heard of SDR subs. Where/how is the gain set on your amp? Prob up too high. Set the gain to 38.73 using a DMM and test tone to subs, everything flat. No bass boost.

What amperage alt did the car originally have? 4 gauge big 3 still seems small, typically 1/0 is ideally. What gauge wire did the car originally have before? To sum up a grounding problem/issue, sand down/away paint and tight connection using a bolt/nut combo. And to a solid area such as chassis.

 

[SFCMcCarty]

Never heard of SDR subs. Where/how is the gain set on your amp? Prob up too high. Set the gain to 38.73 using a DMM and test tone to subs, everything flat. No bass boost.

What amperage alt did the car originally have? 4 gauge big 3 still seems small, typically 1/0 is ideally. What gauge wire did the car originally have before? To sum up a grounding problem/issue, sand down/away paint and tight connection using a bolt/nut combo. And to a solid area such as chassis.

The car originally had a 90 amp alt. Skar Audio 12" RMS 650 each. All the stock wiring was what appeared to be eight gauge. And if the wife gives me a chance I was going to increase the auxillary battery wiring to 1/0 (Thats about all I have left) Unless upgrading the big 3 to 1/0 would help more? My thoughts was upgrading the battery to battery connection and seeing if my grounds need work(Currently using the seat brackets.) Thanks for your help.

 

[Boomin_tahoe 5,000+ posts]

You could try doing the big 3 again with bigger wiring but I'm betting that alt is struggling trying to put out more amperage than what it has. Going from 90 to 100 amperage alt isn't much of an upgrade. I think this is where your issue is. That sub amp will pull over 100 volts and the 4 ch not sure about but put those 2 together and the alt cannot keep up. I'd get like 140-200 alt if you can. Should be able to solve your issue.