voltage and capacitor

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

ok i guess what nobody caught is the fact that his voltage is dropping enough to cause dimming.

op where do you have the ground for your amp at. is it on a solid piece of chassis sanded down to bare metal or is it on a painted thin piece of metal that isnt giving a proper ground, that could be part of the dimming issue.

and in a proper electrical system (aside from the fact of where the regulator is set) the voltage under no load should rest in the mid 14s at idle. mine only drops to 13.5 at idle on full tilt.

 

[splwj47 10+ year member]

well i had the music going good not as hard as it can go tho

what does op mean????

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

op is you, original poster/post depending on the application.

and again what is your ground like

 

[splwj47 10+ year member]

its in a good spot i nevere cleaned up the bolt or anything tho

 

[brodeisel 10+ year member]

what kind of car do you have? how big is the current alternator you have? what kins of battery do you have under the hood?

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

Not all car can do 14s from the factory. Mine dont, I idle and cruise mid 13s just like OP. But OP you should not be dimming of 600 watts. Something is wrong; bad ground, amp clipping like hell, weak starter battery, weak alternator.

The only way to get to 14 volts is to get a alternator with a voltage control on it. And that isnt safe for all cars. Thats just the way it is.

If you want 600 watts get a bigger amp.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

You should see what happens when your car's regulator is adjusted to 17 volts, all sorts of pretty lights come on your dash and freak out.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

You should see what happens when your car's regulator is adjusted to 17 volts, all sorts of pretty lights come on your dash and freak out.

Mine is still under warrenty, Im not even going to try 16s

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

what kind of vehicle? my frontier does that. starts up at 14.4 and drops to 13.5 after a while of driving. has done that since new. nissan told me it is fine

 

[subzero 5,000+ posts]

alternators do not produce a full maximum charge until the reach a certain RPM. For example. Mine starts at 700 RPM, 13V -- Then maximum is 2300 RPM, 15.2V

So mine doesnt charge just because I idle in the lanes, I have to rev up the idle. My stock alt maximum was 14.4V at 2500 RPM.

If you are achievingonly 13.5 V at max idle, then the alt is probably going bad or limited for some reason.

 

[LosIsATool 5,000+ posts]

alternators do not produce a full maximum charge until the reach a certain RPM. For example. Mine starts at 700 RPM, 13V -- Then maximum is 2300 RPM, 15.2V
So mine doesnt charge just because I idle in the lanes, I have to rev up the idle. My stock alt maximum was 14.4V at 2500 RPM.

If you are achievingonly 13.5 V at max idle, then the alt is probably going bad or limited for some reason.

Once again, not true. It depends on the car. My stock VCM does not go over 14.0v cold. I have a good HO with nothing on and i sit at 13.6 idleing or cruising. It doesnt matter, I can drop to the 12s quick but the VCM finally comes on and jumps back up to the mid 13s were I sit.

But they do put out more amperage, amperage is not voltage

 

[>>SQL<< 10+ year member]

OP - fix your amp's ground

Sand it down to bare metal

Do the big 3 upgrade

If you are then looking for more output from your sub system then look at box design or box placement as those will effect your output more than a Volt will.

 

[SicAudio 5,000+ posts]

wow

more mis information in this thread than I can read in 1 sitting...some of you people really need to stfu til ya know wtf your talking about 1st...

Good catch on the dimming/ground issue Phoenix

you hit the 1st major problem dead on... and whoever said vcm also hit it...some cars only charge at 13.5v unless you wire trick it..

also if ya do a lil research any ALT can be wire tricked for less than 5$ to make more volts...

as to the OP's original ?

do some simple math...

12.6 is 500

14.4 is 600

ur at 13.5 dead in the middle... 550 watts seems appropriate...

that is a close guess... and not the actual "real" math of amps x volts x efficiency = wattage but we are talking 50 watts... i highly doubt u can tell the difference...

 

[splwj47 10+ year member]

ya i was going to try to test the watts comming out the other end but my metter didnt have the right setting. my car is a 1990 chevy lumina. when i tested the volts at the amp i just started the car and let it idle probbly less the 1000 rpm and got 13.5 volts.

 

[SicAudio 5,000+ posts]

fix ur ground do the big 3 and call it a day...