voltage high, but still heavy dimming

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

voltage on my stinger meter reads high 13.xx volts, but i get dimming like crazy.

curious as to why?

also my voltage can stay up high, but in the mornings my battery resting voltage is in low 12's. wtf.

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[All_Logix 10+ year member]

Your battery is 12v, that's normal, when you crank the engine the alt takes over and should read in the 14.xx volts, so 13.xx is actually kinda low....that could be the cause, or if you haven't done the big 3 it might be bottle necking the current flow, however i think you would see a voltage drop there...

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Even dropping from 14.4 to 13.4 VDC will cause dimming.

Batteries normally rest at 12.2 - 12.5 VDC

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

how are your grounds, had a friends system doing the same thing, was getting little to know voltage drop but his lights were close to shutting off. he had his ground on something flimsy. i redid at and problem solved.

just a thought.

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

Even dropping from 14.4 to 13.4 VDC will cause dimming.
Batteries normally rest at 12.2 - 12.5 VDC

well good news is, i just ordered a DC power alt today. 230 amps, this **** should clear things up.

but was still curious why i was getting the dimming.

my battery rests at about 12.3 now but it used to rest at about 12.7. idk if alt just isnt keeping up to fully charge it, or if battery is going out. just bought it in jan though

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

how are your grounds, had a friends system doing the same thing, was getting little to know voltage drop but his lights were close to shutting off. he had his ground on something flimsy. i redid at and problem solved.
just a thought.

il recheck my grounds under my hood. but im pretty sure they are nice and tight.

thanks for the tip though.

 

[Phoenix Risen 10+ year member]

il recheck my grounds under my hood. but im pretty sure they are nice and tight. thanks for the tip though.

its not always that they are loose, make sure they are on bare metal and actually on something solid, like the chassis, not just a trim piece

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

As well as on bare metal and not corroded. If you don't coat the grounds, they can rust and lose contact.

Note that the alt has about half output at idle. Does dimming happen at 2k RPM?

Yea, we are both on the same page... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

its not always that they are loose, make sure they are on bare metal and actually on something solid, like the chassis, not just a trim piece

im always iffy about my **** grounds. i never know if they are good enough.i always sand down though.

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

As well as on bare metal and not corroded. If you don't coat the grounds, they can rust and lose contact.
Note that the alt has about half output at idle. Does dimming happen at 2k RPM?

dimming happends always lol

=(

the dc alt i just ordered is supposed to do 180 amps at idle and 230 at about 1500 rpm. so hopefully all my electrical will be good after this.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Nice alt choice. Should help. If you can rotate the ground lug, it is too loose. The connect protector you can get at an Autoparts store seems to hold up well. I lather up my grounds.

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

Nice alt choice. Should help. If you can rotate the ground lug, it is too loose. The connect protector you can get at an Autoparts store seems to hold up well. I lather up my grounds.

lol beatufiul choice... but it cost me $550 dollars.

could've gotten a couple other equipment parts for this price, but i guess its part of it all.

i checked connections and they are tight. and the grounding spots seem good (to me).

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

less than a month later. and one 230 h/o alternator from dc power, andi m still getting horribly dimming! voltage is now up close to 15 volts but dimming is as bad as its ever been. any more tips on how the hell to fix this? i dont get what im doing wrong.

 

[sexy 10+ year member]

The problem is that people cannot guess at these kinds of things and do you much good. You will have to do some test on your system. You said something about the voltage on your stinger. If you have a voltmeter hooked up at the amp and it is showing big drops in voltage at the amp like 4 or 5 volt drops that’s enough to seriously dim some lights. I saw where you said your volts are up to about 15 but do they stay there or do they drop at times and how much? Hook up a voltmeter to the battery and see what happens there. it is possible that the lights have a bad connection but I would be checking the other areas with a voltmeter before you end up with worse problems. I am using two vfl500.1s wired down to ½ ohm and very little box rise on music. I have absolutely no dimming I do have 3 ho alts and 6 batteries. I have that much electrical because I did the test that I needed to do to insure that I don’t blow two $1500 amps. You can also test the alternator your self if need be but you will need to get or barrow a dc amp clamp to do it right.

 

[robertoyoung08 10+ year member]

The problem is that people cannot guess at these kinds of things and do you much good. You will have to do some test on your system. You said something about the voltage on your stinger. If you have a voltmeter hooked up at the amp and it is showing big drops in voltage at the amp like 4 or 5 volt drops that’s enough to seriously dim some lights. I saw where you said your volts are up to about 15 but do they stay there or do they drop at times and how much? Hook up a voltmeter to the battery and see what happens there. it is possible that the lights have a bad connection but I would be checking the other areas with a voltmeter before you end up with worse problems. I am using two vfl500.1s wired down to ½ ohm and very little box rise on music. I have absolutely no dimming I do have 3 ho alts and 6 batteries. I have that much electrical because I did the test that I needed to do to insure that I don’t blow two $1500 amps. You can also test the alternator your self if need be but you will need to get or barrow a dc amp clamp to do it right.

alternator is brand new. just got put in yesterday morning.

il check the voltage at the amps, but my voltage meter reads high 14s most of the time. it does fluctuate up and down but not too crazy. which is why im confused off my dimming being soo horrible.