What capacitor do I need?

[Jer510 10+ year member]

What's your battery's voltage when everything is on? I would suggest a newer/bigger battery before I looked into a cap.

I'm having some trouble trying to get a number off the battery. With the car off, I got 12.6 VDC and then I tried to get it again and I keep getting 0. Am I doing something wrong cause I can't seem to get a reading again..

 

[Jer510 10+ year member]

You gotta be clippin pretty bad. That means your amp is drawing more amps than it even needs, and is sending a distorted signal.

what's clipping sound like?

 

[lowriderram_95 10+ year member]

also, turn your gain down on the amp. I had the same setup you've got now and at best my gain was at half way.

 

[Jer510 10+ year member]

also, turn your gain down on the amp. I had the same setup you've got now and at best my gain was at half way.

the reason why my gain is up is because im running stock speakers and I cant put the volume 3/4 up.

 

[05fronty 5,000+ posts]

turn all of your stuff on with the car running. what does your dmm say on the battery?

 

[Bigrick31 10+ year member]

Your meter should have symbols similar to this

Make sure you have the meter set to Volts DC because your battery is DC. Also make sure you have one lead of the meter on the positive terminal of the battery and one lead on the negative terminal. Make sure the terminals arnt corroded and are free of dirt grease ect for an accurate reading.

 

[hornedfrog1985 5,000+ posts]

Turn your stereo up the loudest you ever listen to it at. Turn all the bass boost, gain, everything to 0. Slowly turn the gain up until it sounds like the sub is not sounding right, and turn it back a little. That is the best you can do.

 

[mazdakid 5,000+ posts]

Loud on head unit off, bass at 0, and bass on amp all the way down. See how much the voltage drops like that.

 

[TurdFergueson2 5,000+ posts]

I'm having some trouble trying to get a number off the battery. With the car off, I got 12.6 VDC and then I tried to get it again and I keep getting 0. Am I doing something wrong cause I can't seem to get a reading again..

Do you have a digital Multimeter? If not you could get one at Sears or something. It would make doing that a lot easier. They make this little pocket one that's like 22 bucks. Some are cheaper, some more expensive. Everyone has their favorite DMM, but get one if you don't have one.

 

[Jer510 10+ year member]

turn all of your stuff on with the car running. what does your dmm say on the battery?

i got 12.6 and i tired again and i got 0.

 

[Jer510 10+ year member]

I turned my car on with all the accessories on without my music on and I got 12.2 VDC.

 

[Jer510 10+ year member]

turn all of your stuff on with the car running. what does your dmm say on the battery?

i got 12.2 vdc with everything on except the music. i know that when I turn the music on, the voltage is going to drop. I get 14.5 when my engine is running with all the accessories such as high beams, heater, etc. off.

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

i got 12.2 vdc with everything on except the music. i know that when I turn the music on, the voltage is going to drop. I get 14.5 when my engine is running with all the accessories such as high beams, heater, etc. off.

Yeah, your alternator just isn't very strong. If your alternator can barely handle its own accessories, then your audio system isn't helping much. You are probably low voltaging your amp and sending it into protection.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

If your voltage is sagging with the music off, you for sure have either a dead alt or battery. Chances are it is the alt, but a dead battery will draw a lot of current as well, which will appear to be a bad alt.

 

[Jer510 10+ year member]

How many cranking and cold cranking amps does my battery need to supply enough power to my car and my amp. My amp is 750 rms watts but it's underrated.