Why in the blue hell are my lights dimming when i have a 250 amp alt?

[1rockford1 5,000+ posts]

bad grounds.

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

so you ran your 12w6 on a stock battery? oh really!

Yes I did smart guy, it only did 600watt rms so i didn't feel the need to get a new one. The thread starter is running under a lot more power than me so take it easy and stop trying to get me for everything I say.

Na dude, you didn't hook your 12w6 to a battery and do anything. You did hook up your amp to your battery and then ran your sub off your amp. My point is what in the hell does a 12w6 have to do with this discussion. Had you mentioned your amp that would have been a completely different story. So if you want me to stop getting you for everything you say, stop talking crap.

 

[Sarthos 10+ year member]

Okay, since nobody else has asked the obvious, have you ever CHECKED to be sure that's what your alternator is putting out? If you bought a 250 amp alt off of ebay or some crap, it might be expecting you to be running 20,000 RPMs to reach that kinda output.

 

[Techmaster05 10+ year member]

Na dude, you didn't hook your 12w6 to a battery and do anything. You did hook up your amp to your battery and then ran your sub off your amp. My point is what in the hell does a 12w6 have to do with this discussion. Had you mentioned your amp that would have been a completely different story. So if you want me to stop getting you for everything you say, stop talking crap.

what are you talking about, I'm not talking crap. Talking crap would be, ohhh im so much better than you, you dont know anything about car audio, i know everything. That would be me talking crap. lol common sense bro, of course I didn't just take the wires from my sub and hook them up to a battery without an amp. I was just saying that i ran my 600 watt rms sub off of a stock battery. That includes my amp and all the wiring lol. I was just demonstrating that even with my 600 watt rms 12w6 my lights dimmed like crazy on a stock battery, and if my stock battery was that bad with such a low powered sub, than the thread starters light dimming issue is beyond bad because his setup is putting out more than mine was. Man why do people have to be soooo difficult?

 

[MONSONwarrior Premium Member]

what are you talking about, I'm not talking crap. Talking crap would be, ohhh im so much better than you, you dont know anything about car audio, i know everything. That would be me talking crap. lol common sense bro, of course I didn't just take the wires from my sub and hook them up to a battery without an amp. I was just saying that i ran my 600 watt rms sub off of a stock battery. That includes my amp and all the wiring lol. I was just demonstrating that even with my 600 watt rms 12w6 my lights dimmed like crazy on a stock battery, and if my stock battery was that bad with such a low powered sub, than the thread starters light dimming issue is beyond bad because his setup is putting out more than mine was. Man why do people have to be soooo difficult?

What he's saying is that the sub you are running doesn't matter at all with your dimming issue. You state it's a 600 wrms sub but for all we know you could be running 1200 wrms to that sub. Your amp and wiring is what matters, the main things being efficiency and the power you're putting out.. Now I think you mean you were running rms to it but you should really just specify the amp because no one really cares that you were dimming with a W6

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

so you ran your 12w6 on a stock battery? oh really!

what are you talking about, I'm not talking crap. Talking crap would be, ohhh im so much better than you, you dont know anything about car audio, i know everything. That would be me talking crap. lol common sense bro, of course I didn't just take the wires from my sub and hook them up to a battery without an amp. I was just saying that i ran my 600 watt rms sub off of a stock battery. That includes my amp and all the wiring lol. I was just demonstrating that even with my 600 watt rms 12w6 my lights dimmed like crazy on a stock battery, and if my stock battery was that bad with such a low powered sub, than the thread starters light dimming issue is beyond bad because his setup is putting out more than mine was. Man why do people have to be soooo difficult?

because im bored and this is the interwebz. welcome to CA.com noob

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

What he's saying is that the sub you are running doesn't matter at all with your dimming issue. You state it's a 600 wrms sub but for all we know you could be running 1200 wrms to that sub. Your amp and wiring is what matters, the main things being efficiency and the power you're putting out.. Now I think you mean you were running rms to it but you should really just specify the amp because no one really cares that you were dimming with a W6

well said

 

[Techmaster05 10+ year member]

What he's saying is that the sub you are running doesn't matter at all with your dimming issue. You state it's a 600 wrms sub but for all we know you could be running 1200 wrms to that sub. Your amp and wiring is what matters, the main things being efficiency and the power you're putting out.. Now I think you mean you were running rms to it but you should really just specify the amp because no one really cares that you were dimming with a W6

lol thank you for clearing things up because someone here doesn't know how to ask questions. It was a Kenwood KAC9104D noob amp, it only did 600rms @ 2 ohms I believe. It says 900 rms at 2 ohms but it was 600 in reality. If you can understand what im saying.

 

[kmanian 5,000+ posts]

lol thank you for clearing things up because someone here doesn't know how to ask questions. It was a Kenwood KAC9104D noob amp, it only did 600rms @ 2 ohms I believe. It says 900 rms at 2 ohms but it was 600 in reality. If you can understand what im saying.

that amp was only drawing like 60 amps then, so if you were dimming with 60 amps of load full tilt, your battery and charging system was complete crap. Listen, your suggestion was ok, but a cap is not going to fix his issues, and low voltage will kill his amp if he doesn't get his electrical up to par pretty quickly. "Caps" are for smaller systems that lack the electrical upgrades to allow current to flow freely enough to satisfy the demand, like those installed at big box stores IMO. Good car audio batteries can do the same thing, but have reserve capacity that caps simply don't have. and the typical car audio battery will discharge over 1000 amps in 5 seconds if needed, plenty of power for your typical 1500+watt amp, and if the amps get bigger, add more batteries.

 

[BlactimusCrime 10+ year member]

Biggest thread dump prolly ever lol

 

[JuicyJeff 10+ year member]

Is u trollin? Boss cap really?

Anyways, if you have an armrest in that tracer let me buy it

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Right, I just prefer to get 30mpg, and then stomp it and get another 300+hp if needed
Oh yeah back to caps, LOL

So foreign cars with much smaller engines are the only ones with this option? What exactly does one give up by going with the small engine then? Anything, in your opinion?

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

first of all im not a kid and i didn't say it takes simple upgrades to make a car do 8's. The evo im talking about is a 4 banger but with a lot of custom work done to it.

Yep, sure is. And all those things are what make a 4-cyl car able to have any chance to compete against V8 cars (lighter, AWD, more power adders, etc). That was exactly my point.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

While I'm not going to read through all 3 pgs of posts, I will say that caps can help. Those that think they don't just don't know how /why to use them.

Okay, I'll bite. Why dont YOU tell us exactly why they are necessary. I look forward to your response.

 

[smgreen20 10+ year member]

So are you saying that a cap will fix his issue of dimming running a SAZ3500 with a stock single battery and a 225 alt?

I can't say that it WILL, but in most cases it does. There are a few variables to take into account, one being in the nature of his grounds, which has been stated by someone else. Every install I've done that the lights have dimmed, whether it's my own ride, a friends, or a customers, it has fixed the issue. The size of the alt does come into play on some. An 85 ampere alt w/a 250 ampere system, a cap wont fix that issue. So there are some variables to take into account.