wire/alt issue. RF-PowerSeries EXP would b nice!

[GotThemVibes90 10+ year member]

today i finished up by putting in my subs after finally bearing the cold weather to put in my batteries and do the big 3.

i made a diagram of everything and how it looks in my car. which ill post as well.

but theres a problem... a couple im sure of.

ive noticed with my battery meter even before i put the subs in, when i turn on the car and let it idle, my voltage in front and back batteries is 14.2volts, i figured thats pretty good for doing my own wiring, cuz its supposed to be 14.4v am i right? but i get a weird response when i flip the light switch on.. my battery meter all the sudden jumps up and stays at a higher charge usually above 15v.

i bought a HO alternator at 200a for about 200 bucks somewhere online.. and it concerns me that maybe i was ripped off?

because even now, after installing the subwoofers, my lights dim and my batterys drain like a mother ****er when the subs hit.. the gain on my amplifier is 1/5th of the way up if that!

i have a rockford fosgate T20001bd mono amp and (2) 12" T2 Power Series Subs

my amp puts out ~2300rms at 1 ohm and my subs are wired together at 1 ohm at 1000rms each.

i need help, any suggestions on what could be wrong. wiring, grounds, im hoping for it not to be an alternator issue but it seems that way >.

id love to know from someone who has also dealt with this equipment!

cuz when i first bought the subs and amp i didnt realize what i was getting myself into. but i totally thought i had it nailed with the endless 0ga, 200a alt, and 2 frigin KHC1400 power cells.... what is it gonna take to be able to bump these subs and not have a **** problem? does anyone know from exp how to answer that for me! refer ppl to this thread if u know, please and thanks!

also does anyone understand what it is that makes this equipment draw so much more power then its competition. ive known plenty of people that have ran over 2000 watts of power like me, but not need 2 batterys or a HO alternator.. why is this?

Click to read more...

 

[xtremebassjunky 10+ year member]

one thing is measuring the voltage of the batteries w the car on is only going to tell u the voltage from the alt.

your alternator should be fine...

i would recheck my grounds first thing.

 

[GotThemVibes90 10+ year member]

also something to add.

when buying a HO alternator? arent the looks an obvious difference?

the MF that sold it to me, out of a shop in Louisiana or some shit, he said that he actually makes them there.

the first one i got concerned me cuz it was the original casing and said delco on it.. and didnt look like the inside wiring was doubled up or anything, my friend told me that was a dead giveaway its no HO after immediatly seeing it, cuz hes a gearhead but... i hooked that thing up and fried it so fast youda shit ur pants laughing..

i chewed that MF out for this, cuz he already had VERY poor communication and took a week to even send it out.

i had to go 2 weeks without a car while i returned this for another alternator.

(this was summer of 08')

i had then gotten the second alternator from him, it had the same original casing and looked stock. but i went ahead and i installed it and realized almost the same responses as the one i had fried. i decided to say **** it and put off my project for the longest time.

well recently coming to this sight, i didnt know about changing your grounds out and other wires to 0ga (or the big 3).

still having that same alternator in there, not knowing if its high output or not, i finally did my big 3 (kinda recent)

also lets say it IS a HO alternator at 200A like it SHOULD be. would that have messed up the alternator in any way for not changing out wires to 0ga for pry about 6 months?

but now recently adding the subs to my car and pounding them, finding the same situation AFTER i had done all my wiring and replacing to 0GA. that when i flip on my lights it seems to charge my batterys higher then 14.2. and when the bass hits the voltage drops as low as 8v cuz it cant keep up.

do u think its truelly a junk alternator? bad parts in the alternator? possibly something wrong on my part?

let me know please,

also can ppl refer me some good places to get a HO Alternator.

does anyone know from experience with how much power this equipment takes.. how big of a alternator i would need to take care of the problems?

thanks

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

First thing first, those two HC1400 (if good and fully charged) should be able to keep your voltage above 12.0v by themselves with that system. Now you either have some dead batteries, a bad alt, bad wiring, or a combo platter of the above.

Here is what I suggest:

Step 1) Remove the NEG- wires from each battery, one at a time, and check the voltage. This will tell you the true voltage of the battery. You should have the car and audio off for this test. Simply do this for both batteries and let us know the voltage.

Step 2) Have your alt tested at Autozone or whatever local auto parts store you have close to you. They will gladly test it for free. Just drive it over there and ask them nicely.

Step 3) Make sure you inspect all of your wiring. Your diagram was way too small to be able to read, but it looked like you did not have a dedicated ground wire between the batteries. That may be part of the problem. I would highly recommend that you add that permanent ground wire from the front NEG- post to the rear NEG- post. You should add this to your current wiring. Do not remove the ground to chassis if you already have that. Also, your amps should ground directly to the rear battery NEG- post and not to the chassis.

Step 4) Come back here with your findings in the first two steps. We will be able to help you more after that.

 

[GotThemVibes90 10+ year member]

the back battery reads 12.8 and the front reads 12.9

i also looked over everything and redid my grounds by sanding them better,

still same problem tho

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

the back battery reads 12.8 and the front reads 12.9

i also looked over everything and redid my grounds by sanding them better,

still same problem tho

Those are good battery readings as far as voltage goes, so it would appear that your alt is keeping them charged. The next step is to have the batteries and alt load tested. Even though the voltages appear good, they could still be defective and show a good voltage reading. Simply drive over to your local auto parts store and have them load test everything (alt and both batteries). It should be a free service.

 

[GotThemVibes90 10+ year member]

erg...

well the thing is, i already did that when i first ran the batterys.

the people at my local auto store, advanced auto parts, are unprofessional idiots

they have a 2000 DOLLAR PEICE of equipment for load testing and they dont know how to use it.. they claim its broken...

this is what it gave me on a long slip. this was 6 days ago, before i finished by putting my subwoofers in

i dont understand how accurate this could be, cuz what he had clamped onto the neg and pos of just my front battery and another one that clamped around my alternator positive.. but for some reason he put it around my battery neg ground.... like wtf?? but even when having 2 batterys how would this be accurate if hes just testing off the front battery? explain, id like to know how shit works ^^

battery test

results:

good battery

voltage: 13.28v

measured: 588cca

rated: 800cca

temperature: 47 F

battery meets or exceeds required standards

starter test

results:

low cranking amps

voltage: 12.49v

amps: 11.2A

time: 3.2s

starter amp draw is low with ok starter voltage, check starter circuit for loose worn or corroded wiring.

charging system test

results:

No problems

no load: 14.25v -3.8A

loaded: 14.23v -8.1A

(then theres a bar graph with max and min on the left margin, no load and loaded on the bottom, both bars meet in the middle of max and min lines.

(another graph showing 0.24v at top, and -.24v at bottom. rippled line smack dap in the middle saying, RIPPLE 41mV)

last but not least...

drain test

results:

0.02A pass

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

Your battery is rated at 800cca and it only put out 588A at 47F? That shows that the battery is really weak. A CCA is supposed to be at 0F. At 47F it should well exceed the 800 CCA rating. Also, it says that you have low cranking amps. 11.2A at 12.5v is very minimal amperage at that voltage. You should expect to see much more than that for only a 3.2 second test.

Now your concerns over how they hooked up the testing equipment might be well founded. I wasn't there myself to see them hook it all up, but that may explain the low scores. As for testing each battery independently, I agree with that as well. You can simply walk the battery into the store and have them test it inside the store. That is what I would do with each battery.

 

[GotThemVibes90 10+ year member]

if i were to take the batterys into the store, what would this do for me, would it still give me the knowledge about the batterys i need to know.

cuz that contradicts when u said i need to have it hooked up to the alternator.

but if ur right about my batterys being bad, then what am i supposed to do as far as getting them off ebay... they dont have return policys do they. im fuked.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

if i were to take the batterys into the store, what would this do for me, would it still give me the knowledge about the batterys i need to know.
cuz that contradicts when u said i need to have it hooked up to the alternator.

but if ur right about my batterys being bad, then what am i supposed to do as far as getting them off ebay... they dont have return policys do they. im fuked.

I am not sure where I gave you the impression that to test the batteries you needed them connected to the alt. That is not the case. You really should test a battery alone and have nothing connected to it at all, other than the testing equipment of course.

With the walk in test, you will know for sure if the battery passes it's load test for it's given rating. If it passes on it's own, it is good. If it fails, you found your issue.

As for buying ANYTHING on eBay, you as a buyer have to assume that when you buy something for less than full price, you are giving up something for that discount. That is not just for car audio or batteries, anything and everything you buy online comes with some inherent risk to the buyer. The only way to be sure of a good purchase is to buy face to face locally in an established business that has policies that you agree with before the purchase. I refuse to buy anything of value on eBay. I think it has it's place in the world, but for me, that place is for cheap crap that the stores either don't carry or mark up 500%. I am willing to risk $5 for a car charger from Hong Kong. I would not risk $200 on a battery.

 

[GotThemVibes90 10+ year member]

i took them over too oreilys and found out my problem..

both batteries are bad :/

i just bought them on ebay as brand new.

idk wtf ima do now

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

i took them over too oreilys and found out my problem..
both batteries are bad :/

i just bought them on ebay as brand new.

idk wtf ima do now

That sux bro. Sorry to hear that. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

 

[quins90lac 10+ year member]

i took them over too oreilys and found out my problem..
both batteries are bad :/

i just bought them on ebay as brand new.

idk wtf ima do now

buy new batteries . and how long ago did you buy the batteries . if it wasn't that long ago you might be able to file a paypal claim against the seller

 

[DidUHearThat? 10+ year member]

As for buying ANYTHING on eBay, you as a buyer have to assume that when you buy something for less than full price, you are giving up something for that discount. That is not just for car audio or batteries, anything and everything you buy online comes with some inherent risk to the buyer. The only way to be sure of a good purchase is to buy face to face locally in an established business that has policies that you agree with before the purchase. I refuse to buy anything of value on eBay. I think it has it's place in the world, but for me, that place is for cheap crap that the stores either don't carry or mark up 500%. I am willing to risk $5 for a car charger from Hong Kong. I would not risk $200 on a battery.

Big +1

Especially for an item that naturally conceals it's wear/abuse like a battery. You can't tell the condition of a battery from a photo.