Lights still dimming when bass hits

[accordme93]

I thought I would post this here too. http://www.cb7tuner.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=43200

Since my alternator checked out fine, might I have a ground issue or something? Also my battery is getting up there and probably was not charged that well with my failing alternator. Do you think getting a new battery might solve this dimming issue?

[bruno8747]

Upgrade grounds, Upgrade Big 3 wiring, Get deep cycle battery. DONT get a cap.

[gloryaccordy]

Yeh, caps= teh lose. Upgrade your wiring and grounds like the man said. Upgrade your alternator if you're really crankin it.

It's weird for me...sometimes the lights dim and sometimes they don't.

[accordme93]

Now what wiring exactly are you talking about? Because all the system wiring is a Monster Cable kit which should be OK.

The amp is only pushing like 280w bridged if that. So I really don't think it should be sucking the juice like it is.

[gloryaccordy]

What gauge is the wiring in the kit?

The other wires we're talking about are the wires from the battery ground to the...chassis ground, the big wire from the battery to the fuse box and I'm guessing the big wire from the positive battery terminal to the alternator. You'd be surprised at the difference changing those wires can make. For a while my car was having problem starting...everything was A-OK, from the battery to the starter to the alternator...it turns out my battery ground wire was completely rotten. I swapped it out, voila, no more starting problems.

In any case, those wires up front are reaching teenager ages...if you're gonna put an extra strain on them with a stereo, it would probably be wise to upgrade them, even if it's not that crazy of a system. You'll get better engine performance too.

[T3aM 83rD]

whats the problem with getting a good cap?

[gloryaccordy]

whats the problem with getting a good cap?

You're not minimizing the load on your alternator, you're just distributing it evenly. Say your alternator pumped out water instead of electricity...without a cap, the stereo would draw a big amount over a small period of time, taking "water" from everything else in the electrical system. With a cap, rather than take that "water" out in bursts, you're constantly taking a lot of water out all the time. The cap would be like a reserve of "water" that the system draws on...but every time your system hits, the cap is drawing "water" from the alternator to be refilled with what the system took. Anyway you cut it, it's not good for an old, stock alternator.

[T3aM 83rD]

its still better than pulling the power straight from the battery where everything else is getting "fed" off of. I was just curious why you guys were not advising this guy to get a cap cause i have one and everyone i know that has a system and everyone i know who installs systems stand behind getting a cap. just my opinion though

[gloryaccordy]

Think about who's giving out the advice though. Believe me...I don't wanna say caps are completely useless; they do redistribute the load, but they won't save your alternator. You'd do better buying a heavy-duty alternator over a cap.

[2.2litrebeater]

its still better than pulling the power straight from the battery where everything else is getting "fed" off of. I was just curious why you guys were not advising this guy to get a cap cause i have one and everyone i know that has a system and everyone i know who installs systems stand behind getting a cap. just my opinion though

ok? he is low on power because he has a high powered amp that no one though of when planning the cars electrical system way back in 1990. where does power come from? the alternator. adding a cap is not going to help produce more of the required power. the amp is stressing the electrical system upgrading the big 3 (1) alternator positive to battery positive, 2) battery negative to chassis, and 3) engine ground to chassis.) may help but ultimatly its because the alternator is not kicking out enough juice. caps are mostly for cosmetic use and provide minimal worth even if you have proper power. you can add 100 capacitors and the alternator is still not going to keep his lights from dimming, /kicking dead horse
btw glorys analogy is good btw i am a pro installer for the last few years and do not run a cap!

[accordme93]

everything you guys have said is great and makes sense. but the thing is that now that i have a rebuilt alternator, i'm shocked that the lights are still dimming. it was never this bad when i first put the amp in.

so maybe the amp has weakened the big 3 wires? that's all i can think of.

[T3aM 83rD]

ok if it were me, i would get (1) a better alternator (2) a cap. This would be the order given that my battery is good, all my wires are good, and everything else is good. I agreed with you guys that the altenator is more important than the cap but i was under the impression that he had a new (rebuilt) altenator and he was seeking other solutions.

[OnE eYe GuY]

i dont know much about stereo stuff, but my friend has an 04 yukon, with 2 mtx 9500s and 2 xtant 1001 amps. He's got all the wiring hooked up perfect, even with a 25 farad capacitor by RF his headlights dim.

[Grant8311]

Im not exactly sure how to explain this or why, but I had this problem when using 8 gauge wire. I bought an Optima yellow top and it didnt help much with the dimming. When i switched to 4 gauge wire, (even after upgrading to a larger amp), my headlights stopped dimming.

[hpaccord91]

i think the best battery out there is the gold series diehard battery i think ive had them in all my cars there affortable with a nice warrenty and they can take a beeten ill tell u that ive had my battery for 3 yrs and it is still great shape just got it checked out when i went to get my tires done at sears

and with the battery i was powering two w7's with 2 `1000 watt kenwood amps and a 600 kenwood amp for component system with 2 fared cap mine dimmed with the bass very very little couldnt really tell much