Help me with my electrical systm please!!

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

I wanted to take a bit of your time if you dont mind cause i need some help. The only difference is your making about 19,000 more watts compared to what i have LOL sad to say im having voltage drop, sub bass cuttin off when im at idle and when driving at night it tends to cut off when im bumpin it decently loud. I have a 2001 blazer with the oem alternator 1 optima redtop battery and the big 3 upgrade using 1/0 oxygen free tsunami compotition power cable. The problom im having is that when I have the car with the engine on and I play music decently loud I notice that the voltage drops to about 12 volts. I was hoping you guys could help me out. I have one 4awg kicker power cable running from the battery to the rear to a distrubuter block that splits to 2 amps which are 08 ZX 750.1 kicker mono amp for my sub (4ohm DVC 12" L7 kicker). the other amp is the cadence exinith at 4ohm and this is for my front stage components. Another question: the fuse that I have by my battery is a 120a and the 2 fuses in the distrubeter block are 80a for the kicker amp and 80a for the cadence amp. Not sure if im using the right fuses if it matters. Hope to here from you soon. Oh by the way I got my alteranater and battery tested by a local auto parts and they are both working fine according to them. Hope to here from you soon. THNX 4 your time.

[thebiggmann12 14]

try running 0 gauge to the back and then 4 or 0 from the distribution block. add another battery in the back or get a high output alternator.

[Sir-Lancelot 216]

Dont think fuses are your problem.

How are your grounds?

Gains set correctly?

One sub? Dont really see how that could be wired wrong if only 1.

Another battery back by the amp would help, but with the limited power you are running it really shouldnt be needed. Everything I see checks out for what you are running and should be ok.

[altoncustomtech 773]

First of all the battery and alternator testers at the auto parts stores aren't always accurate. It sounds like you may be having issues with your grounds though. That's a very common issue with a bad ground. I would also recommend upgrading that power wire to a 1/0 in the near future. Generally you really don't want to run any more than 1000wrms on 4 guage wire and if you have fairly inefficient amps (which I've heard both of those are on the inefficient side, but not seen any clamp tests to prove it). Another thing to do would be to disconnect your battery some night, test the voltage when you disconnect it and then test it again in the morning. It shouldn't fall to less than 12.x volts, somewhere in the 12v range. If it falls down below the 12v mark then the battery is going bad on you. It's a decent way to test the battery's condition.

I hope that maybe these suggestions may help you out, and I'm sure there will be many more suggestions from others as well. Good Luck and let us know what you find to be the culprit(s).

[NB50 206]

As before check grounds.

Also how old is the serpentine belt, might want to check that also.

[porkchop 304]

i have seen times were this similar problem was cured by adding additional grounds throughout.

adding multiple, good, solid grounds will not hurt and almost always proves to help out.

rechecking each connection, positives ans grounds is also a good starting point. sometimes things tend to loosen up some.

i like the idea of having the same gauge wire through out the build. the 4 gauge seems like it would be one thing to bump up in size.

do a good, complete walk through of it, check all things mentioned in op, and let us know.

chop

[stevemead08 752]

i have seen times were this similar problem was cured by adding additional grounds throughout.

adding multiple, good, solid grounds will not hurt and almost always proves to help out.

rechecking each connection, positives ans grounds is also a good starting point. sometimes things tend to loosen up some.

i like the idea of having the same gauge wire through out the build. the 4 gauge seems like it would be one thing to bump up in size.

do a good, complete walk through of it, check all things mentioned in op, and let us know.

chop

X2,3,and 4

[1200 bandit 2]

i have seen times were this similar problem was cured by adding additional grounds throughout.

adding multiple, good, solid grounds will not hurt and almost always proves to help out.

rechecking each connection, positives ans grounds is also a good starting point. sometimes things tend to loosen up some.

i like the idea of having the same gauge wire through out the build. the 4 gauge seems like it would be one thing to bump up in size.

do a good, complete walk through of it, check all things mentioned in op, and let us know.

chop

I have seen the same here,recheck the grounds and power wires big wire don't like to be crimped. Also when doing the big 3 I allways solder becaues it is to much work to go back and re-do loose crimps.

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

As for my gain it is at 50%, bass boost is turned all the wayu down. On my head unit the loudness is off and bass boost is at 0. I will double check my grounds and see what i can find. My powr cable that runs to the rear is slightly pinched but is only pinching the plastic part. Its not touching the wire inside. Since i have inspected the plastic and it just tends to push it together a bit but i can still swivel the wire. As for my battery i have checked the volts with the car off and it is at 12.6volts i belive. and as for my belt i have heard it sqeel at times... hmm... can that be a problom?? Thnx for the feed back.

[CrownVic 15]

Belt squeel means the belt is slipping which can mean its not turning your alternator to charge your electrical. Till you get this fixed i would advise you to keep your bump down and watch that voltage to avoid ruining your battery.

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

I relocated 2 of my big 3 cables and cut them to the shortest possible and i noticed difference . Im going to grab a dmm and test it, when im playing music at idle and when playing music revenant to 2500rpms, sound good?? Am i missing another type of test i can do?? I will have my timing belt inspected and tightended hopefully later on today

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

Edited February 12, 2010 by ExplicitYourSelf

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

her is the deal... Volktage readings were tested on the kidcker amps power and ground cables. At idle with music all the way down 13.94 volts-14.19 volts With the music on at idle its 12.94 volts. On the song "i put on for my city" When it hit the hook the bass dropped to 11.89 volts and sub was cutting off, Other than that it sounds alot better with less cutting out except on that part where the voltage drops that low. Reving the car at 3000rpm's the sub still cut out with readings of 12.98. Tests were done daytime like around 3:00p.m. headlights wrere off and all doors wee closed so dome light was also off. What do you guys think??

[Duran 387]

I think you have a voltage problem

[PT3005 1]

As before check grounds.

Also how old is the serpentine belt, might want to check that also.

I did not know serpentine belt played a factor in the electrical system, mines has cracks in it or so i was told when i got my car inspected guess im going to get that replaced later this week when im off

[NB50 206]

As before check grounds.

Also how old is the serpentine belt, might want to check that also.

I did not know serpentine belt played a factor in the electrical system, mines has cracks in it or so i was told when i got my car inspected guess im going to get that replaced later this week when im off

The serpentine belt runs the alternator, if it slips on the alternator the alternator wont work to its full potential causing voltage drops.

[bigrank916 72]

Im going to say the readings from the auto part store on your alternator were false. Those machines suck. Sometimes you can get an accurate reading, but the majority of the time they are off.

I had them test my truck when I thought I had voltage problems, before and after I installed a new h/o alt. Niether one worked.

Get yourself a DMM and test it yourself for the voltage.

For the alternator, do a little math to see how many amps you can pull at one time versus what the stock alternator produces. Meaning with stereo at full tilt and all accessories on to create the largest load possible. This can tell you whether or not you should introduce more batteries or a h/o alt to beef up the system.

But...if the serpentine belt is worn and has many cracks, you should replace this first. It could be affecting your alt and its a cheap replacement. Not to mention, good preventive maintenance.

[PT3005 1]

As before check grounds.

Also how old is the serpentine belt, might want to check that also.

I did not know serpentine belt played a factor in the electrical system, mines has cracks in it or so i was told when i got my car inspected guess im going to get that replaced later this week when im off

The serpentine belt runs the alternator, if it slips on the alternator the alternator wont work to its full potential causing voltage drops.

Gotcha

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

I did notice that my car sometimes squeeks and it seems to be from the serpentine belt.

im going to have that checked hopefully tomorrow, all grounds are good along with the big 3 cables.

thanks for the feedback

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

First i wanna say thnx to all those who helped me out. Things went great when i adjusted my gain with the dmm at 38.7 volts

Here R my voltage readings as of 2 days ago. Idle with music off 14.16 volts

And When i was playing the song BME click by lil john at volume 46 out of 62 the voltage dropped to 12.39 and the sub was cutting out a bit but was realived after i gave it throttle to approx 2500RPM's

Here are the knobs of my amp Set to 38.7 volts to power y 12" L7 DVC 4ohm wired to parallel

Here are the settings of my headunit, Oh and i left my preset equalizer set on flat before i made these adjustments to the stereo.

Well thats it for my results. THNX again for all feedback. I can hear better smooth sounding base and it can get loud . Id recommend everyone to adjust your gain settingds with a dmm. Results are great and can save you moiney because you might think a heavy duty alternator will fix your voltage probloms when in reallity your amp is clippin. Thats causing all this sub cutting off noise. My only concerns now is the fact that I have to give it some gas when im playing music when the car is at idle so it cannot cut off. Is this an easy fix?? Or how do i go about that

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

Check out my Vids of my car audio systm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuPmaqy7Pmw

[ExplicitYourSelf 0]

i got some good news and some bad news... So i tried my brothers sony explod 1000watt amp on my car and everthing works wel. No sound cutting off and the lowest the voltage drops to is 13.16 and i tried my 08 ZX 750.1 kickier mono amp on his car which is a honda civic and the sub cutting out problom remains. This is with the gain at 50%. The bad news is, its seems to be my amp at fault to be the problom and i no longer have warranty But i talked to the kicker representative and to diognose the amp is 25 bucks and repairs are normally from 40-90 $ and if i get my amp repairreed whith them they will not charge me the diognose fee and only the repair fee. While i was chekin out my amp to remove it from my car to put it on my brothers car. I noticed this...

What causes this to happen?? Input is appriciated.