Light dimming

[grumby21 0]

Okay this is the second one I'm posting of this the update is I replaced the 8ga to 4ga and I'm still getting light dimming so far I replaced the alternator from a 2003 highlander and did the big three so I'm guessing the battery is left to replace or do i have anything else to fix before replacing the battery

[nadcicle 77]

There are going to be a few factors other than replacing wire and an alternator to know why you're dimming. I'm sure giving this information would help out. This might be more extensive to some, but it'll help to answer the question.

 

1) The amp you use

2) The way the amp's gain is set

3) How are the sub(s) wired and to what ohm load

4) What batteries do you use and the amount if applicable

5) Was the alternator an upgrade or exact replacement. (helps to know amperage)

6) How well is your ground?

7) Are you grounded to the front battery or chassis? (If chassis did you sand the contact spot?)

Edited April 17, 2013 by nadcicle

[grumby21 0]

Amp: ken wood x1200m Amp gain: Lpf 100hz isf 20hzinput sensitivity slightly over 2v hpf on head unit is 100hz. Sub wiring is 4 ohm load and the subs are wired out of phase. Currently using the stock battery for starting of the car and to power the amp and subs. Replacement since the stock was 80a and the newish on is 130a. Ground of the battery is the the strut tower with grinder down paint I'm ground to the chassis on the battery just missing the the upgrade battery to engine ground for amp ground it's in the trunk and it was grinder down with a wire brush and drill same with the other ground.

[theo111 0]

Isn't wiring your subs out of phase not good? I'm not an expert but I've never heard of anyone purposely wiring their stuff out of phase.

Anyway though, upgrading from your stock battery would be the next step for you. Get the biggest AGM battery you can fit under the hood and you should be good. I had the same problem and replacing my battery fixed it 100%. Also I don't know about your amp but it could be inefficient. I have an old kicker amp that when wired to 4 ohms produces 500 watts of power, It causes my lights to dim at full tilt when running my Crescendo BC2K at 2 ohms (1100 watts) rarely makes my lights dim. Technically the kicker should present less of a load but I assume its the effiency of each amplifier that makes the difference.

[grumby13 3]

Nvm its inphase either parallel or series okay well the biggest AGM battery I checked from advance auto parts is 720cca but I hear that a good battery for car audio should have information on amp hours. The max I want to spend is $300 so what is a good company to go with that has a good warrenty.

[theo111 0]

Optima yellow tops are good i hear, XS power batteries. you should look around for a local battery shop though, I got a very nice battery, a Northstar AGM from a local store that came with a 4 year full warranty for a lot cheaper than I would have paid for an equivalent XS Power battery or something similar online.

[grumby13 3]

wow might be spending only 170 sweet

[pmureika 31]

Buy a dmm and check the voltage at the amp to see what its doing.

[muddybass 13]

if your alternator is a 130a its only putting half that at idle.... do you play the system with car off? I would try charging your current battery before purchasing a new one... what does it rest at now?

[Jason Witt 65]

I would be mad at myself if I didn't troubleshoot the issue and buy stuff you may not even need over a loose connection at the inline fuse.

[grumby13 3]

I checked the connects they were good the light dimming happens both at idle and driving. Wouldn't the battery be charging when the car is running that would be thepurpose to recharge the battery. The battery is about a few years old so it is time to re place it.

[pmureika 31]

Voltage readings would be nice to have.

[grumby13 3]

I will have to buy a DMM since I currently do not have one. I check on theis one website that I was showed to check how much voltage drop and when the bass hit it would drop to about 12.9 from 13.8 when I had my cap in

[pmureika 31]

I will have to buy a DMM since I currently do not have one. I check on theis one website that I was showed to check how much voltage drop and when the bass hit it would drop to about 12.9 from 13.8 when I had my cap in

Caps. are useless to keep the voltage up. Even a second battery wont help much if that was taken at the amp.

[grumby13 3]

i forgot to mention i guess i have a bassboost nob and it only happens when i set the volume to 30/62 and bass boost knob at half way up and the freq at the lowest which is all the way to the left.

[1two3 16]

You have your gain set wrong. Look up how to do that

[muddybass 13]

What type of battery is it?

[mlcantin 32]

130 amp alt is not big. You SHOULD NOT be bumping at idle anyways. It is rude and bad for your car.

[pmureika 31]

i forgot to mention i guess i have a bassboost nob and it only happens when i set the volume to 30/62 and bass boost knob at half way up and the freq at the lowest which is all the way to the left.

If everything is set right you should not have to use the bass boost or your head unit to increase the bass.

 

Your dimming problem needs to be found. A dmm is  required for this.

Edited April 22, 2013 by pmureika

[grumby13 3]

@1two3 would you like to share some articles that i could read or videos i can listen to do so.

 

@muddybass it's the stock toyota battery

 

@mlcatin so i found out i need to find a company that takes your stock alt and improves the output within the stock housing

 

@pmureika i have the input sensitivity set to half way and LSF which i don't remember on the top of my head is set to about 100 to 150 isf i left that alone have not read into that yet. but i think i should raise the input sensitivity higher so i would have to use bass boost.

[mlcantin 32]

@1two3 would you like to share some articles that i could read or videos i can listen to do so.

 All companies that make alternator should have one that is the same size as your stock alt. The reason they push out more amperage is the technology they put in them.

@muddybass it's the stock toyota battery

 

@mlcatin so i found out i need to find a company that takes your stock alt and improves the output within the stock housing

 

@pmureika i have the input sensitivity set to half way and LSF which i don't remember on the top of my head is set to about 100 to 150 isf i left that alone have not read into that yet. but i think i should raise the input sensitivity higher so i would have to use bass boost.

[mlcantin 32]

All companies that make alternator should have one that is the same size as your stock alt. The reason they push out more amperage is the technology they put in them.

Accidentally put my response in the quoted material

[grumby13 3]

Sound now I'm also battling a bad ground in the head unit since I noticed when I do a slight turn on the RCA it has a loud pop but I ground the RCA well I ground the RCA to the headunit screws on the top of it so Ido what else on or around it would be causing the bad ground that bad ground is giving me a faint noise feedback through the subs my friend had pioneer headunit and never had that problem so I might of been unlucky and got a lemon. I went online a few months ago and found out that pioneer is infamous for the ground loop problem. So I'm in a bad state to figure out where exactly the problem is and if I find it then I thought that would fix the light dimming a bit

[pmureika 31]

[grumby13 3]

So yeah when I get off work in 10 and a half hours I will find out more and work on it some more if anyone could link me to a good article or video to help me find Tue location or rough area to where the problem is would be much appreciated