Headlights dim real bad

[viper624]

I have a 97 protege lx. I am running 2 alpine type r 1221d's on a JL 500/1 and another alpine v12 for mids and highs. When the bass hits hard the lights dim real bad and if I am stopped at a red light the car will stumble a bit. I will be getting a optima yellow top soon. Will this take care of the problem? Or should I upgrade the stock Batt/alt wires?

Thanks for all replies

 

[servoeyes]

I've got a red top and I was driving on the hi-way...my lights almost went out...and my gains are set fairly low, and I'm only running a 250/1 and an Eclipse. I think I need to do several things...upgrade the wiring from the alternator (as soon as things get warm), definitely check all grounds, and check all hots. I think I may have a weak ground point and that may be part of it. I dunno...I'm still learning how to troubleshoot this kind of stuff. I'm hoping someone like Got Wake or firsty (or others with experience here) will jump in and give me some other ideas as well!

 

[Bass Addict]

I'd recommend keeping it turned down until you get your Yellow Top, so you won't fry your alternator. I'd imagine that the "stumbling" at stop light is the alternator trying to recharge the battery while your amps are drawing more than the stock electrical system can handle.

 

[viper624]

Well I try to keep it down at red lights so I dont bother anyone Thanks for the advice I should have my optima this weekend. I hope it helps some

 

[pr5owner]

use 3 batteries and 8 caps

 

[Murda]

Upgrade your ground wires first. That solved 90% of my problems. Then you can do alternator -> battery and alternator -> ground. If all 3 of those fail.... time to rewind/upgrade your alternator.

 

[MisterT]

I upgraded wires from alt to the battery to 4 gauge, have a 4 gauge groundkit, drycell battery (similar to the Optima) and still have dimming. I have a batcap on order( www.batcap.net ) if you want to learn about them. Some people don't upgrade their battery and it works, but eventually it will die quicker with the stereo, so I would get a bigger battery first IMO, then go with a batcap if dimming persists.

 

[got wake?]

make sure you've got proper wiring first. proper gauge and proper grounding. add a ground from the battery to the chassis. have your battery load tested, if it's the stock battery, it's probably shot.

 

[servoeyes]

make sure you've got proper wiring first. proper gauge and proper grounding. add a ground from the battery to the chassis. have your battery load tested, if it's the stock battery, it's probably shot.

I went out with an AMM today and measured my resting voltage and charging voltage.

Car off:
Battery (Red Top) at 12.5V

Car on:
At battery ~13-14V (need a DMM) w/ stereo off, down to 12.5V w/ stereo on full on low bass hits...almost fully dimmed the system on Benny Benassi's Satisfaction.
At 250/1 - down to 12.5 on low bass hits, sitting at around 14.4V normal
At EA3422 - down to 12.5 on low bass hits, same as the 250/1.

So, what I've assumed from this is that the alternator can't keep up at all. I haven't had a chance to take a look at it and measure yet. I can only hope that it's putting out enough power and that I simply need to upgrade the wire from it to the rest of the car's systems. Note also, on low bass hits like that I get the burp from my sub and the Low Ohms light on the 250/1 fires...not sure of why...I'm rebuilding the box so that I can have a properly sealed beasty, but until then, I'd like to make sure of what the problem there is.

 

[got wake?]

how long did you have to have your system cranking for it to drop to 12.5 volts? last time i tested mine i used a lil john song (very low bass) and it took about 2 minutes at idle to drop below 12.6 volts. that was with a red top exide obital select battery, and 1100 watts from my PA amp. when i get the motivation i'll be doing my own test of the chassis of our cars, since i already have a spare 4 guage running to my trunk. i've got some 100 watt resistors, so i'll be testing the amp with a fixed load to see how long it takes to drop the voltage down to 12 volts with the car running. i'll do the test after trickle charging my battery so the tests are fair. one test with an extra 4 guage ground, one without. oh yeah, the 100 watt resistors will be in a bucket of ice water, so they'll handle over 10 times the rated wattage(rockon)

 

[cthomp21]

The lights in my MSP dim with a 100% stock (for now) system. Taking a look at the stock wiring alt/batt/ground it's no wonder. It's gotta be 8ga at most? My first task will be upgrading everything to at least 4ga and putting in some decent battery terminals from Knu.

 

[servoeyes]

how long did you have to have your system cranking for it to drop to 12.5 volts? last time i tested mine i used a lil john song (very low bass) and it took about 2 minutes at idle to drop below 12.6 volts. that was with a red top exide obital select battery, and 1100 watts from my PA amp. when i get the motivation i'll be doing my own test of the chassis of our cars, since i already have a spare 4 guage running to my trunk. i've got some 100 watt resistors, so i'll be testing the amp with a fixed load to see how long it takes to drop the voltage down to 12 volts with the car running. i'll do the test after trickle charging my battery so the tests are fair. one test with an extra 4 guage ground, one without. oh yeah, the 100 watt resistors will be in a bucket of ice water, so they'll handle over 10 times the rated wattage(rockon)

I started the car after testing the battery's resting voltage. Right after it started, I tested at the battery again...13.xx volts, I think. Then I started the system and ramped the volume up to its loudest. I was dropping down to around 12.5-ish only on deep bass. I'm gonna have to check it with the DMM I just bought.

Still doesn't explain the Low Impedence thing on the 250/1, though...

 

[viper624]

I would have that 250/1 checked out. It should be stable down to 1.5 ohms and give the same power @ 11.5 volts. Thanks for all the replies I will upgrade the alt/batt wires along with a optima yellow top to see if it stops the dimming. I will let yall know if it helps.

 

[got wake?]

I started the car after testing the battery's resting voltage. Right after it started, I tested at the battery again...13.xx volts, I think. Then I started the system and ramped the volume up to its loudest. I was dropping down to around 12.5-ish only on deep bass. I'm gonna have to check it with the DMM I just bought.

Still doesn't explain the Low Impedence thing on the 250/1, though...

i dunno about that low impedence thing on the amp. isn't it capable of 1.5 ohms? ask 1st about it.

 

[got wake?]

something to remember about cranking your system, don't crank it all the time. if your battery doesn't get adequate recharge time, then it's resting voltage will keep dropping. when the batteries voltage drops from say 12.8 of a normal battery to say 12.3, then when your alt cannot support everything, and you are running basically off the battery, you'll be at 12.3 volts or less

 

[servoeyes]

ok...so...250W and ~240W = ~500W in my amps, total RMS. Gains are turned down low on both amps...Cranking it is 30/35 on the kenwood.

Should a 500W (if even that...I haven't measured the power on the Eclipse) system be putting that much of a strain on my car's electrical system? I don't know...I'm still trouble shooting...we'll see what the alt. is actually giving me...it seems to be doing ok, but can't keep up with the requirements of the whole setup (which is just plain silly, isn't it???)

 

[got wake?]

well the JL amp puts out more than 250, i am sure. but that still isn't enough to cause that big of a drop. check out your alt and your battery. also try regrounding the amp.

 

[servoeyes]

found out about the low impedance light...the manual says it light if there's a short. It might have been my crappy wiring job on the speaker. Man I need to build a new box fast to get that thing right!

I also realized that the input sensitivity on the amp has 2 settings...low and high. I've been using low forever...and I used to have my gains set at 25-26/35...setting everything to high will lower my power consumption from what I can tell. Right now, the gain is turned all the way down on the 250!!! Ha...ok. Sorry...just realizing my mistakes out loud. I'll have to check that alternator and clear up that ground point.

 

[FoxPro5]

found out about the low impedance light...the manual says it light if there's a short. It might have been my crappy wiring job on the speaker.

If it's any help servo, my alpine amp was doing the same thing as yours....the light kept changing from blue to red (some type of protection mode) and I figured out that i had a bad connection all the way at my front left crossover. Silly me, I was so ignorant to think all this car stereo stuff would be just plug and play....it's more like pulg and wtf why won't it work!!!!!!!!!!!!(bang)