So last week I installed my new Alpine 10" 1043D Type-R which is rated at 600 RMS. I have the Alpine M500 amp on it, everything is at 2ohms load. I was on the Interstate last night just absolutely blaring my All That Remains CD (hard rock for those of you who don't know them) and I noticed my headlights were flickering whenever the bass would hit on the sub which was really fast because of the bass pedals, etc. Anyways, my voltage gauge never moved unless I use my power windows or something and I am wondering if I need to have a capacitor to keep this from happening? I never see it flicker in the city when I am only doing 45 mph max...just curious how I can get it to quit. Would putting a voltage booster on my alternator like I had on my '00 GP GT help? Thanks!

 

I had th same issues. The 1 Farad capacitor was the solution. My mechanic said anyone who has the subs must put in a capacitor to save the alternator. Matt says the sudden drain from the sub drawing the power is not healthy for the alternator and it will eventually cause a failure of the alternator. So I had one put in and now no more flikckering lights from my 10" hitting and the peace of mind I will not need to spend $150 or more on an alternator. How do you like the Alpine Sub??

 

Absolutely love it. Best sounding sub I have had to this day. It's really clean and works perfect for the rock music, and rap that I listen to. Amp, box and sub only cost me $250 with my discount, $500 without.

Here's some pics of the new setup:

 

It's not the sub that's causing your lights to flicker, it's the current draw on your electrical system. Is your gain set properly? What size power/ground wire do you have? Did you do the Big 3? What condition is your battery in? Is your power wire connected directly to the battery?

For starters I'd check the battery, have it tested would be a good idea. A weak battery can definitely contribute to this. Make sure your power wire is connected directly to the battery and the connection is tight and free of corrosion. Would be a great idea to upgrade the battery to chassis/battery to engine block grounds as well as the alt to battery power wire, using the same size wire as your amp power wire or bigger. You can run a 0ga. wire for your amp if you want, but if your stock grounds/alt power wire are only 8ga. then you aren't going to reap the benefits of the larger diameter wire until they are upgraded too as they will be the bottlenecks of your electrical system.

If all that checks out, have your alternator tested. Adding a capacitor to an already overdrawn electrical system is not the answer, I promise you. That's like putting more air in a tire with a pinhole in it....yeah it might take care of the problem for a little while but the hole will still be there and eventually the tire will go flat again. If that were the case, you'd either patch the hole or replace the tire, right? Same thing here, fix the cause or causes of the problem.

I'm running around 2k watts of power in my setup on stock electrical and only get a little dimming when I bang it full bore, and that's with almost 4x the power you have. Avoid the cap like the plague!

 

First off, I have 4 gauge wiring for everything and everything has good connections. I have the gain, crossover, bbboost set at about half each, the power from my amp is hooked up to the aux battery terminals however and should probably relocate this to the battery instead. What do you mean by upgrade the battery to chassis/battery to engine block ground? I have a 4 gauge alternator wire that I can hook up to the battery from my GP - might do that this weekend. Thanks for the info, if none of this fixes I will have alt/battery tested.

 

Im running all stock wiring in my setup with a T1500 amp & 2 12" MTX subs & imy lights dont flicker wen ive got it turned up, i prob should do the big 3 upgrade sometime though, but i am running 0 gauge wire i believe

 

i have a 300 watt speaker alpine amp and a kicker zx1000.1 powering 2 10" kicker L5 subs. the system SLAMS and my lights ONLY flicker a TAD BIT when i have me underglow, a/c, defroster, and when the systems turned way up all at the same time. the lights only dim a tad bit at the low notes as well because of the such draw of power.

seems like u did it right with the 4 gauge wire! have the shortest possible ground wire that you can and make sure its strictly metal to metal. sand with corse sand paper the area where you ground to ensure proper grounding. also the power chord should go from ur battery, then about a foot down the chord you should have your circuit breaker or fuse and fuse holder, then the wire should continue down the side of your monte to the amp (the shorter the wire the best)


*******dont buy capacitors there a waste of money and dont do anything!! and you really dont need the big 3 upgrade unless ur doing more than 2000 watts of speaker power. a battery with 750+ CCA is always a posative thing. go with an interstate battery they really perform well!***** hopes this helps

 

this is odd that yours does that, my lights flicker hardcore when the bass hits. i have a rockford r1000-1d amp powering 2 alpine type r's with a 2f cap. but i also have an alpine pdx-f4 powering type r 6.5's and 6x9's. im doing the big 3 soon but sometimes they suck soooo much power the amp cuts out, all my grounds are good though...

 

Simply putting the gain at halfway doesn't ensure it's set properly, an improperly set gain can not only cause unnecessary dimming it can also cause your subs to get a clipped signal....turning the bass boost to half only facilitates this (dimming and clipping). So my first piece of advice to you would be to learn how and ensure that your gain is set properly. Second, turn the bass boost down, all the way down would be best. What bass boost does is boost the low end at a certain frequency, this can cause the signal to clip at that frequency because the amp is trying to produce a signal beyond what it's capable of so it will amplify it to what it can and then the part that can no longer be amplified simply gets cut off or clipped. Not good. Clipping blows subs.

Being that you're experiencing dimming, I highly suggest you move the amp power wire directly to the battery terminal. The aux terminals are supplied via a wire from the battery that's probably 8ga, so essentially your 4ga. wire is spliced to an 8ga. wire, rendering your 4ga. wire to carrying only the current the 8ga. wire can supply. Not good.

What I meant by upgrading the grounds/power wire is...Do the Big 3. Add a large diameter wire, same size or bigger than your amp power wire, from the battery to chassis, engine block to chassis and alternator to battery. This will help to ensure a more efficient flow of electricity for your charging system, feeding more current to your amp.

 

Yeah I definitely will be moving the power to the battery first, I know the battery I have is somewhat old/weak too. When I have the money I plan on replacing it with a good one.