audio help
#11
10-23-2010, 06:35 PM
Can't spell PIMP without an MP
Monte Of The Month -- November 2010
2010 Monte Of The Year
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Grove City, Ohio
Posts: 2,626
#12
10-23-2010, 06:38 PM
Can't spell PIMP without an MP
Monte Of The Month -- November 2010
2010 Monte Of The Year
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Grove City, Ohio
Posts: 2,626
Oh boy......
I think the first thing you need to do is understand why your lights are dimming. 99% of the time it's because your charging system is being asked to supply more amperage than it can put out so at the moments of high demand power is pulled from the other devices that are also getting power, hence the dimming lights. So if your electrical system is already overloaded, adding another power drawing device to it is probably not a good idea. That's not to say a cap can't be something worth having in your system, but they are rarely used in the manner in which they can be utilized appropriately. People use them to make up for an incompetent charging system and that's not their intended use.
So what I think you should do is #1, have your battery tested to ensure it's strong. Then do the Big 3 wire upgrade. Alot of times a new battery and Big 3 will make a dramatic improvement on dimming. But if you're still getting noticeable dimming then you'd be better served getting a high output alternator instead of a cap or more batteries. Adding batteries can help a bit, but they will also put more strain on your already stressed charging system so like a cap it will only be a band-aid when what you really need are stitches.
I think the first thing you need to do is understand why your lights are dimming. 99% of the time it's because your charging system is being asked to supply more amperage than it can put out so at the moments of high demand power is pulled from the other devices that are also getting power, hence the dimming lights. So if your electrical system is already overloaded, adding another power drawing device to it is probably not a good idea. That's not to say a cap can't be something worth having in your system, but they are rarely used in the manner in which they can be utilized appropriately. People use them to make up for an incompetent charging system and that's not their intended use.
So what I think you should do is #1, have your battery tested to ensure it's strong. Then do the Big 3 wire upgrade. Alot of times a new battery and Big 3 will make a dramatic improvement on dimming. But if you're still getting noticeable dimming then you'd be better served getting a high output alternator instead of a cap or more batteries. Adding batteries can help a bit, but they will also put more strain on your already stressed charging system so like a cap it will only be a band-aid when what you really need are stitches.
#13
10-23-2010, 07:08 PM
Monte Of The Month -- April 2011
GOT SPL
Back when I used to have a cap I just unhooked the battery and installed the cap as you suppose to then hooked up the battery, and the cap charged fine. To be safe you can un-hook the amps. I never had a problem.
But I feel that CAPs do almost nothing and are so overated.. I have a monster of an amp drawing machine for an amp and at the moment im running on mostly stock electrical and im running fine. Although when played hard I do turn on car and rev the engine to about 1800rpms but still..
But I feel that CAPs do almost nothing and are so overated.. I have a monster of an amp drawing machine for an amp and at the moment im running on mostly stock electrical and im running fine. Although when played hard I do turn on car and rev the engine to about 1800rpms but still..
#14
10-24-2010, 01:17 PM
anyone know about what brand it is?
and the cap looks as if it could come off, looking at the digital guage, it shows the + on the right top, and the - on the left......
is that right, or has the cap been turned around??
and the cap looks as if it could come off, looking at the digital guage, it shows the + on the right top, and the - on the left......
is that right, or has the cap been turned around??
#15
10-24-2010, 02:26 PM
Also too, what amp are you running and what size is your power wire and how long is it? Reason I ask is because I used to run a Phoenix Gold 500 watt amp and that thing dimmed my lights bad! I was using 4ga. wire. I upgraded to a Sundown Audio 1500 watt amp and am using 2ga. wire and my lights hardly dim at all.
#17
10-24-2010, 09:14 PM
Ah, I remember that setup. Your subs have have dual voice coils, right? 4 ohms each? Since your amp isn't bridged, i'm assuming you wired the subs down to 2 ohms each. The lower your impedance the larger the strain/current draw on your electrical system. So if your subs are infact dual 4 ohms I would suggest two things.......
#1 Wire your coils in series/ subs in parallel so you end up with a single 4 ohm load to your amp and run your amp in bridged mode.
#2 Upgrade your power and ground wire to 4ga. I'm not 100% but your current wire looks to be 8ga. 8ga. wire has a max current rating of about 50amps. 4ga. is rated at about 130amps.
Wiring your subs to a 4 ohm load like described above accomplishes alot....it will ensure that both of your subs are getting the exact same output from the amp instead of having them on separate channels which would allow for some variance. It also will lighten the load on your electrical system.
Upgrading your wires will ensure more current gets to the amp, will give you plenty of headroom as far as current capacity is concerned. Think of it like this.....if your gas light comes on in your car you can still drive it, right? But wouldn't you rather have a full tank so you didn't have to worry about running out of gas? Being that 8ga. wire is rated at only 50a of power, your amp has 70a of fusing on it so could pull that much current during periods of high demand, doing so for any length of time could result in your wire melting due to overcurrent. That's a pretty significant safety issue wouldn't ya say? You need wire than can carry 70+ amps of current and the next step up from 8ga. would be 4ga.
I've already suggested having your battery tested and replaced if need be, and the Big 3 upgrade.....I'd bet my life that if you did the Big 3, upgraded your power/ground wires, rewired your subs to 4 ohms and bridged your amp, and got a new battery, your dimming would be reduced dramatically
#1 Wire your coils in series/ subs in parallel so you end up with a single 4 ohm load to your amp and run your amp in bridged mode.
#2 Upgrade your power and ground wire to 4ga. I'm not 100% but your current wire looks to be 8ga. 8ga. wire has a max current rating of about 50amps. 4ga. is rated at about 130amps.
Wiring your subs to a 4 ohm load like described above accomplishes alot....it will ensure that both of your subs are getting the exact same output from the amp instead of having them on separate channels which would allow for some variance. It also will lighten the load on your electrical system.
Upgrading your wires will ensure more current gets to the amp, will give you plenty of headroom as far as current capacity is concerned. Think of it like this.....if your gas light comes on in your car you can still drive it, right? But wouldn't you rather have a full tank so you didn't have to worry about running out of gas? Being that 8ga. wire is rated at only 50a of power, your amp has 70a of fusing on it so could pull that much current during periods of high demand, doing so for any length of time could result in your wire melting due to overcurrent. That's a pretty significant safety issue wouldn't ya say? You need wire than can carry 70+ amps of current and the next step up from 8ga. would be 4ga.
I've already suggested having your battery tested and replaced if need be, and the Big 3 upgrade.....I'd bet my life that if you did the Big 3, upgraded your power/ground wires, rewired your subs to 4 ohms and bridged your amp, and got a new battery, your dimming would be reduced dramatically
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