sorry, this is more of a tech question than anything else but im have subs in my monte and when the bass hits my lights always dim and i can definately feel the power loss in the pedal as well. i know i most likely need a separate battery but i was just wondering if anyone else has really experienced the same power loss that i am. im not even pushing all that much power either (roughly 1000 - 1200w). my last car i had a much more powerful system and never experenced lights dimming or anything of that sort. any suggestions? battery is only a few months old, had alternator check numerous times (passed). im not really a fan though of how this ******** place wired my radio, but i dont know if that would be cause for all the power loss. oh and i have a 1 fared cap as well. please help!!

 

Where is your power wire hooked to? the battery or fuse box? That makes a big difference right there.... another thing is you might have to small of gauged wire.. What size wire are you running?

 

yes hook it directly to the battery, second for that many watts you should deffinatly run at least REAL 4 gauge, maybe 2/0 to be on the safe side.




the 6th gen only came with an 102 amp alternator.

look on your fuse box for power comsumption.

1200 watts uses probly 50-70 amps on full power
15 for window
15 for heater
20 for A/C
15 for wipers
15 for heated seats
.... and so on

they designed the car for what it came with not for booming subs.
your best bet to solve all problems would be to get a 200 amo alternator.

im fairly posative that they make one for the 3800

GL


also make sure that your ground is the same gauge as your power, and that you scrap the paint b4 bolting it down.

 

i have my wire connected to my fuse box, should i switch it to my battery?

sorry for the jack but its on topic lol

 

im not sure but i have an inline fuse. lol its a 200 amp anl fuse that will never blow, but its still a fuse.

mines strait from the battery to the other battery to the amp. my amp has a 12 volt ignition lead though, not sure if thats standard on all amps.

 

so to run a second battery all i have to do is run my 4 ga wire back to the other battery? lol and then i can branch off from there?

 

Pretty much. You'll obviously have to ground it and mount it securely too.

I'll also throw out that 2/0 guage wire is way overkill for this system. Now if you meant 2 gauge, then that wouldn't be a bad idea but 4 should be fine.

To the OP, light dimming is normal for that kind of set up. The only way around it is a high output alternator really. You can do the big 3 if you haven't already and it may help, but don't expect it to completely eliminate the problem.

 

well yes, i do have the power wire(4gauge) wired directly to the battery with a inline fuse.

 

MAK very good point about the alternator upgrade. i think i should go ahead and try to get that done. along with an extra battery.. cause then at that point i really shouldnt have any problems right?

 

and can someone tell me if it is necessary to keep the factory radio in the car after installing the aftermarket? the place i had it installed at told me that since i have settings like tps, oil life, alarm settings etc through the radio, it must be relocated in the trunk or i would constantly be getting warnings of oil tire pressure etc.. is that right? cause i think i may be lacking power just cause of it having to power two radios.