What can I do to stop my lights from dimming in my car every time my subs kick?
Question by Peter Griffin: What can I do to stop my lights from dimming in my car every time my subs kick?
I’ve heard about reducers and capacitors, but what is a cheap, sure fire way to stop this? Im asking this now because i have a 1000 watt amp that already does it and im getting a 2000 watt amp.
Best answer:
Answer by shuman57
get a bigger alternator and a bigger battery if necessary
What do you think? Answer below!
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Replace your old lead acid battery with a dry cell car battery. Get some of those huge capacitors for your car as well
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:15 pmdid u upgrade your ground and power wires- what they call the big 3? I upgraded solely my ground wires and added another wire then to the engine body. the dimming stopped. I’m running only 500w but it helped when the sub hit low and hard.
January 2nd, 2013 at 9:51 pmyou shouldn;t need any further upgrades with solely 1000w. thebig 3 should be ok. look up the vid on youtube. some bass crazy kid from Maine shows u how to do it- he’s a great guy and answers questions. here it is from exocontralto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX9Rcq5DnKw
You can get a Performance Alternator, a new battery, or a big capacitor (holds charge to power a high-power sub/amp). If you get a battery, i recommend Duralast Gold. It will power my 750watt subs, and my 300watt head unit without dimming for over 2 hours and is still able to start my truck afterwards.
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:21 pmoh yah, u should do “the big 3” involves changing the stock alt wire to the battery and battery grounds, hint’s big 3, u upgrade the wires with thicker audio cables. exo has a video on youtube, if u type in big 3 on youtube ur bound to find his video or others who posted how to do the big three
January 2nd, 2013 at 10:54 pmFor starters it would be good to know specifically what amp you’re dealing with, and what it’s running at what impedance. That would allow a rough estimate on current demand to be made.
2nd, the year/make/model of your car (or current rating of your stock alternator) would be helpful.
Generally a 1000w sound system should not have a significant impact on your electrical system.
So initially I would say the most “sure-fire” way would be to improve the power wire for the amp any way possible. Make sure the connection at the battery is solid, corrosion free, bare metal to bare metal etc. The same for the ground.
Make sure any fuses/fuse holders are in good shape and free of corrosion. Make sure the wire size is large enough. A 1000w rms amp needs at least 4 gauge power and ground.
The stock wiring upgrades (termed the “big 3”) may be helpful, but I’ve run large systems w/o it and not had any issues.
If everything is done correctly the next step would be to verify the size/condition of the battery and alternator. A weak battery could be the cause of significant dimming, although minor dimming at high volume is to be expected.
January 2nd, 2013 at 11:28 pmi had the same problem. i had a crappy amp and 10 awg wire kit ( i know that is way bad)
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:28 amall i did was got a quality amp and got 8 awg power wire and the dimming stopped.
i know 8 awg is still small but whats a kid with no job suppose to do?
check you connections, up you wire, make sure your not using a non efficient amp ( sony, pioneer, ect…)
man its gonna do that every time i turn my system up it dims the lights ive done all the sure fire ways to stop that and it still does it, the only way ive found to beat and not dim is to park rev the car up to about 4 thousand rpms and it dont dim but as far as just driving down the road give that shit up,
January 3rd, 2013 at 12:48 am