hey i have the JL 500/1 amp and man i just can't seem to supply enough volts to it... i have that one amp with 2 12" subs,, running 4 guage wire... I have a 750 size interstate battery,, a 1 fared capacitor... and when i turn up those subs i can watch my battery guage bounce from 14-15volts too 10-11volts.. that is on the hard bass parts.. but on any kinda bass it just sucks the life outta my cars power supply i have a new alternator and all... it really sucks at night cause i can't jam out due to the fact my headlights will be constantly flashing hahaha.... what can i do now... bigger alternator... ?? don't really wanna step my alt.. up but it thats my only choice so be it... just wanna see if i had any other options available and what everyone else has done ??



Vetter

 

My lights used to dim when my bass hit until I put a second battery in the rear compartment, 2 feet away from the amps. Works great now, and hits a lot harder.

 

Try upgrading the wire from the Alt to the positive on your battery and the ground from the car body and engine to the battery. Use 4 awg. GM didn't make the cars with the intentions of useing alot of power.

 

thanks 9177 for the logical idea. sorry faded I go for looks and don't have room to be jamming a battery in my rear compartment. I want to do some logical things that I might have missed, having a battery in the trunk would be a hassle and a headache... Thank you for the advice i'll be sure to check those wires and replace as neccessary, any other things i should check and possibly upgrade ?



Vetter

 

my friend has a capacitor, its basically a small (soda can size) battery. it stopped the diming light problem

 

Think about a battery system like a water tank system. your running a big wire(pipe) from the battery to the amp, allowing the amp to suck as much juice as it needs.

The second the battery is emptied, it needs to be refilled. The alternators kick in to fill the battery, but it doesn't have as big a wire(pipe) so your sucking juice out of the battery faster than the alt can trickle it in from the smaller wire.

One other thing you might think about. I always run amps. I have a fosgate right now. I have never run a cap before.

On my Nissan 4x4 , the day I bought it(brand new) I installed a fosgate amp and 2 12's. The lights dimmed from the second I got it when the bass hit. Well, my battery died on day. I replaced it with a bigger one, one with more cold cranking amps, and a larger physical size, the dimming went away.

What I am saying is that your battery is like a cap in a way, a big resivoir for power. The bigger and stronger the battery you have, the less likely your going to run low on juice.

 

one word..... just one word.....

Optima!!!! :hail:

If your not a big car stereo freak then let me recomend this!
Optima battery's are great and you should be able to notice a difference barely any power surges like the one you are describing.... Look at it as a investment these batterys should outlast your car!!

 

i have faith in my interstate battery, i believe it to be an outstanding battery 800 COLD CRANKING AMPS... woot woot... she holds the power alright... i will try that larger cable idea though... the thought process on that makes perfect sense... if i enlarge the power wire going from alt.. to batt... will i need to increase any of the other wires or just that one.... also i do have the biggest capacitor out there and it still flashes lights... capacitor is 1 fared ..... like 20 volts .... size of a pringles can but fatter around.... later yalll oh ya... if i ran a bigger alt to bat wire could i just use some of my extra 4 gauge **** or do i need to go buy actual O.E.M wires ??



Vetter

 

As far as any more wire upgrades from your Alt. you won't need to. The ONLY thing that alt. is there for it to pump electricity to that positive terminal. That will make a HUGE diff in your performance. And as far as the battery in the trunk idea...thats a GREAT way to do it also. I know many people that have done that and the car still looks great! I know what you mean about wanting to go for looks....thats why you stick it in that rear storage box!

Bruce (90RS305)

 

the alternator is the problem in this case.

if you have a low power alternator, like under 70 you should look into getting a better one like around 140amp, that what i plan to do before i get a system. summit has ones for under 150$.

The alternator cable is another thing, if you have a good alternator around 100amp it might be the cable to the battery, i bet 9177 is right on that idea.

You could also get a bigger wire to the amp, and make sure your cap is fully charged, i bet it is, if you are using the system but if you never charged it it may not be fully juiced.

hope that helps some

 

You need a better ground to both the engine AND the body of the car. Your stock ground is 12 gauge and whatever makes it through you engine strap.

 

Sounds like you need bigger wire feeding the cap, or a bigger cap.
I have 4 ga. feeding my cap, and a 2 farad cap w/ a 120 amp alt, and have no problems.

 

Alternators are not supposed to supply voltage/amps to the accesories.

If you have a big enough battery (amps), Your lights won't dim period. Amplifiers need surge power, that's why the cap. The cap is just a resivoir.

There are a lot of good suggestions here, and everyone of them is valid. Each person has an idea of how these things work.

The whole theory, way it works is this. The power comes from the battery, to the cap, to the amp, then to ground.

The fact that the lights dim means you don't have enough reserve to support the operation of the amp. All of the wires to and from the amp (ground and positive) should be big enough to draw the juice it needs from the battery. If not the draw will warm up your wires, and your amp rather than pulling what it need freely.

The problem is it dims the lights, when the bass hits. More charging power would be nice, but without upgrading the battery, the amp will actually be pulling form the alternator in surges. The alternator is made to charge the battery over time, not run your amp directly.

In my opinon, you need to supply that extra needed power right now. I would think the cap should be doing that for you (I'm curious why it doesn't). If you have a bigger battery, or a dual battery system, the amp will have something to pull from other than the alternator.

If your battery/cap system is up to par, the lights should not dim when the the car is turned off.

Like I said with a big old Fosgate amp, and 2 12's my lights never dimmed. With the stock cheesey nissan alternator. BUT, I had a huge huge tractor/deep cycle battery. The biggest one that would fit in the tray. Also look for CCA (cold cranking amps) sometimes battery size is misleading.

Good luck friend

 

thanks for all the good suggestions.. I'll expierment with all of them to see what will actually solve my problem...


just wondering... Does Anyone Else here have this same problem with this amp JL AUDIO 500/1, 4 GAUGE WIRE, 800 CC BATTERY, 1 FARED CAPACITOR, i was just wondering if anyone has the same setup as me like i just stated or does anyone atleast have the jl 500/1 amp, if anyone does could you let me know if you have problems like this... i know jl amps are quality and pull alotta power just wondering ???

THx



Later
Vetter

 

Why in the world would you make the engine ground bigger? That is a waste. Take a 4 guage from the battery to the body and that will be taken care of.

 

Because if the altanator isn't grounded well then it can't make optimum power. The ground to the engine has to travel pretty far and adds resitance through the stock setup.

 

I'm suprised that nobody's mentioned the battery cables... particularly the negative. The alternator gets its ground
through it. Before you go buying a bunch of cables/wire, you can use a good pair of jumper cables to test with.
(Engine to body, engine to batt, and batt to body).

-Jeff

 

wow... seems everyone kinda has there own ideas here and different thoughts... not sure if this was mentioned but i'm sure it was but what about running a larger power cable from the alternator to my battery... because that wire is like 8 or 10 ga.. wire... cause it is bolted tight right on the back of the alternator and it is like small...theres no way it can push enough volts to that battery as what the amp is suckin out... cause you I got 8-10 ga.. wire providing power to the battery... and then a 4 ga.. wire pulling power from the battery... right there shows that figures don't add up to well...



and the battery ground... where does it head to.... the ground has same size wire and it goes off somewhere not sure where and then it has like a little 16 ga.. wire split off it and goes right there to the body of the car on a little bolt right above the battery... should i increase the ground cable... or which one ... wheres the other go ... and so forth i dunno for sure whats goin on




later
vetter

 

The neg. battery cable goes to the engine block. Replacing the 16ga wire from the battery to the inner fender with
something bigger is always a good idea, as it reduces the load being pulled thru the engine block (via the neg. batt. cable
and the groundstrap).

-Jeff

 

Well, the beggining of this thread people were going in a few different dirrections but from the looks of it the last 50% of the posts have been about REPLACING CABLES!! Its cheap, it's easy, it tastes like chicken....nuf' said...

Bruce (90RS305)

 

well put Bruce... should i just go buy some stereo 4 gauage wire and run some of my own wires or do they make actual factory type wires that are larger and so forth... pry be easier to just go buy some of my own wire and run it around to where i need it though i'm guessin ...




-Vetter

 

Most autopart stores will have larger wire avail. Most likely a NAPA, sometimes AutoZone won't carry it. Stereo wire WILL work, but not only does it take away from any kind of a stock apearance but they might end up being a PITA later on. Just my $.02...

Bruce (90RS305)

 

alright everyone know how i stated i have a capacitor .... is it possible i just have this wired up wrong ??? anyone have a little pic they can show me on how it should be done ... just needa check the simple stuff here first .... thx

 

It's really simple. All it needs to be is in relay with the ground/power.

batt...............[+].........amp +
---------------CAP
ground.............[-].........amp ground

That help?

Bruce (90RS305)