i was just listening to my system when all of a sudden the 2 10 stop to hit but the car stereo is still on. I go to check out the amps and cap and the cap was reading 5 volts while the car is on. I turn the car off and it slowly clims to 9 volts but stays there and as soon as i turn the car on it starts to fall back down to and the display is barley showing anything. Did i blow the cap???

 

check the wires w/ a multi meter goin to the cap and make sure its not just a debunk display. what kinda cap do u have?
John

 

hey thanks for the reply, what is a bunk display? and to be honest with you, i dont know who makes my cap, it was a present. i know for sure its not a name brand. I just replaced the power cable coming from the battery with a 4 gauge. Im going to test this out pretty soon.

 

i was just meaning make sure the display isnt messed up reading the wrong volts...like i said test the wire where it connects to the cap and see how many volts it says your suppling then test the wire comming off the cap where it hooks to the amp.

 

Don't forget to check grounds....

 

Check ground like NEEDAZ said, and also check the fuse...sometimes they burn out on the ends where you cant see and still keep a connection, but it has so much resistance that it drops the volts and makes things shut off.

 

The cap has a fuse? I did check my grounds big time. When the cap is being weird the amps dont turn on. After i ran new 4 gauge wire straight to the junction block the amps hit harder than before but when the cap was working it didnt hit that hard at all. Maybe i need 2 caps or maybe just one 2.5 Fared cap??

 

You shouldn't need a cap at all...

 

the reason why i need a cap is because my lights dim everytime the sub hits. When the cap was working it didnt do that as much if not all. I just dont want to kill my Alt. quick. the ALt. is a 140amp if that helps.

 

What are the amps? Make and model.

 

the amps are Earthquake PH 300.1 with a 600 watt output. All the seeting are fine just that it seems like it takes all my power away.

 

Hello, im justin.

I sell and install car audio.

you shouldnt need a cap, esp for 600 watts on a 140amp alt.

i had 800 watts on a 95 watt alt and it didnt need a cap.

upgrade the big 3 (negitive batt term wire going to ground, positive going to alt, alt to block, block to chassis.) make it 00 gauge welders wire. Will almost certinly help stop your flickering and dimming issues.

 

well im running 2 amps, should i do that anyways then? that does sound like good idea. Im going to try that then. So i need to change the ground from the Alt., Battery, and amps?

 

U dont need anything bigger than what you have as power wire between your alt and battery and grounds. It's pointless to put 0 gauge ground and only have 4 gauge power wire. with your setup 4 gauge should be plenty and you shouldnt have any flickering with a 140 amp alt. Where did you get that anywayz? I need a bigger one...sorry, off subject. Let me get back on track... 4 gauge should be plenty. If you are having flickering and stuff check all grounds and be sure that they are on bare metal (all the paint scraped away) and are secure. Use crimp or sodder on ends, dont just wrap the wire around a bolt and tighten it down. Check the wire from your alt to battery, upgrade to 4 gauge if aplicable. Same with ground from bat to chassis. You should be good then. If you still have some flickering and stuff, maybe then go ahead and replace the cap. If you dont, then dont worry bout the cap.

Oh, and when I said check the fuses I meant under the hood, not in the cap, sorry. The cap doesnt have fuses. Did you ever hook it up wrong or anything? You might have cracked or warped the plates inside the cap which would cause resistance and make the lights dim and no power reach the amp.

 

^

Upgrading the big 3 will help a LOT, ive done it in all my cars, and on several customer cars. It helps the power flow easier, causing less delays, which cause flickering.

 

I got the 140 Amp ALT at Autozone, but you got to chage the connecters in order to fit on the new alt. Im going to go back and check my grounds for the amps. I think i just put them on the paint and bolted it down (Rookie). I hope this works. Thanks alot guys for the very helpfull tips. Ill get back to you on the progress.

 

This is VARY bad...

 

Yeah i know , Im going to clean it up really good and maybe soilder them down.

 

Did it work?

 

Nope it didnt work. I put both grounds together, the wired thing is that i got more bass after running the 4gauge wire. But still have the dimming. When the car is at idel it makes the light flicker and even when im driving. I see my friends set up and when there car is at idel there light dont do it all. I just dont get it.

 

how is your battery? I had about 1000 watts in my truck and it was making the lights dim so i dropped me an optima yellow in there and presto no more dimming.

 

^^^ I agree. Try putting an Optima red or yellow top in and see what happens. I wonder if the problem may be starting before the cap, and the cap just happens to be where you see the problem at...is there 12 volts at the end of the power wire before it hits the cap? If so, howabout at the amps? If there is 12 volts before the cap but not after, then you just isolated ur problem. If its low voltage before the cap comes into play, test farther forward. Go under the hood and check right after your fuse holder. low voltage there? then chances are your fuse holder is the problem. if not, test in front of the fuse holder. If the voltage is low there, then its probably your first connection at the battery causing the problem. And that leads to another question....how is your connection at your battery and your fuse holder...if they are corroded or just wrapped in there and tightened down, they can cause problems, same with the fuse holder. Make sure there is no corrosion anywhere on the fuse, fuse holder, battery, and battery terminals. If there is, CLEAN THEM. Go as far as buying new ones even. That is where I think the problem is, but without seeing your car or under your hood, I couldnt tell you. Also, did you check the fuse? If so, did you use a multimeter? You have AGU (big round fuses) right? Or are they the wafer style fuses? Either way, turn your multimeter to ohms and make sure there is zero resistance from one side of the fuse to the other. I can't stress good connections from front to back, top to bottom. They make or break your system from the start man.

If your running 2 of the 300/1 amps with 600 watt output, its possible to see some dimming in your lights even with the big alt.

Hope this helps!!

 

Well i sorta fixed the problem, The gain of the 2 amps were all the way up with the bass control all the way up too which causes my over heating problem. So i retuned the gain and my bass controll and it seem alot better. My lights do dim still but not as much.

When i tested the power going to the cap it was 12v but no power going to the amps while the cap was hooked up. I decided to drop that thing. When the Battery goes out then i will replace it with the Optima battery. Thank you guys for all the help i really learned alot about this.

 

Also VARY bad...

 

dont worry about it, its all good now. But in the near future im going to upgrade all the wiring during my LT1/T-56 conversion.