i noticed today while i was stopped at the traffic lights that every time my sub hits my dvd screen now noticably dims and my headlights do too... at first it was jst the headlights...

but once i accelerate its all good and everything works normally...

wat to do??? upgrade earth (wateva that means) or new, stronger battery??? i dont know how old my battery is... i got it with the car and that was nearly a yr ago....

also when i start up the car it takes the starter motor 2 or 3 clicks to get going... ive been told that this is a symptom of a dieing/low battery.... is this tru?

Upgrade your wiring, say if you were running 8ga wire, run 4ga or larger, make sure your ground is upgraded with the same gauge wire as your positive wire :) You will notice the difference immediately.

however, if that ^^ doesen't work then i'm affraid it might be time to look at the battery. Most battery places offer a free battery check so it might be worth getting one done just to see if you battery is on its way out. remember that big sterios installs put greater strain on batteries and this can lead to a battery throwing in the towel.

was happening to me too... not the HU but the lights


anyway was due to the system but not due to the 8ga amp wire etc...

it was my stock tiny presed steel battery terminals!

i updraded to some elcheapo ones from jaycar gold plated with terminals that the wires go into and allen screws to hold them in not little ring fittings on the end of amp wire which you have to bolt on.... povo lol

anyway that worked for me

but battery is the main thing to look at

Are these the ones?

http://www.jaycar.com.au/products_uploaded/productLarge_9722.jpg

And if all that fails, you might actually have to upgrade your alternator/battery.

What system are you running?
How many wrms are you pulling roughly?

I'd repalce the earth on you battery with a nice 0awg cable. You will have to buy a 0awg
o-ring terminal as well. About a 1m cable will do.

I had about a 3.5V drop on big bassnotes, that would really dimm the h/lights at night. I just re-earthed my battery seemed to help a lot.

Are these the ones?

http://www.jaycar.com.au/products_uploaded/productLarge_9722.jpg


thats what i have got in mine. Both positive and negative. looks a bit better than stock items aswell and it makes adding cables simple as.

I have one 4g heading to the engine (stock wireing), one 8g that goes to the fuse box next to the bat (stock wiring) then i have one 4g and one 8g that run the amps in the boot, so it worked perfectly for me.

my sub is a 400wrms ts-306c so ive got a jaycar mono feeding it 380 wrms.... speakers are about 50wrms at the front and stockies at the back...



And if all that fails, you might actually have to upgrade your alternator/battery.

What system are you running?
How many wrms are you pulling roughly?

i think im running 4 gauge wiring atm... so might try that....

Are these the ones?

http://www.jaycar.com.au/products_uploaded/productLarge_9722.jpg
I've got one of those too, except it's got a voltometer on top! :)

get higher output battery

my sub is a 400wrms ts-306c so ive got a jaycar mono feeding it 380 wrms.... speakers are about 50wrms at the front and stockies at the back...




i think im running 4 gauge wiring atm... so might try that....
hmmm 4 guage wiring should be plenty, i'd be checking your earths.

First thing you should do is upgrade you batteries earth by putting another 4gauge ( or bigger ) earthing cable and run it from the chassis to the -ive terminal. If that doesn't work then an earthing kit should be considered next ( I actually have 5x 4gauge earth cables linked to a 0gauge cable that links to the battery ).

Next a battery upgrade should be considered. When I had my Magna I had an Optima D34 and it worked a treat!

i have a simula prob but with my head lights i have notices when i stop my lights dim a bit but when i get going the get a but brighter...... lol

terminals wont do anythign unless the ones you got on are dirty. you can try cleaning them up with a wired brush.

Take your car to an Auto electrical shop. tell them to do a load check on the batt you got in the car and also check the alternator charge. Most often what will happen is that the batt wont be able to keep up with the stereo, which most likely you will need a batt with higher amp reading,

if tho your stereo was draining batt the alt would work a lot harder to keep the volt up of the batt which most prob will cos the alt to fail soon. so get them to check both.

So can someone explain me this..
i have
Gold terminals, 500CCA battery, about 8 x 4ga earths going back to the (-) Terminal including 2 x 2ga Earths, and my lights dim really badly when a serious bass note hits at nighttime....

its like one of the only parts of my system which needs fixing really...

Thoughts?

']So can someone explain me this..
i have
Gold terminals, 500CCA battery, about 8 x 4ga earths going back to the (-) Terminal including 2 x 2ga Earths, and my lights dim really badly when a serious bass note hits at nighttime....

its like one of the only parts of my system which needs fixing really...

Thoughts?
What is the main power run to the amps?

How long are the amp grounds? where are the amp grounds?

How old is the battery? (what type of battery)

What is the gain on your amps set at? What load is it running?

How much power w RMS

initial thoughts are you have a crap amp ground though. Or your wiring on your lights may be corroded.

What is the main power run to the amps?

How long are the amp grounds? where are the amp grounds? About 40Cm To allow for the false floor to be lifted up

How old is the battery? (what type of battery) about 1.5 years old, Bosch Gold

What is the gain on your amps set at? What load is it running? Mono Is running at 2 ohm to subs (Should be about 700WRMS) and the 4x100, well Front channel is set to about 50% and rears at about 80%

How much power w RMS Jaycar mono 1000W, Jaycar 4 x 100

initial thoughts are you have a crap amp ground though. Or your wiring on your lights may be corroded.

My amp ground is a special one! lol, 2 holes drilled where my spare would usually be, sanded back to metal, and BOLTED in.

question 1? what guage wire to amps?

and... what other amps? total rms power draw? (or total of the fuses)

question 1? what guage wire to amps?

Oh sorry, Um 2ga which splits into 2 x 4ga to each amp, and grounded with 4ga aswell, both seperate grounds about 15cm away from each other

Any idea what the volts drop to on bass notes? below 12 volts? Is the bosch gold a dry cell? Have you ran it flat many times (or listened to lots of music for extended periods with the engine off?

Any idea what the volts drop to on bass notes? below 12 volts? Is the bosch gold a dry cell? Have you ran it flat many times (or listened to lots of music for extended periods with the engine off?

Dont know on the Voltage drop on bass notes.....Would i just need to hook up a Multimeter on the battery terminals (<20V) and just have a look at what it reads when im doof-doofing?

Um Dry cell....Im not 100% Sure on that.
only been run flat once (left the boot open for 3 days lol)
And havent listened to it for extended times with the engine off, not really man.

dry cell: Does it have little reservoirs for water on top?

test voltage at the amp terminals if u can.

dry cell: Does it have little reservoirs for water on top?

test voltage at the amp terminals if u can.

Yeah, dry cell, just a supercheap battery..
Will do man...
maybe then i can get teh 6 farad capacitorz to make da system pump da tunes when da bass goes boom :)

']Yeah, dry cell, just a supercheap battery..
Will do man...
maybe then i can get teh 6 farad capacitorz to make da system pump da tunes when da bass goes boom :)
Nah its not a dry cell if it has liquid in it...

Dry cell = exxy and good...

Me thinks its a battery issue, only dry cell batteries can be run flat, as soon as you run your battery flat you start to kill it, they arent designed to go dead. That combined with a stereo use with engine off may have led to its slow demise.

Upgrade to optima. :)

(i'd get it checked out by a sparky first, but a good battery is money well spent if you like ur audio)

Yeah, Not annoying me massively but its one of those things where id like to know whats going on. Ill check the voltage and might drop an optima in in a few weeks along with the other big project i got coming

Cheers Tim

get a massive deep cycle marine battery:D

i had a blue top deep cycle marine bat in my lancer, 950 CCA:nuts: it was so big i had to get a custom battery clamp and battery tray made

i could leave my lights on high beam for like 12 hrs before it went flat:shock: and i never had any of these probs.

that was running three amps (1 x 4 channel and 2 x monoblocks) and never had a problem (except when the clamp broke and the battery tipped causing the positive terminal to hit the bonnet and weld itself there:cry: ALWAYS COVER YOUR POSSITIVE TERMINALS!!:rant:

can only see half of it but bottom left of the pic

And ones your marine batt when flat how long take to charge it back up.

I got an optima. running 4 12" and 3 amps so on and never have any probs with lights and stuff. check your batt man. get an optima dry cell and should fix the prob. if not then check alt charge. brushes in alt might be worn and causing the whole thing.

And ones your marine batt when flat how long take to charge it back up.

I got an optima. running 4 12" and 3 amps so on and never have any probs with lights and stuff. check your batt man. get an optima dry cell and should fix the prob. if not then check alt charge. brushes in alt might be worn and causing the whole thing.

Hmm, Like i said Ill consider getting one but its doing just fine.
Its really only making the headlights dim on HUGE bass notes and only making the dash lights dim on major bass notes, i can still have it pretty loud to a point without having it dimmer.
Points noted:)

I dont know how BIG your stereo is, but I suggest:

Replace the wiring with at least 4GA.

Put on a set of good terminals, and upgrade your battery.

If you still have some dimming, I'd look into getting a capacitor, at least 1 Farrad.

Oscar

And ones your marine batt when flat how long take to charge it back up.

from dead flat bout 12 hrs :doubt: but that was when i bought it, never had to charge it after that. sterio going all day at car shows and not a worry:D

I dont know how BIG your stereo is, but I suggest:

Replace the wiring with at least 4GA. have got 8 x 4ga earths and 2 x 2ga earths

Put on a set of good terminals, and upgrade your battery. All gold plated ones - battery is the only thing which needs "upgrading" really

If you still have some dimming, I'd look into getting a capacitor, at least 1 Farrad.
Nah, after reading thread after thread of audio gurus saying how there just there to cover up a mistake somewhere else, i wont be getting one

Oscar

As above

:shock: Who says that a capacitor is to cover up a mistake? If you are running that many amps, etc - how else is a battery and alternator supposed to keep up?

Thats the 1st I've heard. Go look at any decent comp sound system car - the'll all have a cap in them.

Regardless, I guess you can try upgrading the battery, and if you dont get a cap, then you just gotta learn to live with it I guess :)

LOL @ caps...


like half a D cell is going to save you when your system hits that note lol

i think hat your regulator is on the bend runn a capacitor 2fhd should be enough

A cap is a giant band aid. If you have sufficient battery / earth / alternator combo you wont need them. I have seen a fully sick civic run 2 DD Z3's I think ( the 3000WRMS @12V ones with the 2x 0gauge inputs :shock: ) and there are no caps in sight. Yeah the lights dim a little but for the amount of current, its not bad. The reason for this is because it has a huge ar$e Optima Blue Top / upgraded alternator and a rediculous earthing kit.

The magna has a generous sized alternator from factory which is why people suggest battery and cable upgrades. If you are running 100A+ current draw on your charging system from your stereo then you should invest the money to make sure it wont die.

plus caps can be tricky. as i understand there are two types and if you connect them up the wrong way you can do damage to the cap as well as reduce the life of the bat. Just do it right first time