Dimming lights

crash1381 · 10-09-2005, 11:52 AM

I know its probly already bben discussed, but does anyone know how to stop lights from dimming while system is playing. I'm only pushing a 600 watt amp and they are fading out really bad. And I have a cap, not helping at all. Any suggestions appreciated please!!!

lizardking · 10-09-2005, 12:29 PM

Caps do help but they need to be of low ESR rating. Your best bet is to make sure your gains are properly set. With 600 watts you shouldn't have any dimming lights. When I had my Titan I ran about 3 times that. Check your grounds and make sure you have all the paint scraped where you grounded your amps. Also what size power and ground wires are you running? There are so many things that can cause the dimmining of the lights.

crash1381 · 10-09-2005, 12:45 PM

I'm running 4 guage wiring.

bestatchess · 10-09-2005, 01:57 PM

Do lizardking's 0 gauge ground upgrade battery-chassis-block. I think active tuning's ground wire set helped a bit also. I have two 400 watt amps and no dimming also running only 4 gauge power to the amps.

Nestor · 10-09-2005, 05:14 PM

"The Big Three" as it's been commonly called won't stop dimming lights. A bigger alternator will, for sure, and a low-esr cap, installed properly, may help.

crash1381 · 10-09-2005, 06:20 PM

Seems like everyone else is running way more power than me and does not have any dimming lights. I am at a total loss here. I have checked and rechecked all my connections and grounds and have come up empty.

grunge311 · 10-09-2005, 08:44 PM

my stereo v1 in my titan was 1100w with no dimm, now my stereo is 600w and no dim. You have some problems some where. How is your cap wired?

lizardking · 10-10-2005, 10:16 AM

I would set your gains with a voltmeter to ensure you have the gains set right. If you have your gains cranked up you will get dimming lights..

sbo76 · 10-10-2005, 02:23 PM

How do you set your gains with a volt meter?

Sammy Sandbag · 10-10-2005, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbo76

How do you set your gains with a volt meter?

Like so: http://www.soundsolutionsaudio.com/f...showtopic=3704

sbo76 · 10-10-2005, 02:46 PM

thanks.....

Justintoxicated · 10-10-2005, 04:48 PM

if your clipping your pulling way more than 600 watts from the amp, coudl be over 1000 watts and it could also damage your speakers and amplifier...

Also what class is the amp? A/B amps are alot less efficient although they do produce a cleaner more acurate signal (despite wether or no some people can tell the difference) Testing has been done with inconclusive results (once thought to be conclusive in that people can't tell the difference)..

Big 3 will help in that it lowers some resistance in the wiring. Higher resistance means more energy wased as heat rather than geting to your amplifier, headlights etc... Might not make a huge difference though... However if you can gain a couple amps that would be enough to make your headlights not dim...

Caps are not made to prevent yoru headlights for dimming, they are only made to make an already good electrical system better. Reason being they only store charge for a split second, so they don't help as mcuh for long deep bass notes, plus they have to re-fill once emptied which only puts more strain on your alternator, although it might help with dimming it's actualy making the problem worse for your alternator if it is struggling. The big 3 is a better place to start IMO, but don't expect miracles doing it to the titan the length (sort) and size (not tooooo small) of the stock wire ont he titan is not so bad that it should not be able to support 600 watts...

Also if your going to upgrade to a larger alternator then you will need to do the big 3 anyways..