Stereo & Electronics - 1,000 Watts RMS....Lights dimming...now what?

After installing (2) Kicker 10" L5 subs with a MB Quart RAA1000 amp I am now having problems with my lights dimming (dash, headlights, radio, etc.). I was going to get a cap, but after reading through some posts I thought it would be better to replace the alternator.

I went to a local guy in town and he sold me a rebuilt "high output" 180 A alternator. I installed it last night along with a 2 GA wire from the alternator to the battery, but my lights still dim. In fact I can't tell the difference in amperage from the old alternator to the new one. On top of that this alternator is REALLY loud. It shreaks like a bad belt.

I am going back tommorrow to talk to the guy, but before I go through the hassle of changing the alt. again I want to be sure that it will fix my problem. Is 180 A enough? He said it also had a slightly smaller pully so that the amperage would be higher at idle, but like I said it does not help.

I don't think the dimming could be due to anything else other then lack of current because it does not dim unless the stereo is half volume or more.

Any help would be appreciated.

O.... its a '01 T/A

get a capacitor to hook up to your amp, i had a JL 1000/1 which was the first amp ever to push 1000 watts continuosly, unlike other amps that can go up and down depending on your set up. but a cap should store power so it wont let your lights dim,

well i havent had my camaro long, but i do know tons on stero installs and problems.

currently i am running 2 1000/1 amps on (2) 12's. on the last car i had the problem with dimming was terrable. i ended up getting a 40 frad cap and the problem was still there, even with an upgraded alt.

i havent checked out the fuses on the z yet but i get no dimming at all running my system at 1/2 power. if you want to upgrade the alt. then here is what you need to take into consideration.....

the alt. needs to pack enough power to power everything that is running, at one time, on your car. (your best bet is to figgure electric fan, a/c, radio/head unit, interiror lights, head lights, tail lights, amp(s), cd changer, and any other accessories on your car) to do this find the fuses for each and add them all together. then buy an alt. that will power this many Amps.

if the problem of head lights dimming is the only thing bothering you then take a 1 frad cap and run the power wire going to your head lights to the cap, and then back to the lights like normal. this should take care of the dimming process. (please note!!!!! DO NOT run the power cable to the cap that will power the lights from the same source as your system!) <--- if you would like to do this method, please tell me and i will provide detailed instructions on how to do this properly.

PS i am running 0 aug. for my system setup, on a stock head unit and all stock speakers excluding the subs.

datboyc....I'm not just concerned about the headlights dimming. It's all lights plus my amp is clipping. My concern is that even with the 180 A alternator I did not notice a difference in the amount of dimming my lights did. I would have thought going from 105 A to 180 A alternator would have at least allowed me to turn it up 3/4 volume or so before dimming.

I am now left with a few possiblities.

1) The alt. I bought is not reallty 180 A
2) Something else is wrong with my car/electrical
3) 180 A is not enough

That is really what I am asking. Everything on my car is stock except for the MB Quart amp and two subs. Stock moonsoon headunit/amp/speakers, no mods, no lighting, nothing. So it should be stock current draw + the amp.

datboyc....I'm not just concerned about the headlights dimming. It's all lights plus my amp is clipping. My concern is that even with the 180 A alternator I did not notice a difference in the amount of dimming my lights did. I would have thought going from 105 A to 180 A alternator would have at least allowed me to turn it up 3/4 volume or so before dimming.

I am now left with a few possiblities.

1) The alt. I bought is not reallty 180 A
2) Something else is wrong with my car/electrical
3) 180 A is not enough

That is really what I am asking. Everything on my car is stock except for the MB Quart amp and two subs. Stock moonsoon headunit/amp/speakers, no mods, no lighting, nothing. So it should be stock current draw + the amp.


also try upgrading the grounds in the engine bay, our cars have shit for ground cables.

also try upgrading the grounds in the engine bay, our cars have shit for ground cables.

Excellent suggestion. That 180 amp alternator isn't gonna do squat to solve the dimming lights problem. Furthermore, running the 2awg wire to the alt itself isn't where you want to go. Go directly to the battery. Without going into some big-ass post about the details, here's what years of experience has taught me:

Big power wire - same-size ground. As stated above, improving the ground wire from the battery to the chassis often helps

Get a cap (or several). From a purist standpoint, many small caps will dissipate faster than one large one of the same value. It's just that much more to mount/bolt down/wire to. This alone will do wonders to solve the dimming and clipping problems you're having. Get something at least 1 farad in size. No need to go overkill unless you're getting a bunch more amps.

a big-ass alternator will only supply the amount of current that's missing - if you've drawn 15 amps, a 250 amp alternator will still only supply 15 amps until the battery voltage reaches the voltage of the regulator - typically 13.6.

Bottom line: dimming is caused my a voltage-drop, which is why a cap will help and an alternator won't.

this might not be the way to go, but try and update the batt. with something that will allow a higher voltage charge. there are several companies that make these.

something i notticed the day i got my z, is that the system charges to 15.3 volts, where as my last car only charged to the normal 13.5.

once again.... i experience no dimming with my setup....

have you tried taking the power cable for you system and running it to the "altt. batt." connection in the engin bay? this is where i ran mine.

best of wishes.

Keep in mind some of the higher amperage alternators ONLT give you the extra current at higher RPMs and not at idle. The expensive ones will, hense the price. Expect to pay $450+ for a good custom 180+amp unit.

Like stated above, swap out all your power and ground wires for bigger units on the alternator and Batt.

I have 3200 watts rms and this is my set up . Optima red top up front, marine deep cycle in the back. 200 amp alternator, 150 amp circuit breaker, 200amp relay, 3 farad cap, 0 ga wire front to back and all in between. I have NO electrical issues, NO volt dropage, NO lights dimming, and I promise you gets Fing loud! A cap is a bandaid, an alternator is the solution. Your alt. has to supply more amperage, than the amps & elect system are drawing. When you draw more amps this causes your lights dim, thus when you rev the engine the lights get brighter, cause the alt is creating more amperage. The reason people think caps cure the prbolem, is because, its basicly a fast charge & dischage battery. When the music is loud & the system spikes, the cap discharges quickley for the peak, as the spike drops, this gives the alt a chance to recharge the cap for the next spike. So some people will see the cap as magicly fixing their problem, and it kinda does, in lower power systems.

SSactionLs1....good idea. I just assumed that the grounds were good. I will try that tonight.

Excellent suggestion. That 180 amp alternator isn't gonna do squat to solve the dimming lights problem. Furthermore, running the 2awg wire to the alt itself isn't where you want to go. Go directly to the battery. Without going into some big-ass post about the details, here's what years of experience has taught me:

2 GA wire IS running directly to the battery. I have now have 2 GA running from the alt. to the battery, and 4 GA from the battery to the AMP.

Get a cap (or several). From a purist standpoint, many small caps will dissipate faster than one large one of the same value. It's just that much more to mount/bolt down/wire to. This alone will do wonders to solve the dimming and clipping problems you're having. Get something at least 1 farad in size. No need to go overkill unless you're getting a bunch more amps.

As far as a cap goes I am not sure it will help. If the alt. is not able to produce enough current to keep the AMP and lights happy then how will it feel about charging the cap as well?

a big-ass alternator will only supply the amount of current that's missing - if you've drawn 15 amps, a 250 amp alternator will still only supply 15 amps until the battery voltage reaches the voltage of the regulator - typically 13.6.

In my limited understanding of the electrical system I was under the belief that after a car has been started, the alt. is the source of power. So according to that I don't see how the alt. can only be supplying the current that is "missing". I would have thought it was the other way round. The battery or a cap should be supplying the "missing" current. Using that chain of thought I tried to upgrade my alt. so that my AMP would not have to rely on getting the missing current from another source.

Bottom line: dimming is caused my a voltage-drop, which is why a cap will help and an alternator won't.

That makes sense. Lighting is is easy to tell when it is not getting enough voltage because it dims. But if my alt. was able to keep the voltage output at 14.4v or so shouldn't that matter more then battery or cap? As I said earlier once the car is running I shouldn't even need a battery.

Daley.....don't think I am ungreatful for your help or that I'm trying to proove you wrong. I just want to be sure that the information I am getting is correct before I spend more time/money on caps, batterys, alt. etc.


F8L Z71....The alt. guy said he used a smaller pulley so it would be a higher output at ideal. Even at 2,000 RPM+ the lights dim

Tapout....That is exactly what I thought. That is why I am here posting this question. I DID upgrade my alt. but it is not helping. I can see that upgrading the grounds may help too, but I really expected the dimming to at least be considerably less then the stock alt. and alt. power cable.

Do you think the alt. I got was bad? What is an easy way to test the current output?

what type of alt did you get & amperage? Some may only produce more current at higher RPM, & less @ idle. It is possible to have a DOA alt out of the box. What are the fuse ratings on your amp? Researching, your amp is rated to draw 120 amps max output, so as you can see, you would need 120 amp alt just for the amp alone @ max output, then you have to account for all the other devices that are drawing current @ the same time.

current draw of the amp is critical. This why some people with a 1000 watt amp adds a cap & the light dimming problem is gone. Their amp prob draws less current at max output.
Lets say their amp only draws 70 amps + all the other electonics = 115 amps draw
take the stock alt of 105 amp, now the head lights dim, ok add a cap to compensate for the 10 amps & vohlia, promlem gone. Just a rough example. People make the misteak of looking at power output, instead of current draw, when deciding how to fix their problem.

Tapout....I had a local guy rebuild me a stock alt to 180 amp. He said he would warranty it for two years and it only cost $170 so I figured I would try it. He also said that he used a smaller pulley so the output would be a little better at idle.

Amp has (3) 40 amp fuses.

I completely understand what your saying about the current ratings. That is why I'm perplexed. If the alt really does put out 180 amps I should have at least noticed some difference between the stock alt. and the 180 A upgrade. I suspect that my local alt guy is BSing me about the output. I am taking my car to him on my lunch hour so he can look at it. (Its also loud as hell)

I just want to be sure that a known good 180 A alt. will fix this issue. The alt. is not that much fun to change so I would like to avoid doing it 2-3 more times.

i tried 3 caps om mine and didn't help one bit.i had a ppi 2350 with 4 gauge hot and ground=hot to battery/w 150 amp c/b and ground to chassis.got a a good deal on a audiobahn class d amp 200 watts rms bigger and problem almost completely cured.oh yeah had a optima red top also.good luck fixing your ailment.

just an extra battery in the back by the subs...get a deep cycle....it doesnt even have to be a drycell that is sold for stereo's as long as you have it placed to where it isnt able to move..i have mine underneath the black plastic where the spare tire used to be.....it helps the light problem and also will add better sound because your amp is getting the extra power its trying to suck from your other battery..