Headlight Fades in and out

ayeplussjr · Mar 3, 2008

I have a 600 watt amp powering one 10inch sub. Everytime I turn up the volume on my deck and the bass hits the headlight fades in/out. Is this a problem with the battery? Altenator? Bad wiring?

Rollin Thunder · Mar 3, 2008

ayeplussjr said:
I have a 600 watt amp powering one 10inch sub. Everytime I turn up the volume on my deck and the bass hits the headlight fades in/out. Is this a problem with the battery? Altenator? Bad wiring?

that does not happen in my truck, but it happens in my house in the room the stereo is in so when i remodled i gave that system its own circuit. i would look in a more powerful alternator.

JKmotorsports · Mar 3, 2008

Tha amp is drawing excessive current and using all the available voltage it can. Your alternator is outputting approx 14.4 volts. When the source unit is turned up and the amp is playing at loud volume, it needs more power. So now that the amp is needing more power, it takes what it can, and the voltage available to other components diminishes. When this happens, other accessories don't work to full capacity, such as your lights. A lot of times, a capacitor will help, because it will stablilize the voltage. So instead of having the voltage fluctuate from 14 volts to 12volts for example, the electrical property of a cap will stabilize it to whatever the nominal incoming voltage is.
You can also help this problem to some degree by replacing the factory wiring, especially the ground cable from the battery to the chassis and making sure you have 0 ohms from the chassis to your amp's ground terminal.

ayeplussjr · Mar 3, 2008

I love this forum...JK your the Tahoe guru!!! I always get great help and timely answers in this forum. Thanks all!!!

What I don't get though is that can a 600 watt amp do that to the lights? I could imagine possibly a couple of amps and a couple of more subs would cause that problem, but a 10 inch sub and a 600 watt amp? I'm new to customizing my truck, so I'm taking in whatever info you guys are giving me so what I'm saying may be wrong, but I thought these trucks would have been able to handle more power than that

boostaholic · Mar 3, 2008

Sounds like you need an optima battery and do the big3 wiring upgrade and you won't dim anymore. Truck will run better and it might pick up some mileage too. I'd buy a battery and not a capacitor, they're too much of a bandaid for electrical issues.

JKmotorsports · Mar 3, 2008

You can add a second battery. Drawback is that it does not charge and discharge as quickly as a cap and can't stabilize voltage the way a capacitor can. I wouldn't say a cap is a band-aid, but I would definitely look into upgrading other aspects of the electrical system before adding a cap. I've been in this capacitor debate way too many times. If you check voltage at the amp at a preset volume with and without a cap, you will see a definite improvement in voltage stabilization. You have to use an analog meter because it will show the fluctuations more accurately than a digital multi-meter.

boostaholic · Mar 3, 2008

Caps are great for the stability of the electrical system, its just people don't do all the other upgrades required to maintain an efficient system and rely on caps to keep their headlights from dimming. Just upgrade the whole system, check grounds, and add a capacitor in conjunction with a replacement battery of higher current because of the added strain of aftermarket electronics :thumbsup:

ayeplussjr · Mar 4, 2008

When you mention a replacement battery are talking about changing out my vehicle battery right now with a Optima battery or adding a second battery to my vehicle?

I'm trying to spend as little money as possible, because I feel I don't have a big enough sound system to justify doing all of this. I'm using a 600watt RMS amp with a sub that has 250 watt rated power-500 watt rms maximum power. I don't have anything major or a huge sound system in the hoe, and all this...adding a capacitor, big 3 upgrade, battery replacement, ho altenator seems a little much for one sub and one amp. Correct me if I'm wrong, but do I seriously need to do all of this?

Maybe I do....I'm totally new to this so I may not know what I'm talking about. I've seen other threads about the Big 3 and seems easy enough to do that I'll prob tackle that on my own as well as buying a new battery since mine just went out. Is buying a replacement Optima battery better than adding a 2nd? Since I don't have too much power I don't need a HO altenator right?

boostaholic · Mar 4, 2008

Well I did the big3 before any other mods but if you are on a budget I'd start with the big3 and a cap. Down the road replace your existing battery with an optima. Doing everything is overkill for that stereo but I have way too much free electrical equipment laying around not to put to use. Don't worry about an alternator until yours takes a crap, just doing the big3 will probably be enough :thumbsup:

JKmotorsports · Mar 4, 2008

I agree with Boost. Do the Big3 upgrade first. Go from there.

Trend Setta · Mar 4, 2008

boostaholic said:
Sounds like you need an optima battery and do the big3 wiring upgrade and you won't dim anymore. Truck will run better and it might pick up some mileage too. I'd buy a battery and not a capacitor, they're too much of a bandaid for electrical issues.

What he said...did it in mine...no more dimming lights

ayeplussjr · Mar 4, 2008

Do they sell big 3 install kits at install shops or am i better off buying seperately....wires, and ring terminals right? Is that all I need? Can I usually find those at install shops?

Weave · Mar 6, 2008

I also did the big three and hooked a 400 watt amp and my lights are still dimmin when I turn it up so next is the Optima Yellow top.

You'll only need around 7-8 foot of wire to do the big three. I used the excess from my amp install kit, which was 4guage. Then bought 5foot of black 4guage. Do a search for the big three on here and there is a link someone posted to buy the whole complete kit including the terminals! Good luck!!

TravisH · Mar 6, 2008

I wouldn't put a Yellow top under the hood because that's not what it is meant for. You want a red top under the hood.

Weave · Mar 6, 2008

Have talked to a couple of different people with bigger systems and they all say the "Yellow Top" is the way to go. Also saw a lotta pics on here where others have the yellow top.

Boost or JK would know!???? Lil help???
Thanks

TravisH · Mar 6, 2008

I work at a car audio shop myself. Yellow top is a deep cycle battery and meant to be drained and recharged. A starter battery can be drained only a few times before it is junk.

I'm not saying you can't put a deep cycle battery under the hood but why would you drain your main battery you use to start the truck.

Red top has more Cold cranking and cranking amps.

ayeplussjr · Mar 6, 2008

I've heard yellow top is the way to go too, but I'd definitely like to hear what Boost and JK have to say.

JKmotorsports · Mar 7, 2008

Most Red top models have higher CCAs than the Yellow tops, just like Travis stated. This is good for starting your vehicle in extreme temps. They are not deep cycles, so they don't cost as much as a yellow top. You can use a dual purpose yellow top model, one made for starting and deep cycling purposes. To help you decide, you have to look at this:
If you're simply replacing your conventional starting battery due to age and/or only have a few accessories, I'd go with the red top. It's cheaper, and will work great if you are not deep cycling. Spending more on a yellow top in this case isn't going to improve anything.
If you have a lot of high current accessories and/or run your equipment with the eng not running, use a yellow top, or add a yellow top as a second aux battery to run your accessories.
Both models have low IR and decent CCA capabilities. Main difference is how many times the battery can be completely discharged and charged. But if you don't ever discharge your battery all the time below 10 volts, then why spend the extra money on a yellow top when the red top can do everything else the ylw can?

ayeplussjr · Mar 7, 2008

Okay, so in my situation I'm running a double din Kenwood DNX7100 w/ GPS, bluetooth, ipod, 600 watt amp, and a 10 in. 400 watt sub.

What is considered a few accessories? Would you consider my setup as high current accessories? I do tend to watch movies occasionally in my car on lunch breaks so I do tend to run my accessories when the engine is not running.

boostaholic · Mar 8, 2008

Do the big3 and a replacement battery and you'll be fine, there are alot of misconceptions regarding aftermarket batteries but anything is better than the stocker when you're adding accessories.

Headlight Fades in and out

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