Need More Help Please!!!

hey, jsut after fixing my other problem, i have a new one. I jsut installed a set of piaa bulbs in my projectors for my 95 civic, and now when i'm driving, while i shift, the drivers side headlight dims while i drive and if my stereo is turned up...any ideas? i know projectors can sometimes have loose connections, but i just checked them, so i don't think that is the problem. Let me know plaese.

-Mike

sounds like you are pulling too much electricity. When you shift, your rpm's drop so the alternator slows down and cant keep up with the electricity you are pulling. I could be wrong though, thats just what it sounds like to me. Do you have a voltmeter? You should check to make sure you arent draining your battery.

I was told my brother just now that my alternator could just not be putting out enough power, so he said getting a thicker belt or wire could help...but what does that mean????

Originally posted by soul180
I was told my brother just now that my alternator could just not be putting out enough power, so he said getting a thicker belt or wire could help...but what does that mean????


Wouldn't you need to get a much better alternator with more power??? cause it sounds like you have to much things draining the alternator so I would see if you gotto get a bigger one that can supply more power.

changing the belt or wire is not going to do anything. You need to get the alternator spinning faster or get another alternator with a higher output. maybe they sell smaller alternator pulleys... That would make the alternator spin faster. But i highly recommend getting a voltmeter and checking to see if that is even the problem, you dont want to waste your money.

i might have a voltometer...what does it look liek??? i have a battery charger, those dom't have one on them do they??? thanks 97teg

I hope this helps; i have a bit of experience in this area.
think of electricity as a river. Voltage is the speed of the river and amperage is the width of the river. Any thickness wire can carry any voltage rating, but only a vertain amount of amps. A very thin wire can only handle a very small amperage where a large wire can handle a lot more. Pretty simple, right?
Now, your alternator is like that device you probably saw in science class that when you put your hand on it your hair sticks up. The device has a peice of rubber spinning and some copper brushes that "take voltage from it" (it is more technical then that but this description will do for this post); the faster it spins the more voltage it produces. Your alternator works in very much the same way except it is designed to create a lot of amperage while leaveing the voltage at a fairly constant 13.8 volts.
This amperage is then distributed to every peice of electronics in your car plus your battery.
When your stereo is turned up it needs more of those amps to fill its need. When you run out of sufficient amperage the most noticible thing is lights dimming but actually everything 'dims' a little, even the sparks sent to the spark plugs is weaker.
I don't know honda car specifics very well but because a civic is an economy car I am guessing the alternators are not very strong. And PIAA lights definetly exceed your cars expected wattage level for headlights (Watts = Volts * Amps) so they are taking more then their share of amperage from your alternator.

A thicker wire would only help if your current wires were burning up or melting. And (as someone else said above) a bigger belt would do nothing.

If you take your alternator off of the car you can open it up and change the copper brushes. This will yeild a signifigant difference. Or if you don't feel comfortable taking it apart, some auto places could probably do it for you for a small fee. Either way it is going to be much cheaper then a new alternator.

Hope this helps a bit more. Feel free to ask about anything that confuses you. Good luck.

higgimonster, that was an awesome post, thanks so much. I understood all of it, and just have one question, you said replace the brushes, and i'm jsut wondering if i replace them with oem stock brushes, just new, or if i get better ones, and if so, could you give me brands/recommendations. Also, how much should i expect to pay for these brushes...i guess that's two questions...

Thanks again so much,
Mike

the voltmeter has a guage on the face of it and has 2 wires coming out of it for positive and negative. The guage measures the amount of voltage going through the two wire leads. Put the wires into your cigarette lighter socket, one in the back center and the other anywhere on the side wall of the socket. I dont remember which is positive and negative, but thats not important, it will just read a negative voltage that is still accurate. have your car running and all your stuff on, radio, headlights, whatever. if the voltmeter is reading above 12 volts, you're fine. if not, you are draining your battery and you are going to have to do something about it.

(97teg is right, i forgot about that. If you don't have one they are available at radio shack for as little as $10.)

autoparts.com has brushes for sale for 23 dollars here (http://www.expressautoparts.com/import/index.cfm?make=HO&year=1995&CFID=1174292&CFTOKEN=68528110)

i would say to get these. A brush is a brush, I don't know if these are any better then OEM but they won't be worse.

Good luck on the install. Make sure you have all the tools you need before you start. I don't know how many times I have been working on my car only to find out I don't have the right tool and I have no ride either :mad:.

if you don't have a service manual for your car I would say get one. A chilton's manual runs about $15 and has tons of pictures and great walkthroughs. Mine is my bible.

How did you wire your lights? (from where do you take 12V to feed your new bulbs?

I suggest you to check the following:
1. connection from the alternator to the battery.
2. water level on your battery if it's not a maintenance free battery.
3. battery voltage.

It sounds like your battery might be in low charge also. If you are drawing more amperage than the alternator can put out, then your battery will contruibute and put out the difference, but this way your battery will slowly being drain and that's why your head light or other lighting circuit dims.

If you take your alternator off of the car you can open it up and change the copper brushes. This will yeild a signifigant difference.

higgimonster, I can see you have tried very hard to explain everything, but changing the brushes is not going to make a significant difference on the alternator output. The only thing that will change the output of the alternator is the "Stator winding" and that you can't change.

I think the Civic alternator output is 35 amps, so it's not a high output alternator. If you have a big sound system in your car, you should either change to a high output alternator or have another battery just for your sound system.

Originally posted by soul180
the drivers side headlight dims while i drive and if my stereo is turned up...
If it really is only the driver's side headlight - this indicates to me that you have a wiring problem (either positive or ground) with that particular light, and not a problem with the alternator, battery, or anything else in the charging system.
:cool: