Help, Headlights dim when sub hits

They dont dim significantly so I dont know weather to worry about it or not. I know that there are better alternators that you can get but is there any other option? Will this cause my battery to drain?/

mine have been doing that for the last year and a half and nothings happened so far, so i wouldn't worry about it too much.

year and a half huh? Then I am not going to worry about it. Before I got my crossover installed they didnt dim but once it was put in, my sub got bassier to the point that I actually turned DOWN the volume.

Sounds to me like you need to buy yourself a Farad Capacitor, or run a seperate battery for your system.

Farad Capacitor? Whats that?

Originally posted by Melt
year and a half huh? Then I am not going to worry about it. Before I got my crossover installed they didnt dim but once it was put in, my sub got bassier to the point that I actually turned DOWN the volume.

yah and my battery hasn't died on me yet. and if you really need to, i'd say get a better alternator rather than a cap. i'm saying this with numerous ppl chewing me out when i tell ppl to just get a cap

Originally posted by Melt
Farad Capacitor? Whats that?

A capacitor is a secondary storage unit for electricity. Basically, when the system is running and the bass isn't hitting the capacitor stores up energy. Then when the subs hit hard, the energy is used up from the capacitor instead of the electricall system. That's why the lights dim. It doesn't have anything to do with the battery. The battery is used to provide current for starting the car. After that the cars electrical system runs off the alternator.

As for the term farad. That's the storage capacity. Almost all electronics have capacitors in the circuitry. But they usually have a very small capacity such as a pico farad. The farad capacitors are huge in comparison.

just buy a new alternator......theres nothing better than more power.....if will help in every way....not only with your stereo but performance wise it will halp aswell.

just run thicker power wire to your system, if you are running like 10gauge to 2 12's then it'll drain power from anything else.

i have 4 gauge running for my 2 12 Alpine Subs, and have no dimming problems.

Here's a Massive list of capacitors. They are selling at a decent price too.
http://www.sounddomain.com/shop/list.pl?type_plural=Stiffening+Capacitors&x=60&y=19

After my Buddy put one on his system the bass hit alot harder. It's proably one of the most forgotten things for a system install.

Thanks for the link and all the help. Right now I am running 10 gauge wire to 1 12.

Yeah, just watch out for those terminals! :shocked:

Originally posted by Melt
Thanks for the link and all the help. Right now I am running 10 gauge wire to 1 12.

thats your problem right there, forget all these caps, change that wire down to at the very least an 8gauge, but id go 4guage into a distributor block, in case your amp doesnt support 4 gauge wire.

Just go up to a Circuit City. You can get a Monster Cable Cap for like $200. You can get cheaper ones too, and they should work just as good, just go to a nearby electronics store. :frog:

thats your problem right there, forget all these caps, change that wire down to at the very least an 8gauge, but id go 4guage into a distributor block, in case your amp doesnt support 4 gauge wire.

Yeah, you can do that too. Circuit City/Best Buy etc will carry Monster Cable 8 gauge power cable, now thats the good shit you need. I'd get a cap too, but u could always just wait and see what the cable upgrade does. :frog:

ok idiots. the first thing you should know is that it is NOT GOOD to have your headlights dimming when your bass hits. That means the power supply provided by your alternator is NOT ENOUGH for your massive sound system and all your car's electrical systems. What you need is a CAPACITOR. These devices store up electricity so that when the bass hits it can draw power from the capacitor rather than the alternator. If you don't have a capacitor, plan on going through a battery or alternator or both every 1 - 2 years. If you get a rockford fosgate capacitor, you will be replacing it every two years depending on how hard it has to work. Monster (brand) capacitors are lifetime warranteed, so if it ever goes out, you get a new one for free. If you don't have a capacitor, you are going to DESTROY your car's normal electrical system, not to mention your sound system.

They dont dim much, and they only dim at idle. I will get a capacitor sooner or later but for now I aint too worried about it.
And my sound system isnt massive, its just 1 12"

Ok, darkimportgrey is offically tripping. I went to a custom audio shop in my town and the guy said it will just fuck up the battery. Will NOT fuck up alternator, electrical system, or sound system.

I have decided to get one anyhow, going to the flea market (again) tommorow to see if they have them there, if not will be getting a monster audio one from good guys.

I am also going to attempt to run some 8 ga, to see if that maybe stops the dimming. so 8ga, and if that dont work, a capacitor

sorry dark import but i dont know who you are talking with, i had my 2 12's running off of a 10guage wire, cuz i thought back then it was enough, and i got headlight dim, when i stepped upto the 4 into 8 guage setup, no headlight dim anywhere(noticible anyway), it is cleary the size of the wire he wants to run for his sub, it just cant handle the amount of power required so its taking it from elsewhere on his electrical system.

So I am currently bidding on ebay on capacitors. We will see once I win one. (and no, I am not bidding on multiple caps at same time cause I would be screwed if I won them all)

ok, just my 2 cents

Changing the guage with help with power transfer to the amp but ur alternator can never supply the power quick enough so this is the reason u need a cap.

The cap stores and releases power faster than anything in ur cars system can. It works like an additional battery only charging and delivering in milliseconds, unlike the battery under ur hood.

Also keeping the cap close to the amp it reduces the distance the power has to travel. That's why when running the wire from the engine compartment to the rear u'll need a larger guage wire to help with the resistance.

we will see once I win it or not. I bid on a rockford fosgate one which looked pretty good. If i lose that one I will bid on a Monster audio or a Lightning audio cap. I was stupid and bid on a RF. I hear they go out but like I said we will see

how would a higher output alternator enhance performance? That's impossible. An alt. works by converting engine rotational power into electricity. higher output means higher input which means more engine power is going to the alt. and not going to the wheels.

I suppose because it provides more power. But I am no alternator expret, I was just going on what I have heard.

how would a higher output alternator enhance performance? That's impossible. An alt. works by converting engine rotational power into electricity. higher output means higher input which means more engine power is going to the alt. and not going to the wheels.


that is not the case... the engine doesn't work any harder with a higher output alt.
the alt. output is determined on how the coil inside is wound...... it still rotates the same as the stock alt. but, because of re-configured internals it is able to produce more energy. that's why it's more expensive than a stock one.

I agree that the gauge of wire could have a slight impact, but I gotta go with DarkImportGrey on this one. I've got a 1-farad Monster Cap in my car with a RF Power 500 pushin' two 12W6's. When I've got the bass hittin' hard you can watch the needle move on my Autometer volt gauge, but with the cap I've NEVER had a problem with lights dimming. Before I put the cap in I'd be driving around at night & people thought I was flashin' my lights at 'em cuz they dimmed so bad from the bass.

After all that rambling, my advice is to upgrade your wiring AND add a cap.

Just my $.02

Ok I am not trying to start any wars here but I am a pro. I have been installing shit into cars for 4 years and I am certified in several things. But anyways it can mess up your alternator eventually. what it will do is when you drain the battery so far the car has trouble keeping up with the current draw. If the draw gets too high it will back feed the alternator and the battery and they will both go to shit. So for all of you who think that darkimprotgray is wrong he is not.

ok for all you non-believers, i am pushing 2000w of sub power in my car, and once i switched to 4 guage wire, no caps, nuthin, i never have any light dimming problems.

ok guys, they started dimming less once I put in the 8ga but they still dim nonetheless. 1 day left on ebay, and then I will have it.

Also, update on the clutch situation, it isnt the clutch, but it is some bearings in the tranny. Probably going to cost about 1k. There goes my savings.

Actually, the more windings you have in there, the more magnetic resistance there is to rotation - -an alternator has magnets rotating around which generates energy along the windings. More windings = more metal = more magnetic resistance = harder to turn = more power required to turn it.

Now, admittedly it's not MUCH of a power drain, but it's certianly not a power GAIN.

Originally posted by Shadowkahn
Actually, the more windings you have in there, the more magnetic resistance there is to rotation - -an alternator has magnets rotating around which generates energy along the windings. More windings = more metal = more magnetic resistance = harder to turn = more power required to turn it.

Now, admittedly it's not MUCH of a power drain, but it's certianly not a power GAIN.

:rolleyes: Damn, you don't know what the hell you are talking about.

There isn't a resistance to rotation. You have to understand how this process works. One way of generating electricity is by cutting the magnetic lines of force (mlof), by a conductor. This is called induction. Now there is a small charge applied to the coils that are in the alternator. Which is called the stator. The rotor is what is in the middle and contains more copper windings. These are the conductors needed to cut the mlof. When the charge is applied to the stator windings, a magnetic field is created. Now the greater the speed at which the conductor cuts the mlof, the more voltage is induced. Basically the faster the rotor turns, the more electricity is created. That's when the voltage regulator comes into play, keeping the amount of current being produced at a constant level. Now in theory since the conductors in the rotor are having voltage induced into them, therefore current is passing through them. This will create an opposing magnetic field. But this is negligible. (too small to make a difference) So it doesn't require more power to turn it.

the opposing mag. field creates a power drop at the wheels. I didn't say it was gigantic, but it sure as hell isn't a performance gain like that guy way up at the top of the thread was claiming. The whole point here is that putting a higher output alternator on your car won't make it go faster. Otherwise I'd have a hugeassed alternator on my car and be whipping McLarens.

what the hell are you guys talking about, alternators have no relation to the speed, HP, or torque of your car, no matter what size it is, it wont affect any of these factors. it keeps your car running by suppling electrical power to various compnents, but your engine is what makes it go faster.

the tighter the windings on the inside of the alt, the more electrical power it will make, not physical power.

Originally posted by Melt
ok guys, they started dimming less once I put in the 8ga but they still dim nonetheless. 1 day left on ebay, and then I will have it.

Also, update on the clutch situation, it isnt the clutch, but it is some bearings in the tranny. Probably going to cost about 1k. There goes my savings.

try using 4 gauge wire then, it'll be a lot cheaper to replace the wire again, rather than buying a cap.

run 4gauge from the battery into your amps if it fits, if it doesnt fit, then get a distrobution block to switch back into an 8 gauge run, try to keep the smaller guage wire on a short a run as possible, to maximize the power.

Originally posted by crxlvr


thats your problem right there, forget all these caps, change that wire down to at the very least an 8gauge, but id go 4guage into a distributor block, in case your amp doesnt support 4 gauge wire.

I worked as a professional car audio installer for 4 years, and there is a lot of truth to the larger wire with more strands in it making your amp perform better, but the problem is caused because your alternator cannot supply enough current to your amp. True, your amp may sound better with a bigger wire, but this won't solve the lights dimming problem.

You absolutely need to either A) go with a bigger alternator, or B) (my suggestion) go with a 1 FARAD Lightning cap or if you just have a small amp, even a .5 FARAD capacitor would probably do the trick. The capacitor stores energy during lower moments of consumption by the amp, and when the amp requires an instantaneous boost (a big bass hit) it will get it immediately from the cap.

You will be happily suprised if you do this. Go by a stereo dealer and ask them what they think and see if they have one you can demo for a couple days. You will quickly understand.

Expect them to go for between 70-250 dollars. Here is a link that might help, althought with a little searching, you can get them cheaper elsewhere.
http://www.crutchfield.com/S-nr7cKKsniNy/cgi-bin/prodsearch.asp?s=0&g=725&est=&search=capacitor

Kudos!
ChzDhippt

Alternators do not break the laws of physics. If you could get more electricity from an alternator WITHOUT causing any more power to be taken from the engine then all we'd have to do is hook a Honda engine up to a huge alternator and we could supply the entire world with electricity. This obviously wouldn't work.

If you generate electricity (that's all an alternator does- - generate electricity) then you have to get the power to generate the electricity from somewhere. In the alternator's case, that power comes from the engine.