Lights dimming

[Clellandmc]

Right I turned my sound system up loud yesterday, on a quiet road in the middle of nowhere at night, and noticed my lights dimming, how can I stop this? Will I need to get a battery especially for the sound system to run off?

 

[Day]

All the Clios I have owned have done this when you wind the electric windows up!

 

[Clellandmc]

lol, I dont usually put the windows down at night, whilst driving so havent noticed that before.

 

[Dink]

the big three and the biggest batt you fit under the bonnet

 

[Clellandmc]

Quote: Originally posted by Dink on 09 April 2005

the big three and the biggest batt you fit under the bonnet

the big three?

 

[Big G]

Was this with the engine running?

 

[clio007]

power cap is the best option from what i have heard

 

[Mole]

Quote: Originally posted by clio007 on 09 April 2005
power cap is the best option from what i have heard


theyve been proven not to work.. pretty much just a show thing.

 

[Claire]

Quote: Originally posted by Mole on 09 April 2005



theyve been proven not to work.. pretty much just a show thing.

thats not entirely true, power caps are a store for that extra power when the system is pushed and every one Ive seen in a system does work, quite well in my bfs car too which has a v. powerful system

 

[Dink]

no power caps do not work. end of

 

[Claire]

are you joking? Coz im quite sure ive seen a lot of spl competition systems, and , ooo, wait, nope - they DO use Caps. Just learn physics, in theory they work and in practice they do.

 

[Dink]

i think you are the one that needs to learn the theory and come back and say sorry

 

[Claire]

Huh? batcaps, store as much power as a battery. therefore can give you as much power as a battery? caps do work, I give you that power caps dont - but batcaps do

although I do take back saying power caps in instead of batcaps, like, once. I also think maybe you need to learn how to be polite when answering someone also

 

[Ben j]

just put a bigger heavy duty diesel bttery in. job done.. and no they dont really work..

 

[derv]

thing is with caps is they do store the power needed for say a spl comp but then thats it, they need replenishing, so now your batt is struggling to supply power to the car and the amps. ive upgraded the main batt to body earth cable and that has helped a bit, but really need to upgrade the cables to the alternator too, assuming that it can supply enough current in the first place!

 

[Claire]

powers dont, no. batcaps DO - please for the love of whoever someone on here must know!!

 

[Ben j]

must know wat?

 

[Dink]

yes i quiet agree batcaps do work.

i was a bit blunt when answering sorry but i dont like people misinforming others.

also i still think he would be better off up grading the big three andd maybe getting a diesel battery under the bonnet

[Edited by Dink on 4/9/2005 6:02:37 PM]

 

[Claire]

lol, see!! now we can be friends!! I agree about the big three - perhaps a better alternator is in the pipeline as this is the supply of power when engine is running, not just a store like battery/batcap?



Wasnt trying to misinform him, but i always type the opposite cap to the one i want!! normally i notice and edit it in time though!

 

[Rorrie]

ok, cap dont work in 90% of ocasions. more often than not they slow the system down, due in a long beat they run out of charge and start drawing on the battery to recharge, taking power away from the amps

il post the maths of this later if anyone wants to work through it.

batcaps are very differnt to battery and cap (sorry if you knew this)

Claire - which spl comps?! i have met a fair few of the UK record holders for different classes, and none of them have caps.

I have about 2kw rms in my car, (1.5k to the sub, 500rms to the fronts) and i would never consider a cap, ive done tb3 and im going to get a bigger alt (as i can run my bat down when driving - which can prove difficult if i turn my cra off and try to start it again!)

So IMO - go and buy a new set of terminals for you battery, and a nice lenght of 4awg cable and a few ternimals and upgrade that, and it should be alot better

 

[Alan]

Quote: Originally posted by Dink on 09 April 2005

no power caps do not work. end of

Agreed, waste of cash!

 

[Rorrie]

http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=82678http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/showthread.php?t=82678 - esp the posts by clio paul

oh and the big three are, the -ive terminal to the chassis, +ive to alternator, and the alternators ground

 

[Ben j]

Quote: Originally posted by Clellandmc on 09 April 2005
Right I turned my sound system up loud yesterday, on a quiet road in the middle of nowhere at night, and noticed my lights dimming, how can I stop this? Will I need to get a battery especially for the sound system to run off?

how much of a sound system are u actually running? if it aint nothin mega i cant see u needed more than a heavy duty diesel battery in there tbh.

 

[Alan]

Im running this lot (see below) on the standard battery and its all good, yeah you get some slight dimming when the car is idling but thats about it.

Alpine 9812RB MP3/CD, MB quart front comps with separate crossovers, MB quart 6x9s in "Auto acoustics" steath shelf, MB quart 10" sub in sealed MB quart box all being ran by a Genesis profile 5 amp.

 

[Ben j]

so basically 1 amp takin about wat 50 - 60 amps at most?

def just get a higher current capatity battery and youll be fine id say

if its only at idle too than your altonator will charge a higher battery fine when moving and itll keep that extra bit u need for idle

 

[Alan]

Quote: Originally posted by Ben j on 09 April 2005

so basically 1 amp takin about wat 50 - 60 amps at most?

def just get a higher current capatity battery and youll be fine id say

if its only at idle too than your altonator will charge a higher battery fine when moving and itll keep that extra bit u need for idle

Yeah one amp mate, am not too bothered about keeping the extra charge for idle as i dont tend to blast my system that much but when i do im usually moving.

Cheers for the info anyways.

 

[Rorrie]

Quote: Originally posted by Ben j on 09 April 2005

so basically 1 amp takin about wat 50 - 60 amps at most?

def just get a higher current capatity battery and youll be fine id say

if its only at idle too than your altonator will charge a higher battery fine when moving and itll keep that extra bit u need for idle

we actually talking no higher than 40amps, (thats the amps fuse rating), you wont need much, try upgrading the bat to chassis and the alt to bat with 4 or or pos 6awg - see how that works!

 

[Clellandmc]

Quote: Originally posted by Ben j on 09 April 2005

Quote: Originally posted by Clellandmc on 09 April 2005

Right I turned my sound system up loud yesterday, on a quiet road in the middle of nowhere at night, and noticed my lights dimming, how can I stop this? Will I need to get a battery especially for the sound system to run off?

how much of a sound system are u actually running? if it aint nothin mega i cant see u needed more than a heavy duty diesel battery in there tbh.

Im running an Alpine 7852R headunit, Twister F4 600 amp, and Audio Systems RX Pro front components.

BTW I was driving at the time and not idleing. But considering I had then headunit up to about 23-25 then it would be taking some power.

Would a diesel battery work fine with my petrol car then, no extra bits needed to plug in? Just more heavy duty that your normal batteries?

 

[Rorrie]

yep diesil batterys are just more heavy duty.

what fuse rating does that twister amp have?

If i were you, just try and upgrade your -ive to chassis and +ive to alternator, its not hard and will work well. After all, you should do it wiht a bigger battery anyway, if it doesnt solve it totally, then you can always get a battery, rather than doing it a dodgy way around

 

[Clellandmc]

It has 3 x 40 amp fuses.

Ok will try that, thanks for all the advise everyone!

 

[Rorrie]

ok, you may need to upgrade your bat or alt, but see how the wires go wires

 

[connor]

hmmm i beg to differ....

power caps are very good at stopping the problem of lights dimming....

i had the same problem with my system (which i must say is pretty big...) and i just shoved in a street wires power cap (which i worn) and the problem was solved....

However now ive taken it out & now got a 20 farad power bank instead. problem still hasnt come back however i have got a 100amp bosch silver top sitting at home waiting to go in (which i do realise is not a leisure battery but still does the job!)

& split charge systems arent really that good either...

 

[Dink]

the problem is the caps actually store electricity and have a very very low ESR.

so no matter how big the cap is it is still going to pull power from your amp the recharge itself after the first bass note

 

[Rorrie]

Im interested to know why you think split charge systems are not really good either? and also where they were really recomended here?

 

[Pablo]

My Xenons + interior lights dim when using the electric window button and while also using high volume/bass on my aftermarket head unit.

Would a more powerful alternator not resolve this?
Cheers.

 

[thejoose]

Power Caps mask the problem not resolve it -

Power Caps can be of use in big SQ installs but for a daily boomer they are useless. Look at all the big UK Streetbass Cars, no one runs powercaps and they are the guys that know what they are doing

the proper way to fix dimming lights is to upgrade the big three - Alt to Battery +ve, Engine to chassis -ve, and Battery to chassis -ve, Leave the cables that are already in place and add as big a cable as you have

Split Charge Systems are to allow you to boom your system all day with the engine off (at a show for example) but then still have a fully charged battery to start your engine when its time to leave.

 

[G_2500]

What is a Batcap


http://www.batcap.net/About_batcap.html

 

[wallop]

My Xenons + interior lights dim when using the electric window button and while also using high volume/bass on my aftermarket head unit.

Would a more powerful alternator not resolve this?
Cheers.

Why post on a 3yr old thread???

The answer to your question is, "Probably not".....

Light dimming when operating electric windows is usually caused by stock wiring looms being designed with cost over safety, rather than performance in mind....

Any electrical wiring will have resistance, higher resistance equals lower voltage, so the only way to sort dimming in the above scenarios would be to rewire the affected circuits based on electrical performance.....

Even lightweight circuits can promote 'dimming' of lights, watch the interior light when your 'hazard' lights are on, this is solely caused by manufacturers using 'adequate' wiring practices, anything to keep costs down.....

 

[Pablo]

Why post on a 3yr old thread???

- Because the thread was on subject already
- The thread wasn't that old when I posted, its NOW been archived since
- It saves starting a new thread without the opinions of the subsequent posters
- Why not tbh

 

[Tigger]

Seperate battery for the sounds FTW