Just installed the 1000/1 with 2 10W6's. Pounds crazy.

However, my lights now dim. Do I need a better alternator or a new battery?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

thanks!
G

 

Maybe a yellow top and a capacitor

 

+1 capacitor

 

Optima Yellow top and capacitor for every 1000 watts you are running.

 

Thanks for the replies.

What size cap will I need??

 

first and formost, what ohm load are the w6s wired in ?


if you dont know tell me what they are

dual 4 ohm or dual 2 ohm coils


you may not need anything, I am running way more power than you are and my lights do not dim. I have no special electrical upgrades.

 

1 ohm would be ok.

 

A cap will not prevent the lights from dimming. If anything it makes it worse. The lights dim because the car's charging system cannot charge fast enough with all the current draw. Now you add a Cap to that and its one more thing that it has to charge. A cap will store the power that the amp wants to pull when a bass note hits, it pulls some of the power from the cap, but the alternator still has to charge the cap. Now if you want to help fix the headlight dimming issue, you can either 1. replace the battery with a dry cell. I really like the odyssey batteries. I was running a LOT more power than you in my last car that had a smaller alternator and more current draw from all the damn electronics in that car and no matter how much i cranked it and played a bass heavy CD, the lights did not ever once dim. 2. you can replace the alternator with a stronger one. The first option is usually the less expensive route.

Do i have a cap in my car..yes.why? mainly i did it for show, I do a lot of shows and I said why the hell not throw one in. A cap is somewhat usefull if all the power/alternator issues have already been resolved.

 

same boat as Ahsmo and BoostTed. Running more power without any optima or cap, no lights dim.

 

I have an Optima Yellow Top for sale, local pickup though, Colorado

 

You havent replied but try getting as high an ohm load on the amp as possible without going over 4 ohm.

Like the JL amp, my pg likes a higher ohm load. The current draw is much less because the amp is much much more efficient.

 

I have the dual 4 ohm drivers so that should put me at 4 ohms of impedance.

 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention....my car has been sitting all winter and I started it only to test the amp/subs out. Maybe after I drive it for a bit it will charge up and the lights won't dim??

 

Nah if the car started fine, its still gona do the same. that amp is a big boy mine did that too until i blew the amp.

 

Crap, how'd you blow your amp?? Any thing I can do so I don't blow mine??

 

What gauge power/ground wire is run to the 1000/1? If it's 4ga or smaller that may be some of your problem. I'd run 2ga. or even 1/0ga. to that big of an amp. You could also double up the 4ga.

If the wire is too small for the amount of current the amp is drawing, the resistance in the wire actually increases the load on the vehicle which shows up as dimming lights etc. You may also need to upgrade the ground wires at the amp and the motor/chassis grounds under the hood.


Shops around here are always trying to feed big amps with small gauge wires and it just pisses me off. When someone comes in with power problems, they rather try to sell them cap w/install than just do it right the first time with big wire.

Case in point:
Back in the fall, I had to pick up some wire for my nephews install. I usually buy all my install supplies online, but this was a "rush" install. So playing the "uninformed consumer", I went to the best local shop in town and I told them the amp I was installing was a big mono class-d which can pull up to 120 amps. I said the wire will be about 12-15 feet long. He proceeds to show me the 8ga. wire. I asked: don't you have any 1/0ga. or even 2ga.? He says no...we NEVER use anything that big and only rarely do we use 4ga. for big multi-amp installs.

I left that shop feeling sorry for their customers.

Ken

 

I am running 4 guage wiring. Think I should change it to bigger wire? Damn, I just bought this stuff. Maybe my ground isn't very good. I have it grounded to one of the screws that hold the seatbelt in place.

 

I would run 0 AWG for the 1000/1

 

Your 1000/1 is likely hitting 100+amp draws during big bass hits, especially if your running it at or near 1ohm.

Think of it this way...you know how hard it is to drink a milk shake thru a small straw compared to drinking it thru a big straw, well your amp is trying to drink thru a small wire.

In my last car I had two Autotek SX series amps, one was there 1000w. rms class d which I ran at 1ohm into a pair of 12" Kicker L5's. The other was a 150x2 rms class ab for some Kick components in the doors. I installed all this in a 01 prelude with a completely stock electrical system. I used 2ga. wire and never had a problem. Now I just got my Z but I would assume the Z's electrical sys. is more stout than the Ludes.

A good start would be upsizing the underhood grounds. Then go from there. Heck, some people even say better grounds even increases engine peformance.

Ken

 

Well i ordered a 4ga wire, but what i got was a 5 or a 6 ga wire and the wrong kit. So i thouht what the heck ill try it and i also had someone missread the manul and connect the + to and - for the 2 subs for the 4 holes in the amp. when you are soppesed to bridge the amp. thats how the amp went into protect mode. i think its because of the small wire, and maybe the wireing of the subs. You cant stick a 0ga in that hole anyway just use a high quality wire. make sure that the ground is sanded too.