Wicks

Easiest solution would be a good quality DC-DC converter. It would be nice to know the current draw, otherwise 10A is a safe value to use. Some voltmeters can measure current without the need for a clamp meter too. If you're going to drop another $80-100 on a voltage boost module, you could just get another 12V actuator too.

^ this. 1.) Go to the auto-parts store and have them load test the battery. 2.) If the battery passes, have them (or you) check the current draw of the car on the battery with the key off. You may have a parasitic item in your car that's slowly draining charge from the battery.

If you're willing, pop the top (power disconnected and supply caps drained) and use a pin from the other side of the connector to push it out.

The AB website doesn't get into that much detail but it doesn't state that the amp outputs more with increased voltage so I'll assume that its regulated. Theoretically a regulated supply will try and maintain the output with a varying input. Therefore if your input voltage fluctuates, the amp will pull more current to compensate and output the same power. As long as you're inside the amp's specifications, it "should" output the same power with a dipping input voltage. Anybody that is more familiar with AB amps, feel free to chime in. If you're that curious about it, then you may have to buy the clamp and measure it...or contact American Bass Technical Support if there is such a thing and ask them?

If your electrical is grade A, then why are you dropping 2V? To fully answer your first question, is your amp's power supply regulated or unregulated?

If you're willing to drop a hundo on a meter then I'd suggest that you drop a little more and get one that also measures DC current. Very handy if you want to measure an amps efficiency or test out your alternator. DC current clamps aren't cheap but its better than having to go out and buy a second clamp later....

Hmmm, not sure on those wire colors as far as what wire goes to what terminal on the plug? Found this online: The "Hot" or "Live" wire is colored: * Black in the US, Canada and other countries using a similar 60 Hz household AC power system. * Brown in Europe and other countries using a similar 50 Hz household AC power system. The "Neutral wire is colored: * White in the US, Canada and other countries using a similar 60 Hz household AC power system. * Blue in Europe and other countries using a similar 50 Hz household AC power system. The "Grounding" or "Earth" wire is colored: * Green in a cord or flex in the US, Canada and other countries using a similar 60 Hz household AC power system. * Green and Yellow in Europe and other countries using a similar 50 Hz household AC power system. I would ohm out the wire though to be sure...

240VAC is made up of two "hot" 120VAC lines. One is 180deg out of phase with the other to produce the 240V. Don't connect any grounds to the wires shown. There should be separate green wires that connect your home's ground with the chassis of your equipment for protection should one of the live wires come loose. You should have two black "live" or "hot" wires at the outlet that's feeding the freezer. One connects to the COM terminal and to the load. The other connects to the 240 terminal. Then jumper from the 240 terminal to the C terminal on the other termination block. Then connect the NO (Normally Open) terminal to the other connection on the load (freezer). C, NO, NC is a relay. C and NC should be normally shorted together. The temp controller will activate the relay which then shorts C to NO. 240V is dangerous as Nate mentioned. PLEASE shut off all breakers to the equipment before working on it. Once wired, make sure all connections are covered with wire nuts (no e-tape) and hidden from access. Hit the breaker and you should be good. Make sure the breakers are rated at the correct current for the circuit in case you haven't already. Hope that helps!

Assuming the smallest wire is adequate, larger wire elsewhere never hurts. Keep in mind that the system is still limited by the smallest wire so don't expect too much.

i didn't know it worked liked that, thanks man I would suspect that by pushing on the speaker cone, you're generating a voltage at the terminals which is messing up the ohm reading. Put the DMM on Vac and move the cone back and forth, you should see a small voltage at the terminals.

^^^Agree Interesting how a gangsta rapper and a comedy-magician duo have MUCH more common sense than most politicians....

No voltage drop is ideal IF you truly have that much current capacity. If you're suspicious of the drop then it may be that you're not drawing as much current as you should on paper. Need a clamp. Is there any chance your voltmeter is defective? Maybe it's not reading correctly? Also DON'T use an ohmmeter on an energized circuit. Most DMM's (ohmmeter) have protection but certain ones can be damaged. To measure resistance, DMMs apply a small voltage and measure how much current goes through the device being measured to calculate the resistance. If the circuit or device is energized, then it will throw off the reading.

Found it! Fuse 43 (5A) in the fuseblock was blown. Replaced it and now I have memory on the instrument cluster. Thanks everybody for the suggestions I figured it was something little like that.

Just top-end mechanical work on my engine by an indy shop here in the Denver metro area. The repair was WAY over my head. They yanked the engine to work on it and then threw it back in. Seems strange to me that only this little thing would be affected. Highly unlikely this would be a single-wire connection that got left disconnected. I'm about to call the shop now and see if they have any idea. I just wondered if anybody here had a similar experience with their instrument cluster?

That's definitely possible, but I would think that the cluster memory connection would be tied together in a connector with other wire and other functions. So therefore other stuff should be flaky as well.....

So my engine (E46 M3) just had some major surgery (VANOS / timing chain replacement) where the engine had to be pulled. After the repair, my instrument cluster resets every time I shut off the car. By resetting, I mean the Trip ODO and default settings start back at zero each time I get in the car...? While running it seems to work fine. Seems like a memory connection would be disconnected but I couldn't think of how that'd be possible... Anybody experience anything like this?

Fact I found online. "Did you know that exactly 13 weeks ago was a Friday, April 13? And that exactly 13 weeks before that was a Friday, January 13? Yes, 2012 has three Friday the 13ths." Dec 21st also falls on a Friday.

They run off of a servo motor, not magnets.

Alternators output DC current which is much more expensive to measure. Given an amps draw, it will be somewhat pulsed, but it is DC. If possible you need a constant resistive load that can take a very high current.

I've never found official specs but I highly doubt it. Everything on the sub amp that I've found stated 20W so I doubt the high amp would be higher. Didn't sound more then 20w either. I have all my oem speakers removed, I can look at them and see if they have a power rating, that will at least give you a ballpark idea. Yeah you'd have to run new speaker wire since the HK amps are in the trunk.

Aftermarket HU and stock HK amp......ick You'd be better off just running the Alpine directly to the new speakers then using the HK amp(s), they're tiny. The Alpine has unbalanced outputs and the HK input would be balanced. So you'd still need the LOC to integrate the two. You could link the two (Alpine HU / HK amp) but you'd probly have a lowered signal level. I wasn't impressed with my HK setup at all I'd suggest that he invest a "little" bit more $ and get something without the factory limitations. You know that in a couple months he's going to want to upgrade

Yep, that should work fine. With a balanced signal, the negative portion moves opposite to the positive so you have twice the voltage swing. Depending on your amp(s) you'd most likely use the unbalanced mode on the output (11Vrms) and use the gain to adjust it correctly to the amp. If your amp(s) support balanced signals then by all means use that and get more noise rejection!

Is the alt charging correctly? Is the control wires fully seated in the connector? Do you have a separate voltmeter? If so use that to monitor the voltage for faults (sucks to have a dash light on though). Any wires you disconnected and didn't reconnect? All grounds tight with clear conductivity?

Hard to say...depends on the balanced output. Some "light" reading http://en.wikipedia..../Balanced_audio http://mikeriversaud...ced_revised.pdf Some you can mix, some you can't. It may work but you could potentially damage your HU outputs. You could also get a reduced output from the HU since you're only using half the signal. Personally I'd play it safe. When used correctly balanced outputs are great for noise. I did a lot of research on mine and there isn't much detail out there about the Harmon Kardon HUs. I wanted to stick with my factory HU and add something like a Fosgate 360 to integrate it to my amps. After not finding much (and getting sick of the factory HU features and sound) I just pulled the trigger on an aftermarket HU. Of course you could just tap off of the speaker wires after the amps. Those are unbalanced, but noisier....

Not from me, I don't have any experience with LOC's other than the cheapy $20 ones and I didn't like them at all. After that I've always just installed an aftermarket HU. I have seen Ray recommend this to another person installing in a Bimmer: http://www.arcaudio.com/product-pages/processors/oem/sri.asp Probly pricier then what you're looking for though. In the manual it states that it has 6 balanced high impedance inputs though which is what you'd want.