Need a second battery?

[Joshdashef]

Use a volt meter see what your voltage is if your worried about needing another batt 

[Loudst]

3 minutes ago, Mike4068 said:

1200 watts should not need a second battery. 

Its a little base model Focus ST. Lights dim extremely bad. All of the symptoms of poor power supply/voltage drop. Can anyone else chime in? 

[Mike4068]

Do you have an agm battery? What size? Batteries do not put out watts they put out amps. You ultimately want your alternator to be capable of supplying the amps you need to run your system. The battery can fill in the gaps when it hits hard 

[Loudst]

5 minutes ago, Mike4068 said:

Do you have an agm battery? What size? Batteries do not put out watts they put out amps. You ultimately want your alternator to be capable of supplying the amps you need to run your system. The battery can fill in the gaps when it hits hard 

I have the stock battery. If you change the battery on the Focus ST you have to go to dealer to have Fordscan reset, so I am trying to avoid and just add another battery in hatch. Also, cheap 4 gauge power was used for amp, and installing battery will add extra piece of mind as I will be adding at least 2 ga from OEM battery to secondary in hatch, and perhaps head that off if that cheap 4 ga is contributing to this issue as well. 

[Loudst]

13 minutes ago, Joshdashef said:

Use a volt meter see what your voltage is if your worried about needing another batt 

How low is within reason?

And also, just set to DC Volts and place positive probe to power wire on kicker input and negative to ground terminal on kicker?

[Mike4068]

Do whatever you want but you can't mix different types of batteries. If you don't have an agm up front you can't parallel one in the back. 

[Loudst]

10 minutes ago, Mike4068 said:

Do whatever you want but you can't mix different types of batteries. If you don't have an agm up front you can't parallel one in the back. 

No? Not possible?

[Mike4068]

No, you will end up with 2 dead batteries. 

[Mike4068]

I should say that some people have done it and say they have no problem but I would rather tell you what the manufacturers say. 

[Loudst]

16 minutes ago, Mike4068 said:

I should say that some people have done it and say they have no problem but I would rather tell you what the manufacturers say. 

Maybe I will throw one in up front first, and run a 0 ga wire to the back and use a real distribution block for the amps powers instead of having two powers running the whole way up front. See if the battery and new power wire helps.