Sub amp reaching max gain undistorted

[Big Tex db]

1 hour ago, Joe X said:

 

That a very low voltage with your alt running, if you rev up the engine and you still see 13V or so then you are almost not charging the battery, resting voltage usually is 12.5 - 12.8V and the alt should be sourcing the 14.4 or so.

 

That completely slipped past my mind today when I made that post... JFC.. I went and chased volts around the truck tonight and the 213k mi alternator doesn't seem to be keeping up anymore. I haven't been putting many miles on the truck recently either, currently working less than a mile from home... short 15 minute trips here and there.

 

I was just getting 14.xV while idling when I made the original post... Going to keep troubling shooting and upgrading. Thanks for the help Joe

[Big Tex db]

Ford has a Battery Control Module (BCM) on this truck to, I assume, throttle alternator usage to save fuel?... Read online that disconnecting the current sensor causes zero issues to the systems and just let's the alt sing her song.

 

Currently testing my volts throughout truck while she idles. AC on, fan on, getting too damn humid 'round here. Will retune gains once I feel the volts are stable. Currently sitting at 14.16v constant with AC/Fan on max.

[Big Tex db]

Truck maintained 14.x+V the entire time I was retuning gains.  I still did not receive any distortion from the 40Hz -15db track with everything at full tilt though.

Ran a few songs after setting up.  All my go to songs were hitting clean, loud, and much fuller again.   I was checking out some Decaf Muzik (IDK if this is the real Kris Koffee tbh - currently searching for the zips) on soundcloud and found a little distortion at full tilt on some tracks.

 

60Hz Test tone dropped to 13.73V

50, 40, and 30 hz all stayed above 13.8V at full tilt

[Big Tex db]

Ran the truck around today and let things sing. Ran the voltmeter on it for a while, truck was maintaining 14.1-14.2 the entire time, caught a range during a few heavy tracks - max 14.2 min 13.6 at the sub amp terminals.

Battery and wire upgrades coming soon. I thought I had a little more wiggle on the stock electrical. Definitely proved myself wrong. Thanks for the help y'all

[Big Tex db]

Hate to turn this into a blog but here we go  Appreciate all the help so far, been googling and diving deeper into this bass addiction.

 

Big 3 Sky High Tinned OFC 1/0 with fuses installed as needed in the engine bay - SHCA regular OFC 1/0 ran inside the truck

XS D6500 added in rear - single run of 1/0 in parallel with an AGM battery of slightly less Ah/CA/Reserve up front

SIA2500 has double 1/0 power and ground as well now

 

14.4v+ on start up

14.2v+ steady with AC/Fans on

12.2v to 14.xV range scanned while driving and system at full tilt on some Decaf Muzik (Billy Bang 2Nite and Can't Stop Won't Stop ... both been feeling good)
The Sundown amp came with a clip light on their bassknob, I have this plugged in to watch the clip light to humor myself. Only seeing random blips of clip light during 40-60hz hard kicks today - for what it's worth. And yes, I have this knob turned up all the way as well as my RCA bass knob - not a permanent thing.

The alternator is on the lower front driver side.. Shitty spot but it works.  Not looking forward to replacing with a Mechman. Planning to add another XS D6500 in the rear before getting a new alt. I believe a 290A alt might be my only option, but I'll see about their larger 370 working on my year. I also want to replace the front battery with an XS in the future. At least the stock alt is 200A..

Slowly building up for future upgrades. ATM I do not trust this SIA2500 amp. Something tells me I shouldn't try running two D2 subs off of it wired at 2ohm... Been googling amp dynos/reviews - thinking about going in the 5k-6k watt range with SALT or JP. Unsure of future subs yet - I think it'll come down to what sized box I want to commit to.

 

 

 

 

TLDR;

 

++++ Still no distortion detected by the DD-1 while using the SMD test tone CD. 40hz -0db will show distortion near max gain, -5, -10, etc. all show nothing before or at max. ++++ Sub is hitting full and clean, reachin deep, no audible distortion.

[Big Tex db]

After some free some time to volt test while parked for a while, I see my electrical short comings. 

 

Going to add 2-3 100Ah AGM batts, strongest alt I can get, continue the build after that.. Move the unfortunately low AH group 65 XS power battery to my main battery eventually. Hopefully sell the O'Reilly's AGM off. I don't have a budget, but I'm still a own what you do kinda guy. Gunna ride out these early errors and continue on in the near future.

 

Staying below 85% volume until I get more amperage available.

 

Cheers yall

June 3, 2024 Just adding some TILs, thoughts, and my take in my situation hoping someone somewhere doing a google search will reflect on it and learn something for themselves!

I never considered when setting my gains on my amps to get my RPMs to 2k+ for the alt (stock or otherwise) to reach its potential for the amplifiers... I always had the truck on, but always at idle. Should I attempt to set sub amp gains while at 2k+ RPM? With my long arms and amp location, I could accomplish this but would be sore afterwards. Heh.

Noticed the bass hits fuller and STAYS fuller while cruising around 2k+ RPMs... had this realization while cruising at 70mph which leaves me at about 2k RPM and certain songs notes were sustaining power after the hit. Tested at different speeds and it stayed pretty healthy and happy above 2k RPM.

Of course a more powerful alt(s) and a proper battery bank help bridge this gap between electrical supply and demand. To each their own at that point it seems. This engine seems limited in options for alts and multiple alts without custom fab (which I'm willing to do but am not 100% on keeping this truck long term)... I will run one 370A Mechman in place of the stock 200A alt. I will run an XS3000 bank and a bigger XP D up front. Staying away from lithium for now. I will build and play around this limitation in this truck until I move on to another vehicle. 

Looking at D4S amp and 15" Sundown subs eventually for this truck.

Cheers y'all o7