Boon Posted March 6, 2009 Report Share Posted March 6, 2009 Ok I've seen quite a few posts recently about people with dimming lights and the suggestion is often to get a bigger/better/more batteries. This is _wrong_ 90% of the time! The brightness of your headlights is primarily caused by how much VOLTAGE they are getting. When the vehicle is on, in almost all vehicles (some modern cars do some funny stuff with the alt but the headlights should stop it anyway) the electrical system has ~14.4v available to it. When you turn it off, it will drop to a maximum of ~13.8v but most likely something lower, around 12.8v - the float voltage of your battery. Then you look at the capacity of your alternator. It's probably (if it's stock) somewhere between 60 and ~100A. This means that it can supply that many amps of current at 14.4v. If you exceed that amount of current, the alt's voltage output drops way off. As soon as this happens, you start drawing power from your batteries. Batteries cannot create 14.4v!! The chemical reaction of a normal lead-acid battery has a forwards voltage of about 12.2v. The battery, depending on its size, can provide a HUGE amount of current without dropping much voltage. If it's like 800CCA it can probably push 500A at 12v for short bursts (i.e. bass hits) So you get your first ~60A (maybe 600w worth of sound) at 14.4v Then you get your next 500A - 5kw! - at 12.2v Then you get into serious shit, voltage will drop like crazy, you risk the car stalling out or damage to the battery... When the voltage drops from 14.4v to 12.2v you're losing about 15% of the wattage from your headlights - that's quite a bit! To see the difference, just look at your headlights with the car on and the car off. Extra proof of this - ever had your headlights dim with the engine turned off? Probably not, they were already at the 'dim' level of 12.2v which has a nice big battery to support it. My point is that you could have 1000000 D3100's in your car but as soon as you exceeded the alternator's output the headlights would still dim Moral of the story, the only way to stop your headlights dimming is up-spec the alternator or turn down the volume.... http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/01nocomment8so.gif http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/hairtrick.gif http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/hairtrick.gif http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/hairtrick.gif 10.x volts fo' life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creyc Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Yep, this man speaks the truth! by the way isn't the nominal voltage of a capacitor higher than 12v? 2001 Chevy Blazer (2) SAZ-3000Ds (2) custom 18" Madmax subs in a second row wall Rockford 600-4 Pioneer PRS components Pioneer P800PRS deck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SojiaRaggs9000 Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Big 3 upgrade helps to , no? * Eclipse CD3200 with PAC SWI-CAN2 and SW-ECL2 Steering Wheel Controls Interface* Pioneer D-Series Mids and Highs ( Fronts: TS-D1702C; Rears; TS-D1702R and Dash; TS-D1002R )* Rockford Fosgate PBR300X4 ( Mids and Highs Amp )* DC 3.5k with Dual Inputs; Custom Plexiglass Backing ( Sub Amp )* Rockford Fosgate Balanced Line Driver * One FULLY LOADED ~ 10" DC m2 XL* Custom Built Carpeted Ported Box Tuned to 32hz. Single Chamber With Volume of 1.44618³ ft ; 1.13216³ ft After Displacement* Custom Built Carpeted Trunk Wall with Added Fans for Amplifier Cooling* MechMan 240a High Output Alternator * KnuKonceptz Krystal Kable RCA Cables* Upgraded Electrical With 1/0 KnuKonceptz Kolossus Fleks Kable and 1/0 Sky High Car Audio Cable* Five Exide Orbital ORB34M Marine 12 Volt Batteries* PowerMaster XS D3100 12 Volt Battery My 2008 Chrysler 300 Limited - SuperCharged 3.5L V6 - UBL My Old 2005 Ford Taurus - CarDomain - Vehicle Was Sold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pstone11 Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Running a nice 4ga wire or so over to your main relay/power distro block from the battery helps a little bit, along with changing out the headlight grounds on older cars/trucks.... But it does all come down to the alt. amps in the end.. Check out StoneSounds to see my recent builds.Or look at the Flying White Facebook Page! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finkster Posted March 7, 2009 Report Share Posted March 7, 2009 Big 3 upgrade helps to , no? Yes you are correct, however like he said, once the max output of the alt has been exceeded, your battery will be hurtin By the way, nice post Boon DAT 4125------>RE XXX comps active Eclipse cd7000 I serve drunks for a living Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gotloud555 Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 Ok I've seen quite a few posts recently about people with dimming lights and the suggestion is often to get a bigger/better/more batteries. This is _wrong_ 90% of the time! The brightness of your headlights is primarily caused by how much VOLTAGE they are getting. When the vehicle is on, in almost all vehicles (some modern cars do some funny stuff with the alt but the headlights should stop it anyway) the electrical system has ~14.4v available to it. When you turn it off, it will drop to a maximum of ~13.8v but most likely something lower, around 12.8v - the float voltage of your battery. Then you look at the capacity of your alternator. It's probably (if it's stock) somewhere between 60 and ~100A. This means that it can supply that many amps of current at 14.4v. If you exceed that amount of current, the alt's voltage output drops way off. As soon as this happens, you start drawing power from your batteries. Batteries cannot create 14.4v!! The chemical reaction of a normal lead-acid battery has a forwards voltage of about 12.2v. The battery, depending on its size, can provide a HUGE amount of current without dropping much voltage. If it's like 800CCA it can probably push 500A at 12v for short bursts (i.e. bass hits) So you get your first ~60A (maybe 600w worth of sound) at 14.4v Then you get your next 500A - 5kw! - at 12.2v Then you get into serious shit, voltage will drop like crazy, you risk the car stalling out or damage to the battery... When the voltage drops from 14.4v to 12.2v you're losing about 15% of the wattage from your headlights - that's quite a bit! To see the difference, just look at your headlights with the car on and the car off. Extra proof of this - ever had your headlights dim with the engine turned off? Probably not, they were already at the 'dim' level of 12.2v which has a nice big battery to support it. My point is that you could have 1000000 D3100's in your car but as soon as you exceeded the alternator's output the headlights would still dim Moral of the story, the only way to stop your headlights dimming is up-spec the alternator or turn down the volume.... http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/01nocomment8so.gif http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/hairtrick.gif http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/hairtrick.gif http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/public/style_emoticons/default/hairtrick.gif Yes you're correct! That's why it bad to play loud high level volume stereo everyday. Adding more and more batttery create a heavy charging load on your altenator and put stress capacity load on your vehicle struts/shock. Smaller vehicle isn't good for this heavy duty bass. Get a bigger vehicle like truck, SUV, and etc. Thank for sharing that information because peoples need to do they research and understand the type of battery, voltage, drop, light dimming, fail alternator, and etc. Doing that will help them avoid over spending hard earn money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reinke Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 this is not true all of the time thoug. i am 100% certain when i am at full tilt i am way past the limit of my alternator which is only 130 amps. i added 2 extra batteries for a total of 3 and my headlights stopped dimming right away. ----reference's---- meade916 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beanz Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 this is not true all of the time thoug. i am 100% certain when i am at full tilt i am way past the limit of my alternator which is only 130 amps. i added 2 extra batteries for a total of 3 and my headlights stopped dimming right away.maybe your amps dont pull that much ampragae tahts why when you added those batteries it stopped. That's why they don't deliver. Yer ass better go sit along the side of the road and wait. You can't expect them to travel up some dirt road in a hick / back woods town. Thats how horror movies start I explain things very simply and use analogies in terms of Pickles, and grape drink, pool noodles and jackhammers...if you can't put 2 and 2 together there man, There simply is not much more I can do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gotloud555 Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 maybe your amps dont pull that much ampragae tahts why when you added those batteries it stopped. Yes sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reinke Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 one amps pull 120 and the other pulls 100 amps. ----reference's---- meade916 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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