Car stereo "kick = dim"

[joker_927]

Is it bad when you turn your stereo up and the lights on the deck "dim" whenever your speakers "kick"?

LOL

Where is the power being drained? Can it be "upped"?

[golfcart]

Is it only the lights on the stereo or is it all the lights in the vehicle? If it's just the radio, make sure it has a good solid ground connection. That's the most likely culprit

[joker_927]

Yea, it's only the lights on the deck. Ewww, checking for ground connection, that seems like a tedious process. I just thought it was because the speakers were using a lot of power like when your washer kicks on and the lights in your hous dim for a split second.

[golfcart]

That is very possible, but not normal with a good quality head unit. It could happen if you have too low of an impedance on it too, like connecting more speakers in parallel.

[joker_927]

It's a new car... By memory I can remember the deck is about 5 years old, is a Pioneer, and says 34W x 4 on it. I honestly have no clue how the speakers are setup.

[butch81385]

the lights did that when my altenator went out on me (but my speedometor also malfunctioned and my headlights also went on and off.... then my altenator, belt, and battery all went on me....)

[Kuasimodem]

You need one of these

I'm running two of them on my system (1000W total power)

[joker_927]

wtf is that? Are you serious? Considering I don't have any subwoofers just four 6 inchers I think. I honestly don't know, but I don't have HUGE stuff in the car.

I would like to know the problem before I find a solution.

[Kuasimodem]

OK, if that's a bit much for ya, there is one other option...

Don't wire the deck into the fuse panel (or the factory stereo power wiring). Run a wire directly from the battery, with a circuit breaker or fuse located at the battery for protection. The wire should be at least 8 guage to handle the current needs of the deck.

This should provide enough power for just a deck.

BTW - The 1 farad capacitor that I linked to above stores energy and then releases it to the deck/amplifier when it needs it, like during the bass beats.

[joker_927]

aNY PICTURES OF HOW IN THE HECK TO WIRE IT LIKE THAT? Oh crap sorry for caps

Will doing that help perserve my alternator?

[joker_927]

wow, this car audio is a whole new world. Now I know how my friends feel when I talk about the new Athlon 64, and they have no clue.

Well I'm completely overwhelmed. It's late too. I have not found any websites that basically dumb car-audio down for the newbs, but I did read 11 different sites on what a "complete" system is. 2 front tweeters, 2 rear "kickers", amp, and subwoofer.

I haven't seen many sites talk about caps (look i'm already using the lingo, mom!) Will a capacitor do the same as an amp? Do you need both?

Also, I hear of a lot of people NOT wiring anything to their battery, and they have 4 woofers, 2 amps and all this jazz. Why, then, would someone like me need to wire it to my battery?

I would also like for someone to looks over my drawing and correct it. How is a stereo wired?

[Shawn711]

Basically caps or bass capacitors store electrical energy until a device connected to them demands a high spike in current........ie. in a car, most of the time, a the battery or alternator can power an the stereo, heater fan, windshield wipers etc plus a small amp, but when you add a large amp as many large stereos have for subwoofers, the current demand is too large for the battery and alternator to supply quickly. The capacitor saves the strain on the alternator by not allowing the amp to drain the battery all the time making the alternator work harder to keep the battery charged plus run the vehicles electrical system. I would say in your case it is really unlikely that you would actually need a capacitor, as your alternator should carry that stereo just fine unless it is going bad...........I would have the alternator tested to make sure it is putting out as it should or if that isn't it, might be a poor ground connection...........

Shawn

[Shawn711]

Also, basically the stereo is wired with a positive wire going to the positive terminal of the battery (by way of the alternator) for constant power to maintain clock and station memory, a positive wire going to the ignition for switched power to run the tuner and tape or cd player itself, and then the ground wire. There aslo might be a wire for a power attenna and then the rest would be speaker wires...........

Shawn

[Whir]

Originally posted by joker_927
Also, I hear of a lot of people NOT wiring anything to their battery, and they have 4 woofers, 2 amps and all this jazz. Why, then, would someone like me need to wire it to my battery?

Anyone running a deck and two extra amps off the power for the radio itself would be silly. Amps draw way more power than the deck does. Well, big amps do. That'd be a good way to melt the power lead to the stereo.

Defacto setup for external amplifiers is running a power lead directly from the battery to a fuse and then to the amplifier. The more power the amp needs, the larger a lead you'll want. Usually you don't need what the kits want you to buy as far as lead size goes. For instance, all the kits want me to be running an 8 gauge lead for my 200 watt amplifier. I'm using 14 gauge speaker wire.

There are a ton of car audio people around though. RobRich is an especially good source for info.

As to the original question, it sounds your deck is simply drawing too much power from the system when you turn it up. Best way to fix it is to get a better alternator. Running a straight power lead to the battery might help, I don't know.

As for the 'complete' audio system. Psht. It's more dependant on the vehicle than any set standard. An absolute audiophile will probably hang tweeters on the pillars, stick some small mid rangers in the dash panels and woofers in the doors, all hooked up to a big crossover, then stick a bunch of subs in the truck, and maybe some more mid ranger and woofers in the rear deck panel. I get buy on a pair of coax 6.5s in my doors and a 8" w/1.5" tweeter box in the back of the jeep. If it sounds good to you, who cares what it's made of?

[Shawn711]

Just to point out, while you may be able to run an amp on a smaller guage power lead wire, the recommendations for the kits usually are for the size to allow the amplifier to run most efficiently. If smaller wire is used, the amp will most likely run hotter as it is struggling to get adequate power through the wiring and will not have full output because of the inadequate power and heat detracting from it's capabilities. Any electronic device will always run better when properly cooled or heat disspitated from as well as a good adequate route for power and power source........too small wire can also be a fire hazard as well, as I once ran speaker wire to an amp for ground wire and the wire caught on fire as it couldn't handle the current running through it, so it got REALLY hot, burning it to a crisp (did that before I actually learned about what I was doing!)...........

Shawn

[Whir]

That is a good rule to follow, I won't argue that. Generally you don't run into that sort of problem until you're a couple hundred watts into things. Or as a lot of the kids around here, a couple thousand. <boggle>

[Solid Snake]

You shouldn't need a capacitor for your head unit. If your dome lights dim then it's not your ground connection. If your deck dims it's most likely either the + or ground connection. You should have your wiring harness soldered for best possible connection. Anyway if all that is done, then it's possible you just have a crappy deck.

[dustyrun]

here is a site that might have some answers

here

Rick

[Xtreeme]

No cap needed for avg. head unit. Only for bass tubes or for high power amps (usually running large woofers). For instance my head lights literally go "off" all the way when bass thumps. I have two 12" 300watt RMS rated Kenwood Tornado woofers. Used blaupunkt spk design proggy and made the box form its specs. Put in all the spk data-car volume (inside dimensions) and it tells ya best size shape. Tell it freq. you want and it adjusts the blow tube length and diameter to tune it.... And 600wattts of ampage feeding two! Lost my liscense plate last week too! LOL-no kidding it rattled the screws loose. So Im getting another one soon-roflmao, its in the mail officer! For the lights to "not" shut off intermintently/dimm badly. I used a 1 FARRAD (HUGE) cap. For the reasons said above. Adds power when too much drawn. If not it spikes your alternator to death by overdrawing. I killed one already till I upped to cap. HEAVY wire is a must-he's right 100%. Wrining to batt. is ALWAYS a +. Even head unit. Why? Cause it will eliminate ground loops and noise that way. Some cars-like my Toyota Celica GT has a powerfull alternator-real powerfull. Was nearly $200 for a 140amp one. So it causes hum anyway without a filter on the + batt. line. BIG blade style fuses are a must also. Right at the batt. Go to a spk./stereo or even radio shack if none close to you. They have the wire-the fuse holder and fuese you'll need. A pro setup aways sounds better. Dont skimp on wiring! .

[Mike]

RobRich is a great soure for car audio stuff. Well, so he leads me to believe anyway!

I didn't think a cap would be needed for the head unit. Bit of overkill, eh?