Is this normal?

 

If you don't have a cap and have a lot of power, yeah, that can happen. Alternators in Maxs aren't so big.

 

It doesn't matter if you have 86 yellowtops. If the car is running, it is the alternator and whether your cap is large enough that matters.

Brett

 

guys, in order to prevent dimming with lots of current draw, you have to have the current to begin with. ie...if you are burping on a linX, youre gonna drain the cap, and its just gonna be a load after it drains, cuz its not enough. its a bandaid, but if you dont have as much power coming from your alt, as what the total draw is, you WILL have dimming. so you need to get a bigger alt. stinger, optima, powermaster, and a guy named dominic from termpro.com build good HO alts. afaik, dominic is the only one to use adjustable regulators, and his stuff is well respected.

eric

 

The 180amp alt I had on my last car was perfect. I get a very slight dim at a stop on my max, but it's all good in the hood

 

right.. the voltage has to drop to 12v before the Optima is providing any help.. that 13.8 to 12.whatever drop is gonna be visible..

 

caps are crap. get a HO alternator if you want to fix your problem.