I just installed a Phoenix Gold XS2500 amp and now at night my lights dim way more than I think they should. I could understand if I was hitting hard but it does it even at low volumes. Anybody have any ideas about what the problem could be? Would a bad ground cause this?

Thanks,
Adam

 

How do you have the power hooked up to the amp? It seems like it's drawing too much current. Where do you have it mounted? What gauge of wire are you using? These are considerable factors of finding what the problem is.

 

The amp is hooked up to my battery with 4 gauge wire. And as of this moment it is laying on the floor of my trunk behind the box. I checked and all the connections are good and tight. Hope this helps.

Adam

 

Ok, that seems fine. How big is your amp fuse coming from the battery? Where and what do you have your amp grounded to? Is your amp touching any metal? Is there anything else tied in this 4 gauge?

 

The fuse that is attached to my amp is a 60 amp fuse. It's put in at the recommended 18 inches from the battery. Should I try to move it closer? Also the amp is grounded to a screw in the bottom of my trunk, I sanded an area clean and then just sunk a screw into the bottom. The amp isn't touching any metal and there is nothing else tied in, it's just a straight shot back. I think that answers everything. I really appreciate the help.

Adam

 

Is 60 amps the recommended fuse size? What gauge ground wire? And make sure it is tight. This hints more at a ground problem than a power wire problem. Also the length of power and ground wires could be an issue.

 

Get a capacitor, that should pretty much solve your dimming lights problem. Your amp is drawing to much power, so the cap will provide the extra power to your amp without dimming the lights. How many watts does you amp have? Because there is a rule of thumb for capacitors so that you don't have to buy and overly sized capacitor or under sized cap. Hope this helps a bit.

 

An average to good quality amp with only 60 amps max draw should not be enough to dim the lights in a maxima. Especially since as he/she said, "I could understand if I was hitting hard but it does it even at low volumes."

 

make sure your ground wire is the same gauge as your power wire.

But it sounds like you just need a cap or two to solve your probs. My car needed two 1farad caps to solve my dimming problem.

Ant

 

make sure your ground is nice and tight and on bare metal. Also u mite want to try gounding in a different place and see if it helps.
Check your power wire for any cuts b/c that can also be a factor.
if none of this helps check your ground in your engine bay.(batter ground and alternator wiring. Make sure its all tight and not corroded and on good bare metal.
A cap may help some but its not goin to help you completely. Caps are not magic and cannot just supply you with power from thin air.

 

Well apparently 18 inches is too far away for a fuse to be mounted in the power wire. I cut 6 inches out of my power cable and attached the fuse at 12 inches. Now the lights only barely dim when I am really thumping. Thanks for all the help guys and hopefully all the good ideas in this thread will help someone if they habe this problem in the future.

Adam

 

i've never heard of 18 inches being too far from the battery.

 

Sounds like the power cable was loose. And maybe a little too long for the amount of current he was trying to draw. My bet is that a lot more can be done by redoing the wireing.

 

I will still get a capacitor if I was you. Not only will it help out your altenator, but your battery too. For you guys who don't know how long their power wires has to be before the fuse, keep this rule of thumb in mind; you would want your fuse in your engine compartment. Anywhere inside the engine compartment is less than 18 inches. If you have more than one amp, have one fuse about a foot away from thew battery, then a distribution box to your seperate amps. the distribution box will have fuses for the other amps, but you'll have a main fuse too.

 

If you drive a maxima then your engine compartment is more than 18 inches long. Maybe you are thinking 18 yards. But it should be inches. The distance from the battery does not affect voltage drop, at least not measurably. The reason for < 18 inches is that in an accident when the positive battery cable gets crimped / cut you want the fuse to be placed where it will be of benefit. Between the battery and any possible cable crimp or cut.