the jelly man

my questions is this. does buying thicker guage wire do the same as a capacitor? people have told me it does but it doesnt make sense. doesnt a capacitor store power from your batteray for say when your sub is hitting fast between hits? when i have my stereo up my headlights dim a bit and i want to know what i can do to fix that problem.

SSSnoop

A thicker wire will only reduce the resistance loss across its length. It won't do the same exact job as a power capacitor would in terms of storing juice for the big bass at full volume, and it might not do anything for your headlight dimming problem - if anything it should provide the sub with cleaner power with less loss, but the total power drain should be the same, IMHO. The purpose of the sub cap is to provide a reservoir of power for the big power drains at high volume - when you run thicker cable you serve your sub with power and possibly more consistent power, but there really isn't any improvement with peak power.

The end result is possibly cleaner audio, but from what I've seen, it won't replace a decent sub cap for a high zoot system.

Don't know if that makes any sense.....

robertmichaels

iTrader: (1)

For most systems in a cobalt you wont need a cap. because the battery is in the trunk... The reason your lights are dimming is due to poor wires from factory.. you need to do the big 3, this will be the best gain possible. If you have a big system, you can even run new wire from the fuse box to the battery, use some OFC (oxygen free copper) 0 gauge wire.

the jelly man

a little confused but not at the same time. your saying that you dont think anything can help with the headlight dimming? but having a capacitor would help the audio be cleaner? what would the thicker guage accomplish?

the jelly man

i am currently running a quantuim audio 2000w amp, two 12 boss 2500w subs, a kenwood headunit and 6 guage power and ground wire.

Jaredssbalt

iTrader: (4)

A second battery made for audio like a vmax charge tank or kinetic will help a lot. A cap really won't do anything for the light dimming.

robertmichaels

iTrader: (1)

most cars have the battery up front, which means the power wire to the amp has to run all the way to the back which causes lag, so you add a cap, which is the same thing as a battery, so when your sub hits it only is drawing power from a few feet instead of 15+...your battery in in the trunk so you are only running a few feet anyway..think of your battery as a cap. you are pulling power from your alternator 12+ feet away..you might want to upgrade the wire from the alternator to the fuse box, and then from the fuse box to the battery..the power wire comes in under the dash on the drivers side and runs along under the carpet to the back...Also the BIGGEST and what i think is the most important is GROUNDS, i will say that again GROUNDS, the power you use has to go somewhere, and the Cobalt has some piece of *** grounds..you dont always have to change them out, but add more. The one from the engine to chasis is "lacking" add another one somewhere by the Alternator, the closer the better. the one in the trunk is also undersized, do the same thing.

Come spring I plan on doing a full custom build..molded boxes into each side of the trunk, all new power and grounds, the whole works

robertmichaels

iTrader: (1)

you can also look at XS power, they make a quality battery, talking with the custom shop near me they only run these, they said some brands have a problem with cells going out, but these wont

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

if u really want to be technical then measure the voltage when u get this headlight dimming and post up ur results

not dissing on xs power at all but this idea is ******* retarded

SSSnoop

To OP - you have to look at where the power is going when you look at headlight dimming versus sub audio "cleanliness": When you run thinner cable, you get enough power to the sub/amp to run the speakers, but you are also losing power to heat/resistance. The same amps run down the line, but not as many make it to the power circuit with a thinner wire. A thicker wire can clean up the audio by reducing resistive losses, but it won't reduce the amount of power requested. Same with a cap - the power gets drawn to fill the cap; this power has to come from somewhere, so it'll be during those transient times when the amp doesn't require it. Your lights will dim, but I should correct my initial post - they will dim, but they will flicker less - they'll still dim, but a little less but longer, since the power draw is still essentially the same - the sub draws current and when it doesn't the cap will.

Improving the current path the entire distance can work wonders - the chassis ground can be weak, the positive terminals to the amps may not be optimal, as can the positive to the box - improvements in any of these areas will go a long way to reduce resistive losses and improve the overall current delivery. For an example of eliminating these losses - on my second gen Camaro, I ran a dedicated ground to the trunk, as well as 8 gauge wire to power the amp - and since the headlights ran direct, I subbed in a relay that fed the headlights power straight from the bat and used the existing circuit to power the relay - all of this to improve the current flow, and it worked extremely well. I was chucking out about 450 watts with very little dimming with a stock crappy 65 amp alternator.

the jelly man

When you yuys talk about he ground in the trunk and by the alternater i dont know which wires thy are. Do yOu hav picturse or are they easy to find? So another battery is better. Then a cap

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

the ground for the battery will be the only wire connected to the battery ground. it will be about 6" in length. its also a good idea to change out the batt terminal since the stock one sucks. so id just leave the stock ground wire but connect it to the new terminal then run a 0g ground somewhere else and see if that helps. if not then new AGM style battery. then a cap last

the jelly man

Where do i get a new terminal? So i dont need ANOTHER battery along with the onr i have? Just a new one to replace my current one?

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

right in most cases swapping the stock battery is best. sorta depends there are a few that keeping it is best

Rockford FosgateŽ - RFDB4

Walmart.com: Everstart Top Post Coated Terminals: Automotive

the jelly man

I doubt you have a random picture of your trunk where you have the ground wire run to do you? so updating the ground wire in the trunk and replacing my ground terminal should help the sound clarity and less stress on the battery?

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

i do but my car is a bit extreme... and i deleted the older pic of a regular ground

2 2/0 trunk grounds and 2 1/0 ground to the front of the car

SSSnoop

Extreme? YA THINK?!?!?! That car's grounded so well it'd channel lightning.....

I agree with the other assessments - reduce the losses where you can with better connections, then, think cap. It also doesn't hurt to double/triple check the connections to the headlight circuits as well, cleaning connections/contacts along the way and using good dielectric grease to seal things out - just to make sure your headlight connections aren't contributing to some of the dimming - this was big on older cars; not so much on the 'balt, but it still merits a check.

the jelly man

Where can i even buy that guage of wire? I dont live very close to a custom audio store. do autoparts store carry it? Is it neccesary to do a tuicker wire tO the front?

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

nope not at all. its debatable if that even did anything other then placebo effect.

but if u dont have a local shop then u can order it online (the 2/0 is discontinued rockford fosgate wire and the 1/0 is current rockford fosgate wire) or you can hit up a welding shop as well, they tend to sell the bigger wire.

the jelly man

Is 1\0 the way to go for the ground for the battery? Also would running a thicker wire from the amp to the battery do anything?

the jelly man

I wrnt to big r(only welding store near me) and the wire said 1/0 heavy duty welding wire, is that what i would buy?

SSSnoop

Running good gauge wire to the amp will help up to a certain limit, since you reduce the resistance per foot. Same thing with the grounds - you're better off running a good gauge ground wire to the rear of the car than trusting the chassis to provide adequate ground. Any connections should be solid and made in a way that oxidation is reduced (for example, a straight copper ground to chassis or a copper-to-copper twist can oxidize if its not protected - meaning you can eventually develop a resistance loss where you thought you had no problem.

I ran the welder's wire in my old Camaro for my first beastly system, and I can say one thing - see what kind of wire they offer. The stuff I had was some seriously stiff crap! I've since seen much better stuff sold in battery relocation kits and in better stocked auto parts and audio system shops.

EmperorJJ1

iTrader: (5)

exactly... 1/0 is generally the biggest used in car audio. for the least resistance bigger is better but it doesnt mean its necessary.

Also ill reiterate one more time actually testing out your voltage gives u a much better picture on how to solve the problem... honestly the upgraded wiring and cap idea is probably the solution but it really could be anything and u dont know it. theres always going to be that small percentage that u could have a different problem

the jelly man

Did you run the ground outside the trunk? Is the one on the inside that is the original ground not a good one?

-TurboSS-

With a cheap amp you aren't going to be drawing that many amps despite whatever wattage claim they make. So you could probably get away with 4ga or if you don't care what it looks like get some welding cable. Bill @ Knukonceptz can hook you up with great cable also that won't break the bank.