I recently decided to switch out my 2 12" Kicker L5's with dual 2ohm voice coils to 1 dual 4ohm voice coil Pioneer TS-W3001D4 sub to save some weight/trunk space in my 06 SS/SC.

I had my L5's wired for a 2ohm load on my Kicker ZX1000.1 mono amp hooked to a 1 farad Stinger capacitor (I know it's kinda small for that much power). I wired the W3001D4 for a 2ohm load also, and tossed it in the car. With the same gain settings (probably like 1/4 of the way up), and the bass boost on the remote knob set on about 8 of 16 (that's where I normally keep it set), I now get some slight headlight/interior light dimming. Adjusting the bass boost down a little will cause the dimming to go away. With the L5's, I could adjust the bass boost knob from 0 to 16 without issues. The L5's were presenting roughly 1200watts rms to the amp, while this 1 sub is rated at 1000watts rms.

I can watch the battery voltage reading on my Aeroforce Interceptor bounce around from about 14.6 to as low as 13.8 (I've only seen that number once for a split second).

I think I'm aware of how to resolve the problem, and I plan on getting a new battery (damn the closest Carquest being almost an hour and a half away), and possibly a 2 farad Stinger or Rockford capacitor, as well as doing the "Big Three" upgrade, so my question is more out of just plain curiosity. Why would a system with the exact same settings, presented with the exact same ohm load and less wattage, as well as a sub with a higher sensitivity (89db compared to 86db, is that even worth considering a difference?) cause headlight dimming? Would any one of the parts of my resolution plan cause the problem to go away? I'm almost under the impression that my system is right there on the edge of needing a larger battery anyway, so that last question may already be moot. Besides, I'd like to be able to adjust the bass boost full from 16 to 0 anyway, and I'm not so sure that any single fix alone will resolve that issue.

Ideas? Comments? Thanks everyone.

 

anything above about 12V is cool my man... dont sweat it.

but if ur headlights are dimming buy a small stiffening cap.

 

If you think that just a larger capacitor will fix the problem, then that may be the route that I go. I'm assuming that for something my size (1000 rms subs and 160-200rms for highs) that a 2 farad should be alright. I'll probably step up to a 3 just to be on the safe side. That is if my capacitor sizing assumption of 1000watt rms should be covered by a 1 farad capacitor is right. Please correct me if I'm wrong on that one. I'll probably also do the Big Three upgrade, just because it certainly won't hurt anything, and may prevent future issues from popping up.

 

well, when i used to have the dimming problem my voltage was dropping below wht urs is

but thts wht i have done,


the big three" wires upgraded, nice 0 guage wire all around, 3farad cap and a yellow top.... lol my setup is overkill


but i would say start with replacing ur grounds and see if that does the trick

 

I'll start with that. I have some 0 gauge wire in my basement somewhere, it's just a matter of actually finding it.

I'm still curious as to why I'd have dimming with a hypothetically less load than I had before. I've rechecked my wiring to make sure it was correct, and it is wired at 2ohms. Any insight on that?

 

headlights shouldn't dim from 14.4-13.8 but your probably not seeing that. Voltage at the battery is normally capped at 13.8 due to gm's alt regulator (its only at 14.4 for a short amount of time when starting the car)

is your ground loose?

 

I'm pretty sure that my ground is secure, but I'll check it today when I've got some free time at work. Those numbers were taken off my Scangauge so there's a chance it could be wrong also. I'll check it with a volt meter when I'm checking my grounds. I've already checked my connection at the cap and it's tightened down pretty good.

 

I know your planning on doing the big 3 but once you find that 0 guage, redo your battery ground.
I have 2 18" 0 guage grounds on my battery.
What are you using for a ground on the amp?
Where is it grounded to

 

deF!!!!! i forgot tht, the battery ground is on some stupid bracket, redo tht

 

So I went out and checked my grounds. They are all tight and secure. Getting a voltage reading on the battery has been a bit troublesome though. Someone has "borrowed" my personal multimeter from my office and not returned it. You'd think that working in a mill with a ton of electrical equipment there'd be a multimeter somewhere I could use, but all of the I&E mechanics keep their stuff locked up tighter than Fort Knox. (Note to self, lock office door today ) Throw in that it's Christmas Eve and this place is a ghost town, and there you have it. Driving around the grounds I did set my settings back to where I'd normally keep them, and bumped some bass heavy tracks. The scanforce would read higher numbers, 13.8 to 14.4 or so, but did drop down to 12's and low 13's. It wasn't steady at all. It was constantly dipping. I'm going to try and find a multimeter for definite numbers.

Wow all those posts while I was typing this up. I am grounding everything back to the capacitor with 8 gauge wires, since that is the largest the amps will take, and then a 4 gauge wire back to the clip by the battery, which I know isn't the best of grounds, but it has been working up until now. Redoing the battery ground is on my list of things to do once I find that wire. I may just pick up some wire while I'm out today, since I have a whole evening ahead of me with absolutely nothing to do.

 

if you have the 1000.1 it should be 1/0 or 4g terminals. Either way i would go ahead and ground everything individually straight to the battery instead of thru the cap. Swap out both of the terminals on the battery if you haven't already. see what that does

 

Wouldn't it be easier to buy a kenitek battery wich also serves as a capasitor lol that's what im goigng to do im going to have 2 12 700watts subs and 2 10 not sure how many watts are the stock subs but I have 2 of them lol so in total im going to have 4 woofers lol

 

The 1000.1 only has 8g terminals on it if I recall correctly, but it might be 4g. I find that kind of odd since the manual says you should run 0g power/ground wire with a 100 amp fuse, so I could be wrong.

I tore through my basement today, but could not find my 0g wire that I had, so it looks like I'll be purchasing more very soon. Maybe I didn't look hard enough, as I was kind of excited to get my new Avic F700BT installed. I probably should have waited, since I forgot to run my power/ground wires off the harness for my new crossover while I was back there.

If I were to wire up the capacitor to only use the mono amp, would I do power from the battery to the cap, then power to the amp from the cap, then ground both the amp and the cap back to the battery with seperate runs? If that's the case, then I'll be upgrading my battery terminals to ones that will accept multiple power/ground outlets. Anyone done that with the stock battery? Those plastic clips on there seem like it would make it a pain to do.

 

probably 4 but it should be 1/0 so thats possible (but slim chance if its an older one). i know for sure its not 8g thou.

yah the stock ones aren't really ment for accessories. They tighten with that nut so having even 1 leaves the actual thing "loose" on the battery itself. running alot of power with that "loose" connection will cause issues.

ya you want to run the cap inline with the power but a separate ground. You can ground thru the cap like alot of people do but it causes the slightest bit of resistance and really the best way is with separate grounds. After reading the above paragraph im sure you'll want to throw those crap stock batt terminals away so might as well do it right the first time you mess with it no?

dont mix speaker sizes... replacing the stock batt with a kinetik or carquest ngt and throwing out the cap would work. in the end a cap does help if everything is wired correctly.

 

Im keeping my battery in and adding the kenitek battery and the 2 12s are going to be on there own amp as well as the 2 10s on a different amp the 2 12s are going in the trunk and the 2 10s are going to be inside somewhere lol

 

It is an older 06 model, so I'm guessing I may have to make due with 4g. I'm going to redo the wiring this weekend if I can muster up the courage to face all the nasty post Christmas traffic to grab the wiring and terminals I need. If that doesn't cure it, I'll just have to send my sister to Carquest when she visits her boyfriend up in Pittsburgh. That might be dangerous though, since she may just end up spending the money on shoes. The NGT Extremes run about what.. 120 bucks right? Do they just drop right into the stock battery compartment?

 

if they are going to both be playing bass its not going to sound great. if u get some 8s like me and run them as midbass that might work but otherwise i wouldnt add the 10s

yes they fit but they are like the optimas thou so it pushes the back carpet up a lil. price was 110 for me but that was what 2 years ago now so i would double check first

 

Well the 10s I got are the stock subs the car comes with plus someone gave there's and I don't want to just throw the stockers away or sell them lol might as well use them right lol

 

yah probably cant sell em without the box... i just dont see a good ending to you cutting up the car for something that isnt going to sound that great. theres room in the rear quarter panels btw

 

Im not going to cut anything in my car bit ill find a spot to put them and how would it sound bad I seen many cars have diffrent size speakers and it sounds great

 

ok... have fun

 

I will lol the only thing im not looking forward is the wiring lol

 

For some reason, I'm thinking I saw 94 somewhere, but I figured I'd double check with someone I knew had purchased one.

Would running a 2 or 3 output fused distro block and a 3 or 4 output ground distro block be an acceptable alternative to a positive/negative battery terminal? Not necessarily the best route since you mentioned the terminals being loose, but in theory something like that would work, would it not?

 

ya you can but might as well use the cap in that case. only reason to run seperate wires is to get a lower resistance to the amps meaning lower voltage loss thru the wiring. Mind you you dont need anything crazy something like the pepboys replacement terminals with the 2 bolts works well with ring terminals


the two bottom ones


something like that works too

 

So you would use a terminal like those if you were to just go ahead and use the cap for both power and ground? And use say, a terminal with multiple outputs if you were to go ahead and just run straight wires to and from the battery?