I have installed 2 12" subs and and 800w amp. If I have my amp boost turned up, everytime a beat hits, my headlights dim. It's almost as if they are dancing with the music. At first I didn't mind it, but now it seems like it may be causing damage because it happens at lower volumes and is more noticeable now. One of my friends said I need a ______ cap? What can fix this problem?

If it matters, the car is a 2010 Lancer DE

TLDR; Headlights dim when subs beat - How to fix?

 

Anyone ever hear of this????

 

Sounds like you need a capacitor to go with the amp and sub..... Subs use alot of the power from ur battery

 

capacitor or bad ground...could be the alternator not big enough or going out.

 

u need a cap to suffice the power for the big bass hits, your battery and alternator together dont have the juice to support it, invest in a cap, gl

 

^^^^ +1... when i had 2 12's in my corolla i hooked up a 2 farad cap and that seemed to work, but that was only after i killed my alternator.

 

should he look into a new battery too? since the problem seems to be getting worse?

 

Caps work...... Well kind of. Caps supply power to your amp when it needs it (ex:a hard bass hit). When your amp draws a lot of power your car battery and alternator can't supply, it'll draw power from the cap. But guess what charges the cap? Your battery. In reality caps are a bandaid fix really. But it'll work for low to medium amperage setups depending on your car battery and alternator (bigger engines tend to have larger amperage alternators therefore supplying more power).

Unless your car has a sufficient alternator to supply a dedicated 500+rms to your audio system not including your cars everyday duty cycle requirement (which I don't think lancer and even evo's do), the best way is to change to a higher duty cycle battery and/or change to a higher current alternator<really the best method. I'm running a basic yellow top optima battery but I changed to a 175amp alternator (I think my stock was 90 amps < very low, 12v x 90amps= 1080 watts which was not enough to power my system obviously) to support my 800+rms audio system. No more dimming even at max volume now.

 

Hows this look for an 800w amp?

http://www.amazon.com/Lanzar-LQ16CAP...34/ref=lh_ni_t

 

It'll probably work. Your "800" watt amp (which I'm guessing is its max rating) is really probably 400 watt RMS (continuous power). If I remember correctly, for every 500 watts rms you'd want a 1 farad cap for cars that won't supply the full power needed from the amp.

 

Or, rather than capping it, you could buy a seperate power cell/battery.

Look on Audiosavings.com and check out their kinetic batteries, they start at $99.

Thing is, it would still need to run through the alternator to charge it, so running 2 batteries will kill a stock alt in under 2 years. A 200 amp alt is about $400 installed, and lasts a lot longer than a cap.

This would draw power from a secondary battery rather than the one which runs your whole car, hance no more affecting your electronics... as much

Look into it, I'm not overly knowledgeable with this stuff, as I'm still saving to drop a 1000w RMS JL Audio system in later this year.

 

800w amp yeah a 1 farad cap should do the trick make sure your ground is good and keep the caps wiring the same size as the amps. also check your subs with a dmm and check your ohm load and make sure there reading correctly.

 

maybe u got a weak battery?

 

I think it would be the alternator. If the alternator is not rated to deal with that much power you will notice your headlights start to flicker.

I had a 94 Lexus GS 300 and I had to get the Alt replaced. Only thing was they shipped an alt that was rated to low. SO first night I turn on a "Few" things......lights start flickering.....warning lights bleh...

I would get the alternator checked.

 

+1