curiosity killed the cat
 

Well....this has nothing to do about cats :D
I was just curious as to the maximum amount of wattage to safely run on a stock system.
On my 501 I'm dipping down into the 12 volt range on bass hits, even 11.x in some cases.
im about to hook up my concept to power my front stage, but I dont want to put too much strain. I know some of you (jon ;) ) are running crazy amounts of wattage and im just wondering how the 105 amp alt. handels it.

Was thinking of getting a cap to see if it evens out my voltage, even just a bit.

Also the installer put my ground on a painted suface, will a clean connection help out any?

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

pft u think u have it bad.

Im rockin the wattage dips here!

U know that thick line in between the 9 and 14

Yea im dipping lower than that when i run it. 4kRPM's


Do the Big 3. That writeup is in the DIY section
HO Alt will work wonders.
Capacitors suck dont waste ur money. worst bandaid ever
Sand that ground down bro!

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

Big 3 is done in 4awg. And I just bought this alt. fried one about 3 months ago. So I dont really wanna spend the dough on a h.o
I'm only running 600rms, didnt think it should be dipping that low. how much of a difference will there be when I upgrade to 1000rms(mrd-m1005 or ZX1000.1)

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

idk something doesnt seem right............

I ran my power acoustik at 1400@1 ohm and i had NO dimming problems. You REALLY need to sand that ground down. Do that and see if that fixes the problem.

600 shouldnt be a big drain on ur system

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

WTF man. don't go there again. (the install shop.)

Yeah dude, scrape away any paint at your grounds. If possible, run all multiple amp setups grounds' to the same spot. And keep them short as possible. You use same gauge ground as positive cable right?

I purchased a digital top 1 farad cap a few years back online. It helped with the dimming of the headlights when the bass hit. I was told 1 farad for every 1000 watts.

I've seen a few guys have these "amplifier style" capacitors that are rated at 8F and the highest I seen 20 farads. I have know idea if that many are necassary.

OR, you can install a second battery with an isolator and it'll beef up your electrical system right there.

Good luck on your decision.

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

Ok, first take a length of wire that will reach from the negative terminal on battery to the ground for your amp. You need a dmm to do this, so go buy a cheapie one, don't spend under 20 bucks for it, trust me. connect the wire to the negative terminal and set your dmm to check Ohms (resistance), and put one lead of the DMM to that wire. take other lead of DMM and put to your grounding point for your amp. Hopefully, you get less than .5 ohms. I just checked mine again the other day and it read less than .1.. Sand down the ground area, and make a better conection. WIth 600 rms you shouldn't be getting any dimming, although ALpine amps are known to be a little power hungry.

FOr what you should do?

1. Redo the ground.
2. I would check on what ga wire you have running to amp and the ground, and go bigger, maybe Oga.
3. Forget the Cap, usually they are more harm than good, and I am in the school of thought that the cap is just hiding a bigger problem. YES, I admit, in some cases theydo help, but on very small systems. , and unfortunatly, the alpine doesn't count as a small system in my book. (think band-aid for a bullet wound)

4. Make sure that you have a good battery, doesn't have to be a yellow top or anything, but a little bigger than the stock one with side mounts and top mounts is preferable.

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

holy crap, i dunno if i can do what hillbilly is saying. Ground is also 4awg. I'll sand that **** down later today, hopefully i get an improvment. I got an ac delco 675 cca and i think 800ca
About the alpine amp, these class d's from alpine are supposed to be amoung the most effecient, are they not?

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

I wouldnt say there among the most efficient. Sounds like a line from a best buy employee to me. They put out the power maybe ALITTLe underrated from what I've heard.

Now most efficient are like.

Soundstream(highend models)
Precision Power (without a doubt!)
RE < ;)
Orion< :):):):):):)

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

I think you missed a word "amoung" ;)
sorry no best buys around here, was an authorized alpine dealer

RE: curiosity killed the cat
 

PM me and I will send you step by step intructions on how to check those thing. I do it all day long.