Electrical Issues and Solutions to how to get enough power to everything?

[Jookmasta]

This may or may not be the right place for this thread but i was wondering if those grounding kits would help with some of my electrical issues. My main issue is probably not enough power being delivered to everything due to too much things. I have all my electronics for my turbo setup as well as a sound system in the trunk. I was looking into three options to fix this:

A. upgraded alternator (most costly option)B. use larger wires to the alternatorC. grounding kit

So what would you do and why?

[Florida240sx]

What kind of system you have how much is it drawing?Grounding kit would help but upgrading alternator is probably going to be your best bet.Also what's the condition of your battery.Increasing wire size I don't think will effect it any.Because I believe the wire already is in the size limit of what flows from your alt so increasing in size won't benefit.What for some other opinions though this is just my thoughts.I read on one of our sponsor sites that the grounding system gave a gain of 9rwhp.But that was probably on a car with over 600rwhp. They tested it on the dyno.

[eddiec]

have your alternator and battery tested. some places will do it for free. then check all your power connections between the alt/battery/system to make sure they are good connections. then maybe check your grounds and possibly add one or two just for the heck of it.

if your sstem is a power hog then add a capacitor to help smooth it out.

[Jookmasta]

well my system isnt the biggest thing in the world. It really only consists of a five channel amp and one 12" sub. the sub draws about 300 watts so its no where near the big boys. Ill have to look around to see where i can get that tested for free as i really dont think a sound shop will do sumthin like that, especially for free. keep the suggestions/opinions coming..................

[DRIFTEADOR]

an auto parts store like auto zone, oreilleys, advanced auto, will check it for free. I voted alternator too cause your stock one is probably old and tired. are you lights dimming even with the system down or something?

[Jookmasta]

the hids dim when i come to a stop.............

[the_momo]

the best thing you could do before changing the altenator is buy a better battery. when i first installed my amps (2 in the daily driver, total of 2200 watts) i had a similar problem, so i bought a big capacitor(15 farad) and it helped a little, then changed to an optima battery and it helped a lot. more power to feed the cap and all the other stuff. we actually do this same type of thing a lot where i work ( i install audio equipment...yay)

[Jookmasta]

so it would be better to spend the funds on a red top optima as supposed to an upgraded alternator? granted the optima is like a hundred bux and the alternator is like 250 i think..............also what brand of cap do you suggest?

[the_momo]

really any cap would do as you arent running a lot of power... better quality will definitely make a bigger difference... tsunami makes good caps, id go with something around 2 farad with a voltage readout then you could actually see when and from what you are getting the voltage fluctuations.

drift makes a good point though, if the altenator is bad the you arent generating any power, check that and if it is good get the battery and a cap, itll help a lot more in the long run.

[Florida240sx]

Yea my sub draws too much power my lights dim.But I got the bass which keeps me from hearing all the rattles.

[somthin240]

the best thing you could do before changing the altenator is buy a better battery. when i first installed my amps (2 in the daily driver, total of 2200 watts) i had a similar problem, so i bought a big capacitor(15 farad) and it helped a little, then changed to an optima battery and it helped a lot. more power to feed the cap and all the other stuff. we actually do this same type of thing a lot where i work ( i install audio equipment...yay)

15 FARAD capacitor. are you serious(sure)?! my first ride was a truck I turned into a show/db car. I was pushing 4 JL W-4 (oldschool) 15's in two quarter circle boxes in my extended cab. was always around 140db and only had a 3 farad cap. but maybe you know something I don't

[Red-KAT]

I say ground it right. That's all I did to take care of my 2 800w subs. I use to dim so I ran a dedicates ground back to the battery... My amp sits right by the battery.

My db meter only goes to 130db. thats only 18 of 30 volume. (Ear plugs needed)

[Florida240sx]

My friend had a bass CD tonight.I can play linkin park up to 38 volume it goes to 60.With bass test Cd in I could only go to volume 28. I still had all my bass turned down.When I install my turbo kit going to rewire my car.Still trying to figure out battery issue.If I made a box it would be fine behind my passenger seat wouldn't it?

[the_momo]

yeah yeah the 15 is overkill...i got it for free soooo i wasnt gona pass it up. its cool though because it is like an aux power supply for a lot of stuff. i have my radio and a few other things hooked to it to keep the strain from my battery and altenator, but it is definitely overkill

[somthin240]

yeah yeah the 15 is overkill...i got it for free soooo i wasnt gona pass it up. its cool though because it is like an aux power supply for a lot of stuff. i have my radio and a few other things hooked to it to keep the strain from my battery and altenator, but it is definitely overkill

YEAH, YOU COULD CRANK YOUR CAR OFF OF THAT!