Hi, I have a Alpine V12 amp, running bridged at 400 watts to one 10 inch JLW3 in a sealed box.

Whenever the sub hits hard when its turned up, my headlights dim at night. This gets really annoying and I know it means im drawing too much power from my other electrical resources.

Any way to fix this?
Would a capacitator help, and if so, any recommendations?

thanks

 

get a 1 farad cap....

thats the cheap simple fix.

 

you'll hear both good and bad things about capacitors, ill let the experts explain that though.

Capacitors are cheap and easy and you will notice an improvement, but the best way to go is either a high output alternator or a 2nd battery, or both. (These optins are only if you have the cash to spend, as they arent cheap)

 

i went on ebay and saw some good auctions for them, ranging from $50-150.

Any differences in performance between the different brands, and any recommendations?

also, i saw some capacitors that were like 2 farad 2.4 farad...etc, what difference is this between these and say a 1 farad like what was recommended earlier?

 

the more watts you run on a stereo the more fards you need on a cap. I used to have a 1 farad cap hooked up to my 1k watt amp. youll be safe with a 1 farad.

 

there was one thread about cap stuffs that you must read. some ppl distributed some very honest opinions. i think the first thing u need to do before buying either a cap, an alternator, or a battery is to check out ur current battery and alternator at a shop. maybe ur alternator is dying and in that case, a cap won't help but makes the whole thing worse. why, cuz u are drawing more power from the alternator. a cap acts like an absorber/releaser to stablize the current to ur sub(s). if the cap feels that ur amp and sub(s) are drawing too much power for the alternator to catch up, it will release power and vise versa. so adding a cap is not the best solution to cure light dim. you difinitely have to test ur alternator first. maybe 180amps or more is all u need

 

When was the last time you changed your battery?

 

An undersized power wire from the battery to the amp caused this problem in an Accord I used to have. Once I ran a 4ga cable from the battery to the trunk my dimming problem went away.

 

i agree, make sure you have really good power wire, not just big but quality with alot of strands... also make sure the ground is good

 

i bought a Lightning Audio wiring kit which said it was good up to 350 watts.
I had an original intention on finding a 350 watt amp, but i got a good deal on the 400.

Also, i replaced the battery last year, so i know thats fine.

I also put in the sub the same day i reinstalled my alternator when putting my JRSC in, but my alternator never acted up before from this.
I had two pioneer 10's running in a ported box before from this amp and it didnt seem to make my lights dim, but i only had it for a week or so, so i might have not really had enough time to drive around at night to realize if this was happening from that.
Instead of pushing two weaker tens in a louder box on less wattage, im pushing on stronger 10 in a sealed box now, with more wattage, because my amp was 175 watts x 2 channels, or 400 x 1 channel, so now im pushing it harder. Since im pushing it harder, that must be whats causing the light dim.