Hey people with subwoofers!, Does this happen to you too? Options

[CelicaBuddy]

Okay so Im driven home and its night and so of course I have the head lights on... Anyways, Im driving home and I throw in some music and a song starts up and the subs do a quick low rumble...

I driven a long and when that first beat struck, I noticed that the head lights dimmed with the beat... Then after that beat, the head lights went back to normal... I was like "Huh, thats weird..." and I threw in some rap CD that has a ton of bass bumps in it... The head lights dimmed with the beat...

The dimming is very slight too... I've never noticed it! But awhil back, a head light went out, and when my dad fiddled around with the head light, it lit up... Im thinking that the subs could be messin with the wiring or bulbs in the head lights... Or maybe my subs are a lil more powerful than i thought...i dunno

But yeah.. Has anyone else had this happen?

[Kadett]

Its real simple. It means that you need a capacitor/condesator for your system. Its needed to keep the voltage at a straight level.

Because your subwoofer takes a lot of power first place to notice that is your headlights. If its dark and you will look at your dashboard light u will see the same.

It could also mean that your battery is worn out. Dont know if its a old or new battery? But give some more information about your ICE setup. What kind of amps, subwoofers etc etc.

[ShadowFX]

a lot of light dimming issues can be fixed with a better battery, better grounding. a lot of car audio people i know call caps a 'band aid' solution.

[K-ESD]

agreed, better battery - optima yellow top or similar spiral cell battery

maybe even a high output alternator

[mikew04]

You do NOT need a capacitor, that will not help you. As shadow said, it will just cover up the problem for a while, and in the meantime will be a waste of your time and money. You need to make sure that your amplifier is grounded properly, and your grounding points in your engine bay are close to perfect. You shouldn't have a ground that reads more than 0.5 ohms; if one does it needs redone. If that does not help then upgrade all your grounds to at least 4g wire, and make sure the connections on the terminals are solid. If it is still bothering you then you need to finish with the big 3 and beef up the power cable to the alternator.

[CelicaBuddy]

What does grounding the amp mean? Just curious

Ohand to answer ome questions... The battery is only like a year old... that doesnt seem that old to me, but ten again... I dont really know how long a battery can last ya...

And the subs and the amp... Well I have 2, 10" MTX's with a JL Audio amp... I dont know what that has to do with it, but maybe it ha some reason behind it.. I duno...

But yeah.. also... is this a bad thing if I dont get it taken care of? I mean the worse that happend was a headlight went out... all we needed to do was put it back n' place and it worked just fine...

[Andason]

id say just a bigger alternator....

and dont run your shize with the A/C/cooling/heat on unless you are really looking to strain your system

This post has been edited by Andason: Jul 31, 2005 - 3:09 PM

[playr158]

a capacitor will work.....its not a bad thing and they are a good thing to have...

but you will also what to go through and make your stock ground wires (the thin wires coming of the negative terminal of your battery) up to 4 gauge wire...its really easy to do your local best buy or what not could help you with more information about the wire size and such...

also an optima yellow top will help as it is a deep cycle battery and can help with the power drain, and altinators are readily upgradable on our cars but if you can find a larger then 80amp then thats a good idea as well

[dabbill]

You dont need a cap, they are worthless and a waste of money if you ask me. I would suggest checking all your grounding wires make sure they are all good. If your amp ground wire is mounted to a spot that has paint on it, unhook it and grind off the pain and reattach it. Slight bit of dim to your lights on a hard bass hit is normal. I would suggest hooking up a second battery before useing a cap, cause most all amps have them built in.

[IcemanTK]

Quick fix, alternator thats all i did, before my headlights faded bigg time when the bass hit, went out got a high power alternator and its been smoot sailing eveyr since :-D, caps help but you need one thats actually worth your time. not some little 2 fahrad or something get the 12 fahrad form audiobahn

[Andason]

if you know a thing about electronics a capacitor does not even seem like a practical solution because in order to charge a capacitor it needs to be recharged and in order to do that you cant be slamming on the bass. that just drains the piss out of it...

oh and id REALLY suggest fixing this the right way... i ruined my last celicas electrical system from a stereo

This post has been edited by Andason: Jul 31, 2005 - 8:48 PM

[mikew04]

Absolutly right, a large capacitor is properly used to keep voltage constant in order to improve sound quality; there has to be enough power going to it for it to work right. Upgrade your wiring... Its an inexpensive start, it might be all that you need, and if you need anything more than that its gonna need upgraded anyways.

[pedzconcordia]

i agree... capacitor will help. it doesnt take a long time to recharge... its only like microseconds to milliseconds range for the capacitor to recharge it depends on the capacitor. it usually use to keep the voltage on specific level for this setup... But your capacitor is still connected to the same source of power in which same scenario even without the capacitor, it means if your electrical system is bad your capacitor will be non-sense either.

and a helpful additional info if you dont mind.
and also capacitor will help for a good sound of your speaker... if you want a clear sound of high frequency these are like voice, guitars bla bla bla.. that is a good fit for small speakers and tweeters you can series a capacitor to the speaker connection.. but you need to have the correct value of the capacitor ( capacitance) to the impedance (2ohms, 4ohms,8ohms) of your speaker.. this will serve as a filter for high frequency. and for the subwoofer and a good base these are you can series an inductor to your speaker.. this will filter the low frequencies like base and will create a solid bass sound... because it will eliminate also undesired frequencies called noise. this setup has an effect to power consumption as well but barely noticeable but guarantee it will improve the sounds of your system. but you need to have the correct value of capacitor and inductor based on the impedance of the speaker. setting up a good sound system doesnt required a lot of big speakers that only creating sounds like your slamming on the wall.. it looks good i admit it its accessories and decoration if wasnt not setup as it should be... hehehe
but if your your aiming good quality you can do it without too much accesories, its how you blend the sounds.. hahaha

Absolutly right, a large capacitor is properly used to keep voltage constant in order to improve sound quality; there has to be enough power going to it for it to work right. Upgrade your wiring... Its an inexpensive start, it might be all that you need, and if you need anything more than that its gonna need upgraded anyways.
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[dustin15brown]

Here's my situation:
2000x1 Audiobahn amp
2x 1100 RMS Audiobahn subs
Bat Cap
Yellow Top
Good Grounding.. STILL DIMMING when hitting...... currently lloking for new alternator... I found one.... but i lost the website.... hopefully i find it again

[CelicaBuddy]

Hey guys thanks for the help! It helped a lot

[danny_t82]

Although it may not be the best solution to the problem power capicitors are definitely not a waste of money. I have one in line with my sub and the bass is definitely crisper when I pump my system up than it was before, they're not just there to stop the battery getting drained.

Dan T

[Consynx]

about the capacitor charging.
i can't remember how fast they charge, lol...but a small tiny one actually takes a few seconds i believe.
my pt. of posting is the way that they charge, they'll get to 2/3 % of their full capacity fast, but the last 1/3 is slow.

[amysmojo]

sabrina - mine does that too the dimming thing, i just figured my car was liking the music (jk) haha

I always wondered if the drivers in front of me can tell when it dims?? im sure they can hmmm

[Scarrell]

ok.... why would you add a cap to a stock electrical system? all's it will do is cause more strain on your altenator... THINK!... what you need to do.... is get a better battery... like a Optima Yellow/Red Top... and if that doesnt help get a new high output altenator..

[madmods]

a capacitor will work.....its not a bad thing and they are a good thing to have...

but you will also what to go through and make your stock ground wires (the thin wires coming of the negative terminal of your battery) up to 4 gauge wire...its really easy to do your local best buy or what not could help you with more information about the wire size and such...

also an optima yellow top will help as it is a deep cycle battery and can help with the power drain, and altinators are readily upgradable on our cars but if you can find a larger then 80amp then thats a good idea as well
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I know everybody is arguing about a cap. I had the same problem as you Sabrina,
and i got to agree with playr. Caps work. It solved my dimming problems when the bass hit. It was funny, my other amp would cut out (it didn't have a cap), but the bass would keep kicking(it had a cap). I bought another cap and that solved it. I am going to add a YELLOW optima battery soon, they have 2 yellow ones, you want the bigger one.
But from my personal experience caps work. And they are cheap on ebay.

This post has been edited by madmods: Aug 8, 2005 - 1:58 PM