hey everybody wondering if anybody else is having this problem but i have 2 12"s in the back of my protege 5 and a 600 watt amp hooked up to them and i am only pushing maybe 3 or 400watts to them and i havea cap hooked up to it as well and when the bass hits my lights dim liek my headlights or my dome light. was wondering if anybody else had this problem.

thanks

 

ok i did get my battery checked out it was the original one that i got with the car and it was going bad so i got a yellow cap optima battery and its still doin the same problem i do knwo that the alternator in the car is like a 80 amp one. now i dont know if thats enough with what i got too but the lights are not real notice able but still are u can see them dimming jsut driven down the road. and i am think that is going to ruin the alternator. I am think about swtichign out the amp witha new one cause that amp did get repaired once when i had some body work done on abother car witht he same exact system in there and those lights never dimmed but anyway oen i had the body work done after they hooked my system back up the did it totaly wrong a fried the remote switch on the amp so it would never shut off when the head unit did. hoep that is enough info for u
i am think of either gettign a isolator and puttign another battery int he back some guys have told me around town or get a stinger alternator if they make one for mine but they arnt cheap there liek a 1000bucks for one

 

And if you have a 600 watt amp (that is rated accurately) - you're pushing.....now guess how much.........yup - 600 WATTS.

You can't be pushing 3-400 watts with a 600 watt amp, unless you have the subs wired so as to raise the impedance.

Oh - and caps are basically useless. If your electrical system is not up to the task of providing the proper power to your system, a cap will not help - it can even make things worse.

I have 700+ watts in my P5, with barely any dimming, and only at the highest volume.

Have your electrical system checked out, and make sure you're system is hooked up properly. A good alternator is your best friend, and with a weak alternator, no battery or cap in the world will stop your dimming lights.

~HH

 

ok i thought i would be pushing only 3 or 400 watts cause the amp has a volume *** or a gain *** on it and i have it turned down liek half the way or maybe 3 quarters. i had my system checked out one time basically to see if the alternator could get more winding put into it but the guy checked it out and said no and told me to look for a stinger alternator. but i really dont knwo if he actually checked the whole elctrical system and made shure everythign is at tip top shape i mean i only had my 2002 p5 for a little over a month now

 

What kind of amp is it? Some amps are more efficient than others, even class A/B amps. Two amps that both "rate" to be 500 watts might actually draw different amounts of current from the electrical system. Usually, the amps that make more watts with less current are "better" - for obvious reasons.

Class D amps are generally much more efficient than class A/B - it's just the nature of the differences in the technologies. Class D amps draw less current while making good power, and run cooler because of this. That's why many class D amps can be wired down to a load as low as 1 ohm, and some even lower, without overheating.

So - what kind of amp (brand, model, detailed power specs, etc) are you running?

 

ok its a Kenwood amp
and on the to pit says 600 watts i dont knwo the other specs of it basically cause its screwed down to my box and at the moment I dont want to take it off and look but i can do that another time for ya man

that prob dosnt help much for u to help me sorry

 

OK everybody while i am out try some of the things u told me i decided to take a few pics of my car hope u guys liek it and let me knwo what u think and mayeb give me some more idea one what do.

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Like Hihoslva I posted more or less to this in the other string of the same nature,
This does sound like time to get the alternator checked out for output under a load.
You are running lights and Air Conditioning all the time are you? Those along with wipers (So you are driving in a hot humid place that has monsoons going on and you need lights to see through the downpoar) will take just about everthing a Protege Alternator can produce.

 

 

 

Take your car into a battery shop and get them to hook it upon the metre. In my old car I had a red top optima with no cap, pusing about 800W. You could see the drop on the metre when the bass hit, from 14.4 right down to about 10... mind you I had a 100a alternator too

 

Ok guys I fixed it this time now u can see my pics i hope u like what i did let me knwo what ya think

 

Well, you gotta be careful when you see the numbers on the amps. To make their product more attractive, most manufacturers advertise the peak power that they produce and not RMS, and I think Kenwood is one of them.

Kenwood 600W amp

So you might not really need a cap.

The more accurate way is to see how much Amperes the amplifer draws, and calculate from there. See if your alternator + battery can support that many Amperes. If you take a look at your fuse rating, that would give you a rough estimate on the upper bound.

Nice seats BTW!