Yesterday I installed a 600watt amp and 500wat subwoofer into my 96 GSR. At first it was a dream, nice hitting bass, but after I drove a while the car began to start loosing power under the accelerator. I pulled over and the idle was bouncing and the car was sputtering and coming reeeal close to stalling out. So i turn it off, turn it back on and it seems fine. Since I have a apexi RSM I chekc the battery voltage as I drive this time, and it is going from 13.8-9 volts to 12.0-12.1 volts, and even lower sometimes. Is it the alternator?

 

i replied to your last post not realizing you started a new thread.

My suggestion was to check your alternator belts, make sure they on proper and tight.

Also, try taking off your +ve battery post while your car is on. If your car immediatly dies, its defintly your belts or alternator...this is just a simple test, and can only check if basically your alternator is toatally gone, but its all I know

hopefully a more expirenced installer will add some good suggestions!

-Rage

 

Does this still happen if the stereo is off? Doube check your grounds, I've seen them cause some werid things.

 

ill try all those things, but today it is raining so i'm not gonna touch electrical stuff in the engine bay during rain.

Hopefullly its not the alternator, i was quoted at $180 to rebuild mine

 

You can pick up a used one on Ebay for less than half of that.

 

ill check out ebay for the alternators, should I be looking for OEM ones or would any aftermarket one do?
If its the battery, would a optima red top be enough to power my system?
If its the ground, should I upgrade all the wires from batt. to alt. etc.

 

BTW, what is the proper way to ground the amp. It's in my trunk.

 

do you have a capacitor? because i dont have one right now and if i start to bump my idle goes down as the bass comes......and my lights dim..

 

You should not be dropping that low with 600 watts. If the car is sputtering, you are probably getting below 12 volts!

How old is your battery? What gauge is your wire run?

 

goto your version of canadian tire (pep boys..whatever) and get them to check it out.

Usually its free, they'll say its your alternator or your batter, or what not..then pull the ol'

"Well, i'll talk to my wife, you know shes the man in the house"

and run to somewhere cheaper to get it done.


btw, $180 BETTER not be USD, cause thats insane. $180 Canadian is normal for rebuilding up here

-Rage

 

Get a 2.4 farad cap , then upgrade your battery to an Optima Battery!

 

well, i've been driving around monitering the voltage my battery gives. It appears that whenever I let the Rpm drop too fast and the car is forced to catch them at idle, the voltage of the battery drops.

I heard those capacitors were a big waste of money from people on here, but I don't know i'm an audio n00b.

And is a red top sufficient to use on my car?

 

The batteries in the teg are an odd size. The optima batteries will not fit correctly. Lightning audio and SVR are two that I know of that fit like stock. The svr will need new tie down arms since the battery is about .5-1 inch taller than stock.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vteg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The batteries in the teg are an odd size. The optima batteries will not fit correctly. Lightning audio and SVR are two that I know of that fit like stock. The svr will need new tie down arms since the battery is about .5-1 inch taller than stock.</TD></TR></TABLE>
good to know