Cold Weather And Light Dimming

ok i have never had a light dimming problem until yesterday. I was at night school and car was parked outside for abotu 3.5 hrs. It was very very cold outside. I go turn on car let car heat up sub heat up for about 10 minutes. i then go to my normal listening levels very pounding bass. anywyas then i notice my lights dimming LIKE HELL like holly cow was dimming on every bass note. i turned everything off. today i go in garage after my mom got back from work. turn on to ACC postion car is not on, play that same song the bass hits like it normall does,then i turned on headlights and my lights aint dimming and i was at my normal high level of listening. Can i confirm that i shouldnt turn on my system in cold weather? my system contains of 1 PG tantrum 500.2 amp runnign at 550WRMS @ 4ohms. and 1 ALPINE MRV T320 which is being used at 80*2WRMS @ 2 ohms stereo. TOTAL max current draw from both amps would be about 90A. today it was much warmer by the way and car was just back from about 10 minutes of highway driving.

Sounds like you alt is about to die. Or it could be because one of you amps is about to die too. Either/or. Paul

I have to disagree with you there... More likely the battery. Batteries perform better in the warmth, they produce current faster and more efficiently when warm than they do when cold. If the battery warms up a little, it will likely perform better, BUT, even with a cold battery, it sounds to me like your alternator is TOO SMALL... You need a bigger one.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Oh i definetly know the alternator is weak stock is 60A i think. Its a 1999 Honda Civic LX 4DR. BUt as im saying its never happended before and hence today it was very warm outside. I could crank my system to desireable levels with no light dimming only started to dim when i realllllly cranked it. Its all fine and dandy today. See my system see's VERY little use maybe 3 days outta the week and thats usually less than 3 hours a week. for now im just not gonna play my system loud. and no lights dim. i cant afford new battery or an alt. As i said everything is fine today nothing wrong no dimmin. only when i crank the bass on lil john music. I listen to a lotta 2 pac and so the bass isnt as heavy and no lights dimming shouldnt i be fine ? Also istn it true when you lower the gain on the amp u make it work less harder theirfore drawing less current? Im about to install a phoenix GOLD TANTRUM TLD 66 with 8VWRMS output. i think i can lower the gains after installing this and will make amps work less hard.

The same thing happened to me, near the begining of winter one night coming home from work my lights were dimming like crazy. It hasnt happened since then, and there have been days when its a lot colder. I wouldnt worry about it untill it begins to happen on a regular basis. Im in the same boat as you as far as not being able to afford a new alternator. My system is pulling around the same amount of amps as yours and my car is a 1988 Crown Vic with a original alternator. I think orignal alternators tend to be better than rebuilt ones of the same amperage. A original factory alternator will usually handle the increased draw from a system better than a rebuilt alt of the amps.

blg748 wrote: Also istn it true when you lower the gain on the amp u make it work less harder theirfore drawing less current? Im about to install a phoenix GOLD TANTRUM TLD 66 with 8VWRMS output. i think i can lower the gains after installing this and will make amps work less hard.

ABSOLUTELY NOT! If you have an amplifier that the signal in is enough to make the amplifier output 200 watts, it does not matter WHERE the gain is set. 200 watts out is 200 watts out! If you replace the signal source (the HU) with a source that puts out a higher voltage, you will turn the gain down, but he amp will STILL PUT OUT 200 WATTS, and if the gains are incorrectly set, it will reach that 200 watt output level SOONER! Also it is NOT A GAIN CONTROL! It is called a gain control in a misleading manner. It is a signal level matching device. The "gain" of an amplifier is a fixed value and it is based on the devices and power supply of the amplifier. Also, if you are not careful, you are pretty soon going to have electrical problems in that car. Replace that alternator NOW... You will replace it with a stock one from the dealer eventually if you keep abusing it this way. It's gonna cost the same then as it would now to replace it with an HO alternator from pretty much anywhere.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

i know what the gain knob is fore i dont use it as a volume control. I set it to match my amp i used the test tones and a DMM to get the output. my gain is about 1/5 of the way from the 4V position. From what i noticed in my buddys cars is since he has a sh*tty deck. 2V output he has to have the grain cranked to get the 340WRMS output. And his lights dim like hell. When i had that same amp in my car , my gain was much lower and my lights would never ever dim. SO i thought hum with more input voltage to the amp you get to lower the gain considerably and theirfore make the amp work LESS harder to put same output thats just from my observations and im probably wrong. The reason i cannot afford a HO alternor is 1 im a student and currently jobless. 2 i might be selling everything in the car soon and buying a new car so no point in getting a HO alt for this car. As i said even today my lights aint dimming i think it was a 1 time thing.