gettin confused on lights dimming

alright. ive asked people on here before, and i dont know if the ones i talked with didnt know what they were talking about. or what. im having a problem with my charging system. ive got a MA Audio amp, 1800RMS x 1 @.5ohms; 14.4 volts. and another 4 channel directed 500. i have the yellow top optima battery, a 1 farad cap, and a 200 amp altinator and STILL my head lights dim. im begining to get a little pissed. does anyone have ANY quggestions. and if its to put a second batterie in my car, i really dont think thats goin to happen. i got a 95 thunderbird with a 4.6 in it, so theres no room up there, and the trunk has my 2 amps and 4 15" kickers so its pretty well packed. front leaning rest postion MOVE

with that much of a charging system you shouldnt have any issues...that a real tough one to answer, The only other suggestion you could try would be to run an isolated line from your alternator to a second battery in the trunk.    Or have you looked at your grounds on the amps, and under the hood,   alternator and other such items,    what type of 200 amp alternator do you have and wht type of cap?2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR

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If the cap you are using is bad it will hurt your system. I would try omiting it and see if it gets better. That is what happened in my case and I don't use one at all now and I don't have any problems. What Jeff means by looking at your grounds is to make sure that they are bare metal, no paint or rust, and that they are of sufficient size and tight. Also, you might want to get the alternator checked to see if it is charging what they said it is supposed to.  These problems can be confusing sometimes, and are not always what you think they should be. The people on this forum are some of the best I've seen, so be patient and take their advice. Good luck.'85 Toy

I had the same problem. The grounds were bad on the car. This is what I was told to do and it worked great. use 2 guage power wire from your alt to the batter with a 300 amp fuse. run 2 guage ground wire from your battery to the frame. run a 2 guage ground from your alt mounting bracket to the frame, and then run a 2 guage ground wire from your engine block to the frame. omitt the cap the cause lots of problems. from your amp try to run your ground through the trunk to the frame.

I am banking on a grounding issue. I could see a little bit of a problem if you are really blarring your system and you have your lights on and heater or AC or whatever then mabye but under normal use you should have enough of a charging system to keep up. Clean up your grounds and upgrade the size of cabling if need be.double-secret reverse-osmosis speaker-cone-induced high-level interference distortion, Its a killer

Upgrade your grounds on your car.  You may need to  get a different type of battery terminal.  There are some that will allow you to double ground your car's battery with two 4 gauge cables.  Also, look into upgrading your power cable on your alternator. 

alright, thanks.ive got alot of 0awg left over from my instal. can i use that for all the wires up in the engine area? (for the alt and the batterie) as for my grounds. ill check them again. but i know its all bare steel thier attached too. but ill look again to make sure. so, what your all tellin me is that a cap is a waste? im confused though, howd they be a waste if so many companys make them? and alot of ppl use them. any suggestions? front leaning rest postion MOVE

What kind of vehicle is this in, is it a GM by chance? You must remember this fact. Electricity is an algebra equation, what you do to one side you must do to the other. If you have big power wires to give these amps current, be aware that current flows from negative to positive, making the ground path the most imporant circuit there is. This is the reason why people have been asking you about your grounds. I too suspect a grounding issue and quite possibly a high resistance on the ground return circuit. This, to draw and accurate picture for you is simple, you eat a foot long sub and then you get your butt sewn shut, get the drift? What goes in, must come out. If the ground is struggling to complete the circuit, it is going to manifest itself as a host of other problems at the same time.Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

A foot ling sub, eh?  Ouch!  Chew man, chew.Support the12volt.com