lights diming??

So when i get in my truck and turn on the radio it works fine sub works to but when i turn on the headlights it turns off. So I'm wondering if a capacitor will fix this? Or what should i do i don't want to buy a dry cycle battery cause its only 1 12 and a 1200watt amp 4 gauge wire used @ 2ohm please help.

 

what turns off? what lights?

if your sub turns off its probably not enough power going to your amp, in that case i would check your power and ground connections. and a capacitor only helps when the sub hits hard, which causes the power draw of the amp to spike

 

A cap is a band aid to a bigger problem and won't help for any longer than a second or two. They have their place in the car audio world but everyday listening isn't it, fwiw they're really only useful when doing DB Drag's and you're putting major power to a sub for a short amount of time such as a hertz burp. Check your grounds and power supply. What gauge wire are you running to the amp and ground's? Also do you have any kind of whine when listening to the stereo? Such as one that goes up in pitch and volume with you press the accelerator?

 

I think my ground is fine and its getting power for sure my battery terminals are clean. its grounded to bare mettle I'm useing 4gauge wire.

 

are your battery terminals tight? can you move them at all?

do you have a multi meter? check the voltage on your battery and going to your amp.

also you want the ground for the amp to be as short as possible.

does it happen with the truck running?

 

Is the amp losing all power or going into protection mode? (typically has a red light that comes on, should be labeled protection)

 

multi meter says 12.5v for battery and when i test it on the amp same number the ground is short as possible. yes happens when the truck is running. the amp won't turn on the sub if the headlights are on.

 

Does your head unit still work? How about your door speakers?

 

hhmmmm.. do your interior lights dim when the bass hits?

how old is the battery?

thats really odd, the only thing i can think of is a weak battery or a bad connection . or you lights draw a huge amount of power

 

the battery is from 8/09 so maybe its a bit old I'm just going to but the cap my friends has one is a tundra with 2 12's and his works with no issues

 

well hopefully that will fix the problem. good luck!

 

thanks

 

If the amp itself is turning off completely, and not going into protection mode, might want to check the remote turn-on connection. Also might want to try wiring the remote turn-on to a constant 12v, like your amp feed, to see if it is the remote turn-on itself.

 

Thanks i will test it out today i might just solder the remoter wire to the prong connector for a better connection.

 

Before I started soldering anything, and if the amp is turning completely off, I would just tap the remote wire into the amp feed and see if turning the headights on still turns the amp off. If not, I would suspect whatever circuit the turn-on is wired to does not have enough current to drive the HLs and the amp turn-on, in which case I would find another key-on circuit to wire it to. If the amp still dies, then you've at least eliminated the turn-on as a problem.

 

This should be good.