Dimming lights still

[cnarvas]

2000 Mitsu Montero Sport XLS

Stock battery (not sure how old, bought the truck used)
New OEM alternator (I believe it's only 85amps)
Kenwood KCD-MP208 deck
Blaupunkt PCA460 4ch amp for the doors
Blaupunkt Vc650 component 6'5"s in all 4 doors
A single Kenwood KFC-W3012 sub in a ported Bass Slammer box
Being pushed by a Blaupunkt PCA2120, bridged 4ohm load

Did the Big 3 with 4g
Main power and ground cables are 0g, ANL 250a fuse
Goes to a Power Acoustik PCX-10F 10farad Digital Hybrid cap
then to Kicker brand distro blocks,one 0g in and three 4g out.
All power outs go to AGU fuses, 80a for the 4ch and 40a for the other two, although one of them is not connected, ie. ...
Power... 0g in.... #1 out 4g to 4ch amp, #2 out 4g to PCA2120, #3 out is not connected to anything.

Tested all connections, 14.4volts with engine on at cap and at each amp. No ground issues. The 4ch amp is mounted under front pass seat so it's grounded there. The plan was to have the other two PCA2120's mounted on the back of the rear seat, with grounds and power leads going to the distro blocks. anyways, problem is, I'm still dimming and I only have the gain halfway on the amp. I fried the first sub when I had the gain all the way to max.

Any suggestions? If someone says get all the same brand, I'd be more than happy to go back to Blaupunkt subs, but my question is, is that cap a POS? if so, what would y'all suggest? And is a 85amp alt enough if I upgrade to two 12" hifonics B12D4's and a hifonics BXi 1210D amp?

[TrIgGeR]

Ok first things first.

Get rid of the Cap. If your lights are dimming, adding a cap only adds to the problem. It's another source the alternator needs to charge. Only adding strain to your strained system.

Your 4 channel amp is probably producing around 120 watts. And the 2 channel about 200-250. So you're only running about 300-400 watts. So you shouldn't have to worry about upgrading you alt to a HO alt.

It's recommended that you use 0 gauge for the BIG 3. So if you can, re-wire to 0 gauge.

Your ANL fuse is much too large for that system. You would be safer switching to a 100amp fuse. In the event of a surge the 250 would be the last fuse to blow in your electrical line. It's normally for systems in excess of 2000 watts.

Also you don't need a fuse from the distro block to the amp. Those amps have fuses built in to protect them.

The reason you blew your sub was because the gain was all the way up... You were probably clipping the signal which led to the speaker to fail. Hopefully you don't also have the bass boost feature on. As this would have added to the speakers failure.

Only other recommendation for you is to get a stronger battery. Preferably a Optima redtop.

If you have any further questions just ask.

[davidtemple]

Yep he is right... great write up!

[biggie7871]

Yessir...I have two 12 inch type r's puttin out 1300 watts rms and my lights used to dim. I bought an optima red top for 160 bucks and the dimming is gone.

[feathers]

i have a 99 xls and the lights dimmed from my pioneer deck and my 2 12s bridged on a 400w amp i added a cap and it fixed the problem my interior lights still dim from my deck though but i dont worry too much about that

[cwic]

Is that really a 10.. farad cap?