Big 3 is unnecessary unless you upgrade your alternator and use a second battery.

To solve your dimming lights, buy a 1 farad capacitor and hook it up close to your sub amp.

Kelvin

 

totally not true bro...I had pretty bad dimming installed a 1 farad cap and still had dimming....removed cap and did big 3 and I have hardly any dimming at all....caps are horrible for daily system use, it's just a band-aid and a way for companies to make money. Larger caps are good for competition use, but if lights are dimming, all caps do is cover up a larger issue that needs to be addressed.

 

I think the whole cap is a bandaid and won't solve **** but big 3 will all of a sudden make all your electrical problems dissapear is another myth spread around by the guys on youtube. If you're dimming you don't have enough current, if you don't have enough current the only thing that will help is if you make more current (upgraded alternator or possibly a better battery). A cap can bandaide the problem as it holds energy unless you're playing test tones the cap will be re charging very quickly and will only use the energy stored in small amounts. Big 3 I guess it could help but most cars nowadays have atleast 8 gauge wires that's most likely enough for the <100 amp alternators.

 

yea, I believe that their is no cure for a ****ty electrical except to upgrade batt and alt...well relatively ****ty, its like the stock electrical isn't meant for 1k+ let alone 3k+ wrms being drawn, not saying that the op was going for 3k, but my lexus was dimming pretty hard on a rf1001bd and a rf400-4 at about 3/4 tilt, all I did electrically was put in a yellowtop up front. I did cap later and it helped, but I still had slight dimming. then I did big3 and removed cap and dimming is almost non-existent, and I've switched to a SAZ-1500d V.1, which is slightly more draw. and since then I've put a big redtop up front and moved the yellow top to the back...and my lexus had 8g in it, but still man....I don't know, man, I put that 1/0 knukonceptz in and it's like it opened up the flow for sure. plus my stuff was pretty old...its a 1996

 

I appreciate all the replies guys. I'm not too keen on caps since I heard nothing but bad things about them. And their only good with an HO alternator because they can keep up with the draw.

So my question still stands. If I upgraded the big three, why am I still getting dimming lights?

 

Again big 3 is just a bandaide; the only way to get more power is to make more power which means HO alternator. If you're in alot of stop and go driving make sure the alternator you get puts out alot of current at idle. A better battery may also help but it's just another bandaide IMO.

 

is my wiring correct? Im reading that my alt to pos is correct; bat neg to chassis is correct. But my 3rd wire is either, engine block to bat neg; or engine block to chassis; or alt neg to chassis.

Right now my 3rd wire is, engine block to chassis ground.

Is this right? Why am i still dimming?

 

ALTERNATOR OUTPUT IS TOO LOW.

(can you hear us now?)

 

big 3 is just to upgrade your wiring to handle more current.
1) pos: alt-batt
2) neg: chassis - batt
3) neg: block - batt

you can have a chassis to block wire too, wont hurt, but wont really help either.

do you have a HO alternator?

batteries staying charged?

sometimes lights dimming is simply because the alternator can not adjust the regulator quickly enough. this has no effect on current and it not a defect. as subwoofery suggested, you can add a 1F cap and it can mask the problem.

 

best reply yet minbari. No i don't have a HO alternator. I don't know if my batteries staying charged. car starts up fine. I do have a digital multimeter if that helps?

would the wire have an impact? its not nessesarily high end car audio wire. I got it from lordco, thin wires, 1 gauge, black, industrial almost.

if pictures would help just let me know.

 

if the car starts everyday, then I will hazard a guess and say the battery is staying charged. if you want to check it, take your DMM and put the leads across the battery terms. should read 12.5 +/- engine off, 13.8-14.4 engine on.

if it is 1ga, that is ussualy more than enough for the short runs for a big3
(ps, I dont beelive in "audio" grade wire. welding cable is cheaper, copper, and the gauge is pretty standard. electrons dont know it is not audio wire )

 

Exactly what i thought.

But my readings were 12.25 off, and 14.32 on.

BTW i didnt replace the smaller wiring i just added to it.

 

you are good to go then. 12.5 +/- what you dont want to see is 11.8 or something like that.

oh ya, I dont ever pull out the stock wires. they dont hurt anything and you might remove something that the ECU or some other part of the car needs.

 

Well I guess I'm high speed low drag for now then. Don't know why I'm still dimming but could be my imagination. I'll test it out tonight on my way to work.

Thank you minbari

 

Well I guess I'm high speed low drag for now then. Don't know why I'm still dimming but could be my imagination. I'll test it out tonight on my way to work.

lights dim for one reason - you don't have enough power to handle the demand. if you want to eliminate your dimming get a ho alt, or a smaller amp.

ok, name some.

Yup, name some...

Kelvin

wish i could find the original post but here is where i quoted it before. granted some of the info is dated now but the basics never change.

http://www.diymobileaudio.com/forum/989559-post6.html

 

You could always hook the cap up to the main harness or light harness.

 

DO NOT listen to the guys saying get a cap, there's an abundant amount of science behind why they are not good for a weak electrical system and are harmful. The big 3 is only to allow a less restricted flow of current, adequate current must be there in the first place though.

 

DO NOT listen to the guys saying get a cap, there's an abundant amount of science behind why they are not good for a weak electrical system and are harmful. The big 3 is only to allow a less restricted flow of current, adequate current must be there in the first place though.

ok, name some.

 

The Truth About Capacitors - Honda Civic Forum

Read away

 

Ok none of what he says is false, that is exactly how caps work. None of that says they harm electrical systems, because they don't If they did harm electoral systems then amplifiers wouldn't be able to use them either. Most amplifiers have 40-60k uF inside them (some more)

The simple fact is that they act as a large stiffening cap. They help keep headlights from dimming, but that is about it. They won't help a charging system that is lacking. They won't magically make you're alternator work better

If you read what we said, you would see that is exactly what was recommended.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

 

A cap puts far more stress on your electrical than not having one. The ONLY reason to have one is to clean up noise in your system that has PROPER electrical. If you really read all of that link you'd know why this is true and never recommend one to someone who has a weak electrical setup. Solve the problem instead of masking it.

 

couldn't have said it better man...that **** is crazy and for those who are backing up the use of a cap for a solution to things need to relax...like what kind of set up are you running? just curious? if you're recommending a cap for a solution you probably don't run much more than your stock bose setup...lol not trying to hate but where's the experience? I'm speaking from my experience man...jus sayin

 

and OP buy new terminals man, and don't remove the wires that are running currently, you add to what you currently have with big 3....well at least for power wire, I replaced my ground from batt--chassis and batt--block with a new wire, but don't remove the stock power wires, you're car wont start bro

 

Wow, just wow.

 

There are some flows in the test but I'll let the vid speak for itself:

Wow, just wow... heh?

Kelvin

 

Seen that, it agrees with what we've been saying and disagrees with you. So yeah, wow. Noise as in distortion, NOT bad grounding, bad rca connections, alternator whine, or whatever else your problem is.

 

You win... I'm out. I'm gonna stand with my position and you will with yours.

Unsub'd
Kelvin

 

Agreed, it's amazing to me that with all of the easily available knowledge about this stuff that there are people like him that know nothing about caps, bass boost, gain, etc. This is the easy stuff and yet they still spit this bs.

 

Sorry, you need to read all of that. Not going to hold your hand and give a summary, that's why there's still people who don't understand why they're not recommended, they refuse to learn what's actually going on.

 

I have read it, a few times over the years.

nothing in there convinces me that a cap poses any danger to charging systems. they do little good either, but there is no danger.

but, and here is the big but. if they do nothing, then how do you explain that a system with large primary battery and HO alternator, big3 etc that still has lights dimming is masked with a simple 1F cap?

As I have maintained since forever, a cap will NOT fix anything, if you dont have enough current in the first place. you have to have enough current coming off the alternator.

 

My big three helped with everything electrical in my 2004 silverado. Even the windows roll up/down faster.