iv got 2 questions/ prombles
one:
iv currently got a system in my car of 2 500 watt mono blocks and a 300somthing watt 4 channel. iv got 2 caps in there right now 1/2 farad to the 4 channel and 1 farad between the 2 mono blocks... and my lights still dim when the subs hit hard. now im about to put and air ride system in my car with 2 compressors and of course im worried about the batery. should i put a second batery in the trunk with the amps and air ride? run everything off the second batery and put some type of voltage stabaliser on the line between the front battery and the rear battery.
or should i get bigger caps and hook them up to the amps and also get caps for the compressors to run off of?

two:
a while ago i blew my pride and joy my Boston GT-42. i was driving along in DC... very bad roads very bumpy and it went in and out in and out crackled, really loud... blew all of my speakers and has not turned back on sence. after replace all of the speakers (thank god for service plans) i put my old crappy alpine back in and have been riding around with that for about a month. back in DC again same thing happens again. what could that be? i know a drop in current can be just as bad over time as a spike in current but what could be causing that. and yes i went over every ground and every power distribution point in the car all looks fine. oh and also it never happens to my sub amps they continue to play like nothings happened when my 4 channel went out.anyone got any ideas on what this could possibly be?

 

Problem 1 i would get a battery in your trunk Deep Cycle non-starting, something with a big reserve

Problem 2, Head Unit?

 

for prob 1- try looking up kinetik or stinger deep cycle batt for your hatch on ebay (yes i said ebay) i got my kinetik 800c on ebay for like $150 shipped compared to about $320 from shops. just make sure its new.

 

hmmm. head unit i never thought that could cause it. ill take that out tomorrow and look at it. but what would i be looking for? what from the head unit would cause 2 different amps to blow out? could the touching of the RCA's do it? i guess if the signal wire grounded out that could cause a problem. but wouldn't that also effect the head unit?
thanks for the reply's ill look that up on ebay

 

If it were my car, i would upgrade my amps till they didnt blow anymore, and if the biggest one still blew out, switch brands

 

I'd just get a deep cycle battery, a yellow top should help.

 

if i do put a new battery in the back how exactly do i wire it? do i just run a positive and a negative back to the front or do i just ground the battery in the back to somewhere in the back?
also can i ground everything in the back to the negative of the battery? i mean like the amps and the compressors?

 

just run the positive back;and you ground it to a part of the body in back (just make sure you sand/grind the paint off the surface if there is any)

 

There are some things you should know before opting for a 2nd battery.

http://www.bcae1.com/battiso.htm

That is an excellent write up of what exactly a battery isolator will do for you. Basically it will let you run your rear battery dead without killing your regular starting battery if you play your system with the vehicle off...while still charging both batteries when the vehicle is running. This is the reason you would want a deep cycle battery for the rear. Deep cycle batteries are made so you can deplete them fully and recharge them multiple times without much of a side effect (unlike regular lead/acid batteries). You could also look into just getting something like a Batcap to just replace your factory battery AND capacitor(s) all in 1 package.

http://www.batcap.net/About_batcap.html

These are basically batteries that charge/discharge as fast as a capacitor so you can essentially eliminate the "middle man" of the capacitor.

Regardless of the method you are using, one very important thing you should know is about the charging system in the xB. I have an '06 & looked into various high current options before designing my system. Your battery obviously starts the car, then you electronics run off of the battery while your alternator recharges it...basically. The 1st Gen xB has mostly Toyota Corolla internals except one of the downsides is that the xB only came with a 60amp alternator option. The Corolla, on the other hand, came with options for a 60amp alternator or a 90amp I believe. I got this information from Ohio Generator (a company that makes high output alternators). The issue occurs when we run high current draws in our system (1000's of watts) since the factory alternator is made to recharge the battery according to factory current draws and barely anything more (hence dimming headlights for all of us with serious "boom boom"). What happens is you can only pull so much current from your battery...all the while the measly factory alternator is trying to recharge it fast enough but your massive amps are draining the battery faster than it can recharge. When your battery can't fully support everything pulling from it, current drops in various places (dimming headlights, slow wipers/windows, less that optimal power to your amps). Capacitors can remedy this by storing a charge that they disperse very quickly to your high current amps, but they aren't really a cure for the problem since they still require time to charge and recharge (although they recharge quickly).

What I'm getting at is if you're running a very powerful system like that, you should look into one of the most unnoticed parts of the system, the charging system. You will find by adding a larger, or higher output, alternator that all of your electrical equipment will receive the full amount of current it requires with enough headroom to add to your system or just ride comfortably. The earlier mention of only 1 size alternator for the xB poses a problem, and with the tiny engine bay the only viable upgrade option is a high output alternator. As mentioned before, Ohio Generator does make high output (140 amp I think) alternators by getting the more powerful Corolla alternator from the OEM manufacturer, gutting it, and rebuilding the insides for a much higher output. Not a requirement for a system, just a strong recommendation. I'll stop now that I've written half of a book on just your battery & alternator, but good luck with whichever route you choose

 

i got extra batteries in my back to power all my goodies. its a kinetik and works great. buts thats cause i'm running it to a 32" lcd screen, crazy amps, nintendo wii, and a regular outlet to charge my phone lol

 

I always read that caps do nothing for amps, which make sense since caps resist change in voltage, not current. I also always read that if you have a lot of power drain from your subs you should do the "big 3" I believe it's called, bigger alternator and wires. If you haven't been to this site you might want to look around. Lots of good stuff. http://www.the12volt.com/ohm/basics.asp Oh, and if I am wrong about the caps not helping any, supposedly you need 1/2 a farad for every 500 watts.

 

The three things you need to do are ditch the caps completely, upgrade your alternator to a higher amperage at idle (that's the important part), and do the big three. Increasing your charging circuit will help with the "lights dimming". I run a 500W mono block and a 300W 4 channel and have no problems with dimming lights.

Oh yeah, ditch the caps. The last thing I can think of, don't starve your amps. You should be using at least 2AWG wire for the amp setup you have.

 

alright thanks for your help. i ended up ordering a kinetic battery the 800 and im ab out to order a isolator but i got a question on that and the alternator. 1st for the alternator do i need to go ext ream and buy a 165 amp alt? i was thinking that was complete overkill im not trying to power a city. and i need to get an isolator to match the alternator right. like it would be useless to get a 100 amp alternator and get a 70 amp isolator?

 

and also viseversa on that last statement too. or actually would it be wiser to get an extremely high power isolator like a 120 amp even if i get a lower 90ish amp alt?

 

Again, good site to look at with what you're doing. Don't know about your wiring but look at this if you're not sure. http://www.the12volt.com/wiring/recwirsz.asp and this one tells you how to do "the big three" if you don't already. http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/...TID~73496~PN~1

 

The differences you should look at are the idle amps. You can have a 70A, 100A, and 165A alternator that all idle at the same levels where the rating of the amp is only showing what the peaks could be at optimum performance. Each of those alternators would be fine as long as you are meeting the required draw for both the car and the stereo at idle. Generally speaking, the higher quality alternators have a better idle rate. The wind of the alternator is more important than the maximum output. Don't go overkill on the idle amps you need though. What I would recommend is check the fuse amperage needed for your setup. If a single amp uses a 15A fuse increase the stock idle by 7.5 to get an ideal setup. If you haven't done so yet, ditch the caps. They make good door stops.

I wish I could answer your other question with some level of wisdom behind it, but to be quite honest, I've never had to do a multi-battery system.

 

I know that this is kinda old and you probably already have that extra battery installed but I figured I'd add my .02. Don't add an extra battery. For the size of your system it's a waste!!! You have an audio system that's 1300 watts MAX. So give or take, including the HU, you're probably pulling about 650 to 685 constantly. The best thing for you to do is to upgrade your alternator, add a grounding kit, and upgrade the wiring to at least 4ga between your alt and battery. Caps are good if you have a decent audio system and you want to do a sound competition doing burps or the like. Don't just go buy an extra battery man, that a waste of money on a small system. You're WWWAAAAAYYYYYYY better off upgrading the alt. That batt is just added strain on your electrical system. Think about this: Your alt is having trouble keeping up with the demands you have now from your system. Adding another battery will put even more strain on your system because your alt will have yet another battery to keep charged. Like I said, with the size of your system, that battery is just a big, expensive paper weight. I hope this gave you a different out look on your electrical system. Good luck.

 

i hear what your saying. and yea i already did the battery idolater. but i hear what your sayin. a friend of mine said the same thing. but the thing i was really stressing was the compressors pulling off the main batt. and i may have up to 3 of them plus the lights and the system i thought it better to just do everything. im also going to upgrade the alt to and the wiring from the alt. i just figured to go all out right now while im working on it. but thanks for your input

 

Any news on how the 2nd battery has turned out yet? I hope you've got your issues solved and are happy with some loud thump

 

iv got in in... looks like everything is working fine. just waiting to foe rest of my air ride to come in. and iv got PWK Designs drawing me up some specs for a sub box after i get everthing up ill let uall know