Finaly got a brand new jl 500/1 for 320 shipped! (first one i bought on ebay didnt work, boy i was pissed, got money back tho). Just threw it in, WOW, works quite well with eclipse aluminums... I am running a jl 300/4 for the 6.5s and the 500/1 for the 2-10s. I noticed when its cranked up, my HID's tend to dim a little when the bass hits, its hardly noticable and doesnt really bother me. But im concerned that im putting strain on the alternator, will this shorten its life? Also, what other components (electrical or mechanical)am i hurting doing this? I know a capacitor will keep the headlights stable, will it benefit other components in my car like the alternator, jus curious, thx

 

I doubt it your alternator is getting damaged- but your battery under the hood is definitely gonna drain real quick. And every time your bass hits and the cars lights DIM it's putting strain on your whole cars electrical system. My advice- get yourself an Optima Yellow Top or a Stinger SPV44 or 72 battery. Get the Stinger relay/switches and link it up. You don't want the battery to run parallel with the battery under your hood, but in a relay via the stinger switch/relay. It'll help out alot.

 

but i only play the stereo when my car is on, therefore it isnt taking any juice from the battery, correct? should i catually be concerned? it is an '03 vehicle, and an infinity i might add, prolly cool huh?

 

A capacitor is always good for the power hungry amp. But keep in mind the capacitor also put strain on you alternator as well cause its required addition power to power the capacitor. JL is a very common well know setup with G35 community I'm sure someone with JL amps installed will give you some good advise.

 

Honestly when you get into big boy amps a 1,2,3,4 farad cap isn't gonna do you any good for anything. When a nice Optima Yellow top or Stinger SPV72 have over 400 farads in them. Don't waste your money on caps. Just get yourself an extra battery and you should be fine.

Im running a diamond audio 1200.1 on a Diamond TDX 10 and a 2 Diamond 300.4's on on each set of Diamond Hex 6.5 Components- a stinger SPV 72 mounted in place of the stock Bose amp under the carpet off a Alpine IVA-D900 and without that battery I't would kill my hood battery in a few days. Even when your only playing your system when the car is on it is still taking power from the battery. The alternator merely attempts to keep a charge on the battery that is powering your system- the car doesnt run directly off the alternator.

 

You'd be amazed at what a beefed up battery can do for a system...

 

Not sure I'm following this. With a second battery, how and when does that one get charged? If you have a switch to activate either one, I don't see how this solves anything. Assuming you use the stereo all the time when the car is on, which battery are you using? If your system draws more than the alternator can put out, aren't you draining one battery or the other? Or is the idea here to simply drain you audio battery only (admittedly the audio batteries you mention can dish out much more then the stock battery) untill the lights start to dim, then drive home on your "hood" battery with no stereo. Unless I'm missing something here, I would think that using a better battery as a replacement for the stock battery would be a better solution, at least for an 800 watt system. With your 1800 watts, an issolated battery (or batteries) may be your only solution. Just tell me how you get to listen every minute you drive; .....or do you plug your car in to charge every time you're home?

BTW, I have two JL amps in my G, a 300/4 and a 300/2, and have no such issues. The more I hear about headlights dimming, the happier I am about staying at this level. We are constantly hearing about these electrical shortfall problems with people running 800 watts plus. It would be nice to hear from people who have run this amount of power for a while, and use their stereos every minute they drive, AND don't have any electrical problems.

 

i have 2 TDX 10's and a hifonics hercules amp (2000watts) that takes 200amps of current (thats a **** ton) plus i wil have 6.5 hex's for fronts and rears, and 2 diamond audio D5 amps (atleast 120amps) or one not sure yet also a power inverter for the xbox but i have no idea how much current that needs, but i plan on using 3 batteries and a 35 farad bat cap. i will replace the hood battery with a optima one and put two more in the trunk, may be 3 if needed just because some times you gotta provide the juice for the power. all this is for peak power, just when i turn it up or when there is too much bass. sorry if i didnt make sense, im real bad at trying to get a point across. but pretty much upgraded battery or an extra one in the trunk is what you need and you will never see those lights dim

 

If you're HID's are dimming, you might have big problems. HID ballasts can normally operate down to 9 volts. JL amps will switch off at around 10.5 volts IIRC. In other words, your amps should be shutting down before your HID's are affected.

Caps: Do a search here. I had a discussion with another member on the benefits (or lack thereof) of caps. I suggest getting another battery instead as has been suggested above.

Power source: Even though you are running the stereo only when the car is running, you could still conceivably drain the battery. Your alt will put out around ~13-14 volts nominally. When your stereo system taps into that source, it will decrease. When it goes below 12 volts, your system will then look to the next highest power source which is the battery. You can either get a battery charger and top off the battery every few days or run the stereo system at reduced levels during part of your drive to let the alternator re-charge it.

Hope this helps.

 

al503--are you suggesting adding a battery, or replacing the original batt. I am forseeing issues when I add my JL 500/1 to my JL 450/4 system. I will see shortly.

 

No I'm not plugginh my car in when I get home. And no I am definitely listening to music the whole time I am driving. The way the Stigner Switch/relay works is that it automatically distributes the alternators charge output to whichever battery needs it most. So it helps to keep a charge on both batteries. The only real way to avoid all this altogether is to get a HD alternator for your car. BUT for now- the Extra battery or two and the switch works just fine, and you can ALWAYS listen to your music.

But it is a good idea to charge the trunk battery over night every couple of weeks. The reason being that the Stinger or Optima yellow tops can be fully discharged and re-charged to 100% hundreds of times. And the Stinger SPV batteries have a slight edge over the Optima because they can be charged at a lower amperage and still show gains- as to the optimas dont. They need a stronger charge to show significant gains.

 

I had the same exact set up with the 450/4 and the 500/1.

This is what I would suggest and in this order based on $ and best solution.
1. Upgrade the wiring under the hood. Either replace or add wire from the chassis to the - battery post and the same with another wire from the engine to chassis. Also, add or replace wire from the alternator to the + battery post. This called the big three or the magic three. In many cases, this will help noticeably.
2. get a new alternator (no one was making one when I was looking a year ago but that may have changed.) or have your existing one re-wound to produce more power. Both are expensive solutions but the best solutions.
3. Battery: if you're going to get 1 battery, just add it to your stock. If you're going to get 2, upgrade the stock and add one in the trunk.

Hope this helps.
Al

 

Is either the Stinger or Optima battery made in the same dimension as the stock battery with the same style posts in the same locations; so it's a direct drop in for the G?

 

The optima has both top and side posts.

 

For the optima, make sure you get the R model, which has reversed posts like our stock battery.