New amp....New Problems.
 

Well guys, I finally replaced my amp the was stolen a couple months back. IT's just a temporary one until I can pick up a bigger one. It's a Rockford Fosgate 500.2, and I"m running 2 10in Prion something or other type subs.

AnyHoo...I got this amp turned up pretty high, and when I'm sitting at a red light or what have you, my lights are dimming, **** my RPM's are dropping (or at least the needle drops down a bit)

I have a 1 farad Cap., what else do I need to fix this? Is it time for a new Battery? I still got the stock one in there. An upgraded alternator? Where do you pick one of them up? Do they exist?

Thanks guys!

how much are you dropping? Even with a one farad cap your lights will still dim and the RPM's will drop but it would be worse with out the cap. An upgraded alt is bucks and I don't beleive almost certain there is none for our Tibs. If you want you could do a test on the battery go to like PEP Boys or something and they can tell you what kind of charge you are holding but even if it's fine or if you get a new battery your lights and so forth will still act funny. Here is a way you can eleimante the problem completely. Go to a car sterio shop and ask them for an inline circuit breaker put this inline with your main power you can switch it to run your system off the cap only although it wont last long maybe 1/2 hour but to eleimate that you can get a Street Wires Gel Cel battery their small and can fit in the trunk without a problem and then you can run off that and the cap for a couple of hour and your light won't dim at all and your sound will be a little cleaner and tighter due to there is not other electrical interference running off of that gel cel. All said it should cost about $200 (still way cheaper than an upgraded alt and adds looks to your system) but most almost all people that have a powerful system (which a Fosgate 500.2 is it actually running about 800 watts not 500 they are very underrated)have a backup battery check out some Mags on car audio you will see what I mean.

the 500.2 is a serious power stealing amp, What ohm are you running it, mostlikely 1 right.
If so your probably going to need a bigger alt if there is one for the Tibs
Good luck.

Make sure your cap is charged up. If you don't charge your cap before install it won't really do much good. I am running a 1200w amp with a 1 farat cap and I have no problems at all. Also what type of inline fuse are you running from the battery? A cylinder fuse is more popular but a blade type fuse will regulate your power better. Also they last longer. The battery may need to be charged, or not so great wiring could be your problem. Any local shop could test this for you. A stereo shop (that you trust) could test it and tell you exactly where your problem is. Or get a gel cell like Jaws99 said. They do help ALOT! :cool:

Thanks Street I forgot about the wiring. For that amp you should have 4 gauge power and groung and you must make sure of 2 things with the ground
1) it must be connected to bare metal no rust, paint etc... this will effect the groung big time
2) your cap and your amp must share a common ground example: ground your amp to the cap and the cap to bare metal don't ground your cap on the driver side and the amp on the passenger side this will effect the usefullness of your cap.
Also check to see if you are running your amp at 1 ohm Fosgate amps are not 1 ohm stable at all even thow some claim to be. Trust me I have alot of experience with these amps and others you will end up running your subs and burning out the amp if you run your Fosgate at 1 Ohm.
30 I forgot, with your wiring make sure the power connection is good right to the battery terminal and it is connected with the proper connector and that it is tight not loose.

Well first, like they said, check the wiring. Think of it this way, what if you went to McDonalds and tried to drink one of their shakes through a coffee straw, you'd blow a blood vessel. :D Well same goes for your car audio, too small wiring can put a major strain on the flow of the current.

Also check with some local "alternator" shops and see if they can just rewind your alternater for a higer output. I have had that done on a few cars and it wasn't that bad at all. I have a friend who could get them done through his company so I am not quite sure of the exact cost you would be looking at.

Thanks guys for all the info.


Tell me, How do I charge up the Cap.? I read it's instructions, and someone else told me something about a little resistor that came with the cap. I don't have it anymore (Probably lost it)....so what can I do now? I'm now assuming you can't just wire up the cap. and expect it to work, yes?

As far as Fuses go, I got the cylinder type fuse, 4guage power & ground.......unfortunately, I blew the 50amp fuse that was in there, and all I had left were 30amp fuses. Could that be another problem? I'm sure it is...I just gotta get up to a stereo shop.


Sorry for the silly questions, but thanks for all the answers!