my car audio system power problem?

Question

while my car start, using battery and alternator playing my system the battery later goes low..(brand new battery)
my beats: 2 12" soundstream spl subs wired parallel series to an autotek mean machine 333 bridged,
second p3001 rockford fosgate amp for my 2 6'9 and 2 6.5 rockford fosgate mids wired one channel,
one 2 farad power acoustic capacitor,
jvc mp3/wma 50x4 stereo using the sub rca and front rca,
8 gauge power and ground wires,
12 gauge speaker and sub wires,
120 amp fuse from power line..
(please let me know is it the alternator belt, alternator, the power supplies or something else? a friend knowledge from autozone)

Answer 1

8 guage? I use that for speaker wire! go to 4 or 0 guage power and ground, make sure grounds are less than 18", replace power wire from alt to battery, have alt tested

Answer 2

OK... I am confused here. You are using a 300watt MONO amp for your highs? One thing... that's just wrong! Stereo sound was invented in the middle of last century for a reason, dude! Trade one of your buddies for a small two or four channel, please!

You need to at least run an additional 4ga rca to your Autotek (sweet amp too). A 120amp fuse in an 8ga wire doesnt do anything. The wire has about as good of a chance of catching on fire before the fuse blows. Max for an 8ga should be about 60amps. Use that 120a for your 4ga, put aprox 40a fuse on your 8ga to a DIFFERENT highs amp.

Next, take some more of that 4ga, and upgrade your charging wire from the rear of the alternator directly to the positive terminal on the battery. Also get some black 4ga and upgrade the engine ground from somewhere on the engine (preferably near the alternator) to the chassis of the car. Upgrade the battery ground to chassis wire as well.

If you still have draw issues get a small red-top stinger battery, and install it in-line (4ga or better) near the amplifiers in the back. Make sure you install 2 more fuses off of the battery in the trunk to avoid fire hazzard. One on the positive lead toward the front battery, and one on the positive lead toward the amplifier. If that doesn't do it, then worry about your alternator. Ground the battery in the rear with at least a 4ga (and as short as possible). I have had horrible luck with aftermarket alternators. This remedy works nearly every time - with much bigger systems than that even. You have a nice start though.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

The skipping makes it sound like the mounting of your CD player has jarred loose over time. Might want to pull out the CD player and reinstall. Red-tops are good batteries, that should kick way more than enough power for your system, even if you ran everything at once. A power problem theoretically wouldn't make the CD player skip, it would restart or simply shut itself off. Also, if your system is managing to pound your CD player off track, it's probably drawing power well enough. In my experience, a problem with the alternator causing electrical problems with the sound system usually shows up as bizarre sounds when the system is turned on but not playing anything. Try driving your car for a bit on town roads (not on the freeway, where even a dying alternator will produce a bit of charge), with the sound system up and the CD player on pause or mute. If it sounds like your car is trying to speak a bizarre robot language at you, it means your alternator is causing problems. What speakers have you got in your system-- particularly, what's your subwoofer? Try rolling the ohms down to 4, and turning your CD player up at the volume dial. Increasing the output volume on the device creating the signal and decreasing the output at the amplifier is generally good practice for maintaining a high quality of sound anyway, so it certainly couldn't hurt. I can't really give good advice unless I know exactly what's hooked up to your system, but there are some places to start. Rock on brother.

Answer 4

not a bad system. I think whats happening is your drawing more power than your alternator can put out and your battery goes dead because the alternator cant keep up with your system and charging your battery at the same time. I dont think your battery went bad. As far as your serpentine belt on your motor I doubt its slipping because of the tensioning wheel is keeping constant pressure on it. I think a HO alternator is in order for your system congratulations you made it to the next level.

Answer 5

Hey, I had a problem similar to yours not too long ago. As i got looking into it, I found that it would be best just to replace my battery. I got a replacement one at www.kinetikpower.com. If you don't want a replacement one, then they also make ones to go in back that sit by your subs. Either one would do you good.

Answer 6

your alt may just be to small to keep up,but you may also have a bad connection to your battery or the power wire,my be lose to you alt,or you may have a bad ground to you capacitor

Answer 7

well 1st.. upgrade your power wires to 0 guage and i would go with a yellow top optima battery. you can upgrade your alternator if you want.

Answer 8

they should be able to test the altenator at autozone.