I'm running 2 JL Audio 500/1's and 1 300/4. I went with 2ga wire for both Power and Ground with a Optima Yellow top. I guess I'm lucky, I have no dimming whatsoever

Jim

 

Exhibit #1 to the jury.

See what I'm saying.

 

yep, i mentioned that he needed diff wiring. but if he is going to use the 8 gauge he will need 2 caps...even w/ the 4 gauge...he needs at least 1

 

btw..have u heard of anyone usin the jl 1000.1 w/ a 12w7? i am considering buying it...but does it make the 12w7 work that much better?

 

OT.

Yes, I have and what do mean by much better?

 

well, wondering if the jl 12w7 will really be able to handle that much more power. and if it will overall improve the sq

 

hey guys
well i returned the cap. getting another kind asap. a few things. i was suggested to use 4 guage wire for the ground and power. the amp im running is a precision power amp 600w. i dont know why i typed 300w earlier. its a 600w running 2 JL 12 w3 s. im thinking change the guage and get a quality cap and everything should be ok then? by the way i was thinking of upgrading th eamp to 1000w JL amp? any thoughts? check my thread jl amps, post info there. thanx to all...

 

I'm suprised you're having dimming issues with 8AWG wiring; I've got 4AWG split into 2 8awg lines and no dimming problems at all... Combine, my amps push out a maximum of 1580 watts; I'm also running an Optima RED Top - I know the yellow tops are more popular, but the Red top has more cranking amps, more cold cranking amps, and just SLIGHTLY less "run time", or whatever you call it when you jus chill with your stereo on. It's more suited for racing setups.

 

?

on ebay, new fosgate caps 59+ 12 shiping= 71. the one i returned costed 120.00 after tax....almost double. good thing i returned it...

as far as the gain its turned only 3/4 of the way up...

heres some info i found on wire guage:

first find current draw in amps. i found my current draw is 100 amps. from 85- 105 amps the minimum guage is 6. but thats at a max. distance of 7 ft. from 7 to 10 feet its 4 guage. and from 10 to 13 feet its 2 guage. so the quetion is how many feet of wire? considering i cant just measure it because it needs to be ran thru everything. is 10 feet enough?

remember the - should be the same guage...

heres the formula:

total rms output x 2= total input wattage

total input wattage/supply voltage= total current draw in amps

i think we found our problem 8 guage isnt enough if it was a 300 watt amp it would be, but it was a typo, the amp is 600w when bridged.


1200w/ 12v =100 amps current draw

 

Which finally qualifies what I was saying... 600w, especially in a PPI amp (which I am a huge fan of) is too much draw for 8 guage wire. A bigger system as jmecbr900 said will put a strain on your battery though constantly draining to supply the cap with power and filling from the alternator. Run it for a while, see what happens. I just like having high amp batteries....though before my lexus I had a '77 bronco and it's alternator isn't near the efficiency of the newer Lexus (hehe). Also....I think your gain is a bit high for quality sound from your subs...shouldn't need to be over half....play with it though and listen hard for distortion with a low-high bass cd. On length...every car isn't different...the other people with the same car here can tell you I'm sure...

 

ya i like the amp too, i was thinking of using it for something else if anything, i would never get rid of it.

on wire length you mean every car is different i assume

rolnlex
any idea of a good freq. to set the crossover at? the cross over on the PC 2600 is in incriments of 3? any input on that?



PPI whats the i stand for? anyways good info, keep it coming, i will get to this and post results...

 

PPI = I believe the "I" stands for Industries... don't quote me, though I had some PPI speakers in my old Cherokee and was highly impressed with them. And ROLNLEX - GOOD info on the wire gauging and current draw... I didn't know the length matter THAT much. Unfortunately, that means I SHOULD be running 0awg wire (I have no idea how to spell the word, so the "0" will have to do.).

1580watts/12volts = 131.667 at somewhere like 17 feet
(That's what I had in my Jeep and I jus transferred the 4awg wire into my Lex; so odds are yours is about the same length).

I disagree, unless your power output is greater than the subs are rated at. Mine are rated at 700watts RMS each, so running 640 to each is about perfect. I only get distortion when I have the gain all the way up, bass boost on, and CD volume 1/2 up. I only do that for SPL competitions

 

so i probably should get 2 guage, just to be sure. any problem with too big? also my gain is right on now, it took a while to dial it in. what i could use some input on what to set the crossover freg at? also maybe when i change the wires the gain could go down a bit. we'll see....

 

1 Farad should still be sufficient for 600 watts unless your charging system is crapping out. Speaking from experience, I had a near dead alternator and battery and dimming with just 300 watts rms. After a walmart 1 farad cap and an upgrade to 500 watts on the same charging system, dimming ceased. After spending some time on the car audio boards, consensus says that any indication of dimming of anything with less than 1000 watts rms and with a decent 1F cap shows a problem somewhere in the charging system. Try upgrading the Magic 3 wires: (+) batt to alternator, (-) batt to chassis, motor to chassis. Use at least 4 gauge wire. Some welding cable would be a good, cheap alternative that could look close to stock. For the bling BLAU factor...not really...you can use some left over power wire from your system.
You should be using at the very least 4 gauge wire for your power level depending on the amps your system is drawing. There is a table with the accepted wire gauge values for different lengths and amperage draws. Ill post it in the car audio sticky once i find it.

 

This isn't too scientific, but turn the LPF (Low Pass Filter) all the way down and your HPF (High Pass Filter), then turn your system on and listen to a wide range of songs - some with DEEP/BOOMing bass, tight bass, lots of midrange, and lots of highs. Then, while you're listening to the songs, turn the HPF down untill highs and high-mids are eliminated out of the sound coming from the subs. I would leave the LPF at it's lowest setting. Does that make sense? You can do the same with speakers, but play with the LPF and HPF.