Alright i own a 94 Ranger and about 3 weeks ago my buddy and i installed a 220 watt max amp, rms i would say its atleast 150 watts. It is just powering a single 12 inch 400 watt kenwood. On my way to school the other morning i had the music up, headlights on, and the heat on and of course the engine on. I noticed a dim in the headlights everytime the bass hit and i know why it was doing that. But when i got to school i sat in the parking lot for 10 minutes with everything off except the engine and my system still at high volume then i turned the volume down and turned the engine off. I came back at the end of the day to a completely dead truck, NOTHING worked so i got it jumped. I took the alternator out today and the battery out and got them tested and they both came out good. I know when the headlights dim there isn't enough power for them so the extra power gets taken out of the battery and i did have the heat on so is it possible that i could have sucked the battery down to nothing and the alternator didn't recharge it when i was parked which left me no juice to start it back up. This is the first time i have had trouble and there has been many times i was driving with everything on and it started up fine. I was thinking about getting a stiffening capaciter also i figured that would help. So leave me some comments or advice. Thank you

 

a capacitor is not going to help your problem-- but probably make it worse
1st check and make sure your amp is not staying on when the key is off
or any other electronics for that matter

check your voltage when the truck is running
you should be at high 13 to low 14 volts at idle with no acc.
alt. tests are some times misleading
turn some acc. on and check your volts-- if you dip into the
12 v. range that is not good

I would suspect a weak alt. or bad volt regulator

this is considering you in fact have a good battery

g/l

 

It could also be that with the system installed you alt cannot power everything and charge the batt, so you may need to upgrade to a bigger alt.

 

That amp shouldn't present any problems at all for your alt (unless your alt was about to take a dump prior to the amp installation). What did you use as a remote turn on lead? As brianis eluded, make sure it's not a constant 12v source...

...and of course, a cap only stores power, it doesn't make it. It wouldn't help in your situation

 

Well i talked to a friend of mine today who is pretty much a car audio expert. He told me that since i had my heat on, the lights on and my system on and of course driving i was taking too much power out of the alternator for it to make, so i was taking more than it can give so it went to the next thing with power which was my battery. I was using too much power for it to charge the battery back up which is why everything was dead he told me my best bet would to get a cap. so when im running other things and it needs that extra power it will go to the cap instead of the battery. I tested my alternator and it came out good and so did the battery. It was just a simple taking more power that can be made. He said if that doesn't solve the problem then i could get a seperate battery for the subs. So right now i have everything unhooked im just decideing what i should do cause i don't want to spend $200 on a new alternator that really is made for very high systems like 4,000 watts i mean im only pushing 220 max and RMS is like 150. But leave me some feedback and let me know my best bet.

 

My sub amp alone draws both more current and puts out more power (PG Tantrum 1200.1) than the amp you are currently using (and I also have a big front stage amp). I never had any such problems and I'm still running on a stock batt and stock alt ('02 Ranger Edge). Something to check...

Ground. If you have a terrible ground (paint, dirt, oil, etc. or you used something like a painted bolt like say, a seat belt bolt...thereby adding resistance), your amp may be struggling to make power. When this happens, it will 'demand' more current, which will be coming from your battery (even if for an instant). If it happens often enough, and your alt doesn't have the time to recharge the battery, you could suffer what you did. Is the point of contact for your ground free of paint/dirt/oil/gunk/etc.? What size is your ground wire and how long is it?

Also, just for kicks, how did you set your gain and what 'position' is it in?

 

a cap isnt gonna solve your problem. it only stores energy for one time usage then it needs to recharge,though it only takes less than a second to charge it wont help as much as a spare batt or a higher amp alt. again check your ground,and maybe upgrade the wire to a bigger guage if too small. if you add a second batt. its gonna require a little more work for the alt to charge it. my truck has this setup on it allready.

 

I have been doing more research and talking to some experts. I ruled out getting a cap cause everyone told me they are worthless but someone did mention to me to replace my stock battery with an optima battery. They have a more straight and better current flow and they are designed for vehicles with systems. I don't really want to spend $250 on a new alternator since mine is good so im gonna go around checking all the grounds, im gonna check the ground from the battery to the engine block, then im gonna check the ground for my amp maybe find a better one. Just let me know.

 

I'm running 2 amps w/ the factory alt and a battery from Advance Auto(just a stock replacement). No problems w/ dimming or draining the battery.

 

I run four amp in my mustang (2 Punch 360.2, a MTX 4300X, and a small 2 channel MTX). I have no charge problem at all. I have a Optima red top, but as stated if you don't have good wiring and an alt. that will keep up nothing you do will help.

I agree though that for no more amp than you have you stock alt. (provided it does work fine) should have no problem keeping the charge.

Did they load test your alt. or just spin it and check the voltage? I would recommend turning on your headlights and heater and check the voltage at the battery.