In the past week or so my sub has been fading in out (comes on and off). Called my installer because the car is in CA now (installed in UTAH) and he said to get the battery and alternator checked. Tech at Checkers said battery is good but the alternator came back with a problem. The machine they used said there are "ripples" Do I have to get a new alternator or are there other things I should look for?

Run down on my mods and problem:
AMP (JL 500/1)
SUB (JL 10" W7)

The 500/1 power light will go on and off with the bass. I turned down the level of the 500/1 and the problem is solve, but I can't even hear the bass anymore. Recently my power wire came loose and I had to reattach it, so not sure if that caused the problem or not. Please feel free to give me any suggestions you may have.

Thanks

 

Take a voltage reading of your battery first thing in the morning, before you start the car. A good battery should read at least 12.5V to 12.9V. Then start the car and immediately take the voltage again. If the alternator is good, you should be reading around 14.0V.

 

sounds good! will post the results tommorrow. can you tell me what specific tool I need to get for this?

physically checked the fuse for the sub amp and its still looks good. went to a local audio shop and they said they only problem they can think of is a bad woofer or even a amp, but can't tell unless they take it apart ($150). made an appointment for Monday so hoepfully i can figure out the problem before then.

 

the alternator is 3phase, maybe one or more phase (s) are partially dead and or some of the diodes are gone. thus it can only charge the battery at a limited rate.

this is all basic grunt stuff, replace the alternator.

dont run the car w/o the battery

in the shop manual there is probably a test procedure for this, just not worth it. this might rrequrie taking voltage measurements of teh alternator phase outputs

 

You just need a simple multimeter that reads volts up to at least double digits.

However, since you did post this .........................
You might want to put a little faith in this diagnosis or find out why they came up with it.

 

i just can't figure out how my alternator can go bad with 9KMI on the car and running the system i'm running... i'm going to another shop to have the run the alternator test again and get the specific reading.

thanks for the info.

 

I would go though the whole system and check the connections. If you have a loose power or ground wire the amp will act like it has a problem when in fact its just a loose wire. Check them all one by one. Start at the battery and go through the whole system. Check the remote turn on lead at the back of the HU as well.

Usually this type of problem is something easy. I would hold off getting a new alternator until you get it checked by a trusted local mechanic. If your not sure who that is ask in your local forum for a trust repair shop.

 

Problem solved (I hope)!

I followed everyone's suggestion and started to take my system apart starting with the woofer. After unplugging the woofer speaker wires and hooking them up to a 13W7 I had laying around the problem stopped (amp stayed on full blast with level up all the way). So that solved one problem (not the alternator or the amp) because if so, the issue would still be there.

I then plugged the speaker wires back into the original 10W7 while it was sitting on the floor and the problem still didn't appear So I then decided to put the woofer back in the enclosure and as soon as the rattling started the amp turned off!!! A light bulb went off in my head and I kindof figure there was a loose wire somewhere. First wire I checked was the ground because it was the easiest to get to. I wasn't loose at all, BUT I still decided to unbolt it and clean up the area and rebolt it. After tighter the ground bolt down the problem has gone away. I haven't left the bass on for long (5 mins or so) due to the time and neighbors, but the bass hasn't cut off once since and I had the bass level all the way up !

I'm a happy camper and will find out tommorrow if the issue is really solved

Thanks again everyone and I appreciate everyone's help!

 

Sweet

I'm still up watching the Barrett Jackson Auction

 

So, I guess you won't be listening to that guy anymore, huh?