Well put on a new alternator since I was told by my tuner it’s only getting 12v at wot. And I checked it I was getting 11.9-12.2 at all rpms but never had issues. Put in a new alternator today and it’s getting 14+ constant. But now my lights inside are flickering along with brake lights. Any ideas?
Lights dimming with new alternator
- Thread starter esonu
- Start date
Are they flickering randomly? Or is there something going on? For me I have an old amp that pulls a lot of current. When the bass hits hard I see my dash lights dim. I need to put a capacitor in there.
It’s a constant flicker. If I bring the rpms up I dint notice it anymore. It’s not my amp either I removed the fuse to see and it still does it. Everything works fine as far as the car goes. Just all the lighting flickers now. I’m going to reclean the areas where I put in the new grounds and see if it changes anything.
Well none of the grounds are broken. I cleaned all the areas with sandpaper so it’s perfectly clean yet it still does it. Any other ideas? Crazy thing is also I turned the bass up and when the bass hits hard the lights stay lit with no flickering while the bass is hitting lol.
These may sound like silly questions but please bear with me.
Is the battery light on?
Are you using a multi-meter to check your voltage or is this with a gauge of some kind? If you dont have a multimeter you may want to pick one up.
Is everything flickering at the same rate or in sync?
Does it flicker while driving or at idle?
Does the flickering stop with everything turned on and not just on a bass hit?
Are these LED bulbs or standard filament bulbs that are flickering?
Can you list all of the lights that are flickering in detail i.e. tail lamps, dash lights, dome light, etc, etc. I will take a look at the schematics for you.
Personally I would re-check all the ground wires, crimps, terminals and junctions for your charging system. Wanna be sure everything is nice, clean and tight.
Look for any hard bends, kinks, pinches, damage, melted spots or random bits of electrical tape on wiring anywhere near where you were working for the alternator replacement and the big 3 upgrade. Do the same around the power distribution box as well. This is how I found all the cut and tucked/missing ground leads and damaged positive battery harness on my Cobra.
I would also pull and check the fuses for the circuits that the lights are flickering on, they dont always fail immediately wide open and can show signs of excessive heat.
Is the battery light on?
Are you using a multi-meter to check your voltage or is this with a gauge of some kind? If you dont have a multimeter you may want to pick one up.
Is everything flickering at the same rate or in sync?
Does it flicker while driving or at idle?
Does the flickering stop with everything turned on and not just on a bass hit?
Are these LED bulbs or standard filament bulbs that are flickering?
Can you list all of the lights that are flickering in detail i.e. tail lamps, dash lights, dome light, etc, etc. I will take a look at the schematics for you.
Personally I would re-check all the ground wires, crimps, terminals and junctions for your charging system. Wanna be sure everything is nice, clean and tight.
Look for any hard bends, kinks, pinches, damage, melted spots or random bits of electrical tape on wiring anywhere near where you were working for the alternator replacement and the big 3 upgrade. Do the same around the power distribution box as well. This is how I found all the cut and tucked/missing ground leads and damaged positive battery harness on my Cobra.
I would also pull and check the fuses for the circuits that the lights are flickering on, they dont always fail immediately wide open and can show signs of excessive heat.
I normally would agree 100% but wanted to know how he was checking his voltage first.
I just saw his voltage read out in the original post, does sound strange to have these issues with that high of an output
My stock alternator and a rebuilt stocker would put out 14v cold but would drop into the 12's when the engine bay got hot.
To answer the questions
1-no battery light
2-i have a obd gauge that I’m checking with. I also have a multimeter which I can check with if it gives better readings?
3- it flickers at the same rate. Anything under 1200rpm it flickers.
4- all interior and exterior lights. All lights have been changed to led on the exterior.
as a update though I put about 20miles on it and the flickering has slowed down. And when the fan is on then there is no flicker. So when there’s more things running no flickering at all.
1-no battery light
2-i have a obd gauge that I’m checking with. I also have a multimeter which I can check with if it gives better readings?
3- it flickers at the same rate. Anything under 1200rpm it flickers.
4- all interior and exterior lights. All lights have been changed to led on the exterior.
as a update though I put about 20miles on it and the flickering has slowed down. And when the fan is on then there is no flicker. So when there’s more things running no flickering at all.
Get your charging system checked at an autozone or something like that, probably should have been step one lol. If that all checks I would start inspecting wiring.
no, you need a bigger alternator and/or a larger capacity battery, depending on your wants/needs. properly sized power/grounds to the amp help too.
its not 2003 anymore, no one buys capacitors. they dont work like that in a car audio setting.
if youre having a car audio issue, PM me and i can offer advice. i will tell you that adding a cap wont fix your problem and really just adds extra demand to the system, making things worse.
remove the alternator from the car and have it checked. sounds like a rectifier diode in the alt has died. make sure they check for ripple, it should be almost nonexistent.
you could test that yourself by using a multimeter set to low a/c voltage, 20VAC, and checking for a/c across the battery. it shoul read 0VAC. its still better to yank the alt and have it bench checked.
blinking lights are generally traced to a bad diode or a bad ground somewhere in the system.
I have a 200amp alternator. I might need to add another ground, but I've already done the big 3 upgrade. The battery is a replacement from O'Reilly's that's a couple months old.
The amp and sub are old. Like 20+ years old. It'll get hot and cut out on long drives if I'm listening to bass heavy music.
200amps in not very big. If you have an older sub class and amp that's making 1000WRMS, you don't have enough alternator. Hell, even if it were a newer class d amp wired to 1ohm, you'd be getting close to running out of juice.
The amp going in to protect mode has more to do with installation than music load unless you're wiring outside of mfgs rec. As long as there's airflowvand it's wired correctly, it shouldnt matter how long or loud you listen.
OP, yank the alt and have it bench tested.
The amp going in to protect mode has more to do with installation than music load unless you're wiring outside of mfgs rec. As long as there's airflowvand it's wired correctly, it shouldnt matter how long or loud you listen.
OP, yank the alt and have it bench tested.
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