ALTERNATOR PROBLEMS??? 98 Honda Civic EX 135k miles - 1200 Watt AMP?

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irishbloke1986

New member
OK I guess I will give a story line.

2 weeks ago I installed a 1200 watt BOSS amplifier for my bass....
A 16 foot long 4 gauge wire is going from the positive off the battery, to the amp power.
1 2 foot 4 guage wire is grounding the amp.

1 wire going to the remote on in my head unit.


1 week ago, my battery light comes on.

2 days after that, I unhook the power from battery to amp.

1 day after that, I see that the battery light is still on, and then there was a new problem which freaked me out: Check Engine Light is on.

1 hour after the check engine light was on I experienced low dimmed headlights, interior lighting, and when I was in Drive, it felt like it was in first gear. I heard a clicking sound, or "Tapping" sound. I turned off my car, then I couldn't start it. I got it jumped, it did the same thing. I left it charging on a friends car for about 20 minutes, then it was fine. Everything ran perfectly.

The next day I did a battery test, and alternator test also.

The battery was at 8 Volts, and the alternator I was told was not charging anything.

What did I do wrong?

I am being told that since I have a 98 with the 135,000 miles, maybe it was about time. I am being suspicious that I need to be replacing the alternator with one that has a greater output power, but I am only finding 75 amp output with all the brands.



The real question is:

Why did this happen? No I didn't "properly" ground the amplifier. I thought the bolt in the trunk was all I needed... Does paint need to be scraped off to bare metal? ? (OOPS!)

Any suggestions???

And where the heck does a "Capacitor" come in with this equasion??

Oh and I don't know if this is true or not, but one of my friends was drunk last night and he SWORE that you needed to connect the negative from the battery to the power......... of the amp. I said .... "What the heck are you talking about man??!!?!?!?"

True? False?


PLEASE ANSWER ALL OF THE ABOVE THANKS!!!!!!!
 
Sounds like your battery is dead.
How many years have you had the battery?
Sounds like it's dead.

Find a heavy duty battery that fits your car's battery size.

Or it could be the alternator.

Heck, replace both.
 
the same thing happened to me when i first hooked up my first system just chill lol take the negative off the battery for a few minutes that should get rid of the battery light the alternator prob isnt bad but it went dead because you left the coard off the amp also grounds are very important sand Everything even paint bad ground can cause dimming also a capacitor stores the power to power your subs just run your positive from the battery then to your amp then ground it seperately and no you dont hook up the negative to the negative lol
 
It sounds like you hooked it up right, I mean I can't tell for sure without seeing it person but.... If that is the original alternator then it is very possible it just took a dump. Get a new one and just double check all of your connections to make sure they are tight and you should be good to go.
 
First sounds like you alternator is gone but the way to check is turn your car on then take the negative cable off the battery if it stays on the alternator is fine if the car shuts of get a new one next it sounds like you hooked it up correct its good to sand down any paint around the ground but if the amp is on it is not a problem your getting a good ground. I reccomend a new alternator and a capacitor which is to help take some strain of you alternator just think of it as a smalll battery that help push those subs and also look into a yellow top Optima battery there made for electronics in cars and have the power of 2 regular batteries. Don't listen to your friend sounds like he was messed up you could burn your whole electrical system up.
 
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