Had a stereo system with appx 1700 watts. Had a little dimming when i turned it up all the way, but for the most part my car handled it fine. I wanted the car a little louder, so i swapped my amp and subs out for something beefier bringing my total wattage up to almost 3000watts. Turn the music up and the car started severely dimming and i eventually caused and abs brake warning, a battery not charging warning and my windshield wipers went off for no reason. I've since ordered a high output alternator which is scheduled to arrive this week. I hope it isn't my ecu and just my alternator. I got a jump the other day and as soon as I turn the car off I can't start it again without a jump. I'm a little frustrated, but i know these are the perils of having an expensive stereo hobby in temperamental foreign car.

What do you guys think

 

I think you need to buy a digital meter...........start the car by hook or crook..........monitor the voltage at the battery terminals for at least a bit over 14vdc. If it's 12vdc or below .........tough. Bad alternator at best and/or a bad battery. Also check the battery to see if it's good or bad (take to autozone/PepBoys etc and have them test it for you.

 

Temperamental foreign car? LOL

You hook up a 3000 watt load to any unmodified production car electrical system and you get what you deserve.

You can do electric arc welding with a lead off your positive battery terminal too Still not a good thing to do. The good thing is that you have learned a relatively cheep lesson. Maybe if you had finished high school-------?

I'm only kidding you Quaker. I can think of a few stunts I have pulled over the years. I once installed a critical suspension component up side down. No amount of education compensates for common sense.

 

A 3kW stereo on 12 volts is probably going to pull more than a 200 amps when cranked with certain sounds with a high duty cycle. Yeah, the electrical system may get a bit cranky when you do that.

 

Damn a 3000 watt sound system! I'm glad you don't live in my SD. I'd be praying for it to do what it did.

 

"agentorange" is right about that! Not much in standard automotive wiring or electronics can carry that much current for anything more than a few seconds without melting something.

I would suggest anyone planning for such high powered application to have an expert shop do the full necessary installation to support such power levels. You will be lucky if the damage due to those high currents will turn out to modest.

Albert

 

I'm not that bad. I'm fond of this hobby, but I never play it at volume in my neighborhood.

 

I was kind of joking in my post. Seriously though I hope you did not fry something that is going to be expensive to repair. I always want Jaguar owners to have a great "ownership experience" with minimal problems like I have with a couple of them over the last 15 years.

Keep us informed of the resolution to your problem.

 

OUF! 3000 watts???
I really can't help you on that. I don't listen to the radio, I prefer the amazing music of my 5 L supercharged on dynamic mode ;-))

 

Put in my new high output alternator and the kitty is purring once again. no damage to any electronics and no dimming when i have my volume played at a high volume