Big Tex db Posted June 6 Author Report Share Posted June 6 (edited) 1 hour ago, Joe X said: That a very low voltage with your alt running, if you rev up the engine and you still see 13V or so then you are almost not charging the battery, resting voltage usually is 12.5 - 12.8V and the alt should be sourcing the 14.4 or so. That completely slipped past my mind today when I made that post... JFC.. I went and chased volts around the truck tonight and the 213k mi alternator doesn't seem to be keeping up anymore. I haven't been putting many miles on the truck recently either, currently working less than a mile from home... short 15 minute trips here and there. I was just getting 14.xV while idling when I made the original post... Going to keep troubling shooting and upgrading. Thanks for the help Joe Edited June 6 by Big Tex db Quote 2012 F150 5.0L 4dr - 200A Alt - Big 3 SHCA OFC and Twisted RCA XS D6500 (Rear) Alpine 172BT Sundown SIA2500 1x Skar EVL-12-D2 (@1ohm) Skar 100.4AB 4x Skar TX-65 (@4ohm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tex db Posted June 6 Author Report Share Posted June 6 Ford has a Battery Control Module (BCM) on this truck to, I assume, throttle alternator usage to save fuel?... Read online that disconnecting the current sensor causes zero issues to the systems and just let's the alt sing her song. Currently testing my volts throughout truck while she idles. AC on, fan on, getting too damn humid 'round here. Will retune gains once I feel the volts are stable. Currently sitting at 14.16v constant with AC/Fan on max. 1 Quote 2012 F150 5.0L 4dr - 200A Alt - Big 3 SHCA OFC and Twisted RCA XS D6500 (Rear) Alpine 172BT Sundown SIA2500 1x Skar EVL-12-D2 (@1ohm) Skar 100.4AB 4x Skar TX-65 (@4ohm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tex db Posted June 7 Author Report Share Posted June 7 Truck maintained 14.x+V the entire time I was retuning gains. I still did not receive any distortion from the 40Hz -15db track with everything at full tilt though. Ran a few songs after setting up. All my go to songs were hitting clean, loud, and much fuller again. I was checking out some Decaf Muzik (IDK if this is the real Kris Koffee tbh - currently searching for the zips) on soundcloud and found a little distortion at full tilt on some tracks. 60Hz Test tone dropped to 13.73V 50, 40, and 30 hz all stayed above 13.8V at full tilt Quote 2012 F150 5.0L 4dr - 200A Alt - Big 3 SHCA OFC and Twisted RCA XS D6500 (Rear) Alpine 172BT Sundown SIA2500 1x Skar EVL-12-D2 (@1ohm) Skar 100.4AB 4x Skar TX-65 (@4ohm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tex db Posted June 7 Author Report Share Posted June 7 (edited) Ran the truck around today and let things sing. Ran the voltmeter on it for a while, truck was maintaining 14.1-14.2 the entire time, caught a range during a few heavy tracks - max 14.2 min 13.6 at the sub amp terminals. Battery and wire upgrades coming soon. I thought I had a little more wiggle on the stock electrical. Definitely proved myself wrong. Thanks for the help y'all Edited June 7 by Big Tex db 1 Quote 2012 F150 5.0L 4dr - 200A Alt - Big 3 SHCA OFC and Twisted RCA XS D6500 (Rear) Alpine 172BT Sundown SIA2500 1x Skar EVL-12-D2 (@1ohm) Skar 100.4AB 4x Skar TX-65 (@4ohm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tex db Posted June 21 Author Report Share Posted June 21 (edited) Hate to turn this into a blog but here we go Appreciate all the help so far, been googling and diving deeper into this bass addiction. Big 3 Sky High Tinned OFC 1/0 with fuses installed as needed in the engine bay - SHCA regular OFC 1/0 ran inside the truck XS D6500 added in rear - single run of 1/0 in parallel with an AGM battery of slightly less Ah/CA/Reserve up front SIA2500 has double 1/0 power and ground as well now 14.4v+ on start up 14.2v+ steady with AC/Fans on 12.2v to 14.xV range scanned while driving and system at full tilt on some Decaf Muzik (Billy Bang 2Nite and Can't Stop Won't Stop ... both been feeling good) The Sundown amp came with a clip light on their bassknob, I have this plugged in to watch the clip light to humor myself. Only seeing random blips of clip light during 40-60hz hard kicks today - for what it's worth. And yes, I have this knob turned up all the way as well as my RCA bass knob - not a permanent thing. The alternator is on the lower front driver side.. Shitty spot but it works. Not looking forward to replacing with a Mechman. Planning to add another XS D6500 in the rear before getting a new alt. I believe a 290A alt might be my only option, but I'll see about their larger 370 working on my year. I also want to replace the front battery with an XS in the future. At least the stock alt is 200A.. Slowly building up for future upgrades. ATM I do not trust this SIA2500 amp. Something tells me I shouldn't try running two D2 subs off of it wired at 2ohm... Been googling amp dynos/reviews - thinking about going in the 5k-6k watt range with SALT or JP. Unsure of future subs yet - I think it'll come down to what sized box I want to commit to. TLDR; ++++ Still no distortion detected by the DD-1 while using the SMD test tone CD. 40hz -0db will show distortion near max gain, -5, -10, etc. all show nothing before or at max. ++++ Sub is hitting full and clean, reachin deep, no audible distortion. Edited June 21 by Big Tex db Quote 2012 F150 5.0L 4dr - 200A Alt - Big 3 SHCA OFC and Twisted RCA XS D6500 (Rear) Alpine 172BT Sundown SIA2500 1x Skar EVL-12-D2 (@1ohm) Skar 100.4AB 4x Skar TX-65 (@4ohm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Tex db Posted June 23 Author Report Share Posted June 23 (edited) After some free some time to volt test while parked for a while, I see my electrical short comings. Going to add 2-3 100Ah AGM batts, strongest alt I can get, continue the build after that.. Move the unfortunately low AH group 65 XS power battery to my main battery eventually. Hopefully sell the O'Reilly's AGM off. I don't have a budget, but I'm still a own what you do kinda guy. Gunna ride out these early errors and continue on in the near future. Staying below 85% volume until I get more amperage available. Cheers yall Edited June 23 by Big Tex db Quote 2012 F150 5.0L 4dr - 200A Alt - Big 3 SHCA OFC and Twisted RCA XS D6500 (Rear) Alpine 172BT Sundown SIA2500 1x Skar EVL-12-D2 (@1ohm) Skar 100.4AB 4x Skar TX-65 (@4ohm) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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