My alternator went in my car a few days ago, and I replaced it with a new stock one. I noticed before it went, that when I put the car in neutral, the lights would dim slightly, but if I revved even to a little above idle, they would go brighter again. I don't notice any dimming on any bass hits, just on idle sometimes. When I replaced the alternator this didn't seem to happen anymore but today it did it again. What would be the ideal way to fix this problem, and has anyone seen this problem specifically? Any suggestions would help. Thanks

 

might be the wireing between the alt and the batt that would cause less amperage and would cause diming. OR the battery is not to good thats what i would think .... i have the same problem at the moment but its the battery thats dieing on me (hard startup also)

 

attach a multimeter while your car is idling and see what kind of voltage fluctuations you are having.

 

Big Three and check your voltage regulator.

 

Sorry, I'm new to this, what is big three? And yeah I can try the multimeter thing I'll post again with the results.

 

Use the forum search function to find the big 3. Its upgrading the main current carrying/grounding wires for your cars electrical.

 

Thanks. I tried searching but it had no results because it said the words are too common.

 

I'm not sure where the heck it is in this forum. I googled it and came up with some results.

I'm not trying to sell out CCA with this just to let it be known!

http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?TID=73496&PN=1

Found this in another post here:

1) Battery negative to chassis
2) Alternator to battery positive
3) Chassis to engine

http://www.canadiancaraudio.com/online/general-spl/25327-big-3-a-2.html

 

Thanks a lot. Once I get past the time and money issue, I'll give it a shot. Judging by the CCA post you linked, it makes a big difference, not only for the dimming but for bass response and clarity too.