I have a small system, 400W amp pushing 1 10" sub. I noticed the lights dim when the bass hits. I'm running the OEM battery which is about 2.5 years old now and seems to be getting a little weak. I plan on replacing it before the winter, so heres the question. Is an Optima RedTop good enough for my system or should I get a Yellow? I'm concerned about frying the alternator or other things since I had problem in other cars, and the lights dimming tells me theres not enough power to go around. And this was at modest volume and the gain is almost all the way down. I also heard that upgrading the battery to chassis ground wire would help, is that worthwhile? I'm not looking to go crazy, just don't want any problems.

Thanks guys
ps- please dont say "search" cause its not working

 

A red top would do you well, but I'd suggest an Odyssey battery over Optima. Same price or a little bit less, and these seem to be what the experts recommend now.

 

A red top would be fine, if you don't wanna drop the money, get a capacitor, a 1-1.5 farrad should suffice for 400w

 

yeah red top is good enough and has a longer warranty. ive used both and havent really seen much a difference

 

Thanks guys! The battery is definately getting replaced, system or no system since OEM batteries are garbage. I'm not really looking to install a cap, though I'm sure it would help. Hopefully the Redtop is sufficient to eliminate the dimming. And if not, I read elsewhere that larger gauge ground wires from the battery and alt would help too, so I'll see how it goes. Thanks again.

 

capacitors are a waste of money and do nothing. if you system is that powerful get a second battery

 

what size is your power wire?

 

Power and ground to the amp are 8 ga, everything else is stock.

 

sounds like you need a cap

 

cap is a waste..

do the big 3 instead

upgrade to 0ga wire... if possible, our stock wires are ~6ga
chassis to chassis
battery ground to chassis
battery + to alternator +

 

yes, you need a bigger wire lol

 

Yeah I read that someplace, thinking about doing that if the battery isn't enough.

Seriously? For only a 400W mono amp? What size should I have?

 

8 is a big enough wire for 400w. Try the redtop first, if that doesn't work, do the wire upgrades, for a system that small you shouldn't need a cap

 

hmm... I'm using AWG 1/0 blocked to AWG 4 to my amps. Dome lights don't dim very much at all. I'm running 1200w with 2 amps. No Caps or extra batteries and I'm using the stock alternator and battery.