My lights dim and my radio cuts out for a breif second when i hit my brakes. I have replaced my alternator and the battery. My car also idles funny when waiting at a stop sign ( dips below 1000 rpms ). I have made sure my belts are also tightened. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Eric
Check the ground cable that goes from the battery to the car body, and the one that goes from the engine to the car body.
Help…headlights dimming?
Ok after i found out my battery was sucked dry i got one of those new die hard from sears. i found out my alternator was bad too cause my battery kept getting drained and i couldnt start. well got a new alternator put in and everything seems cool except for one thing…the damn check engine light now blinks when i rev past 4k. anything below that is cool, nothing happens. i was wondering wtf is going on but didnt really care much since i didnt hear or feel anything going wrong when i past 4k and it wasnt everyday that i needed to rev up that high. but lately the blinking check engine has been replaced by the battery light. and plus the headlights and dash lights dim down when that happens. i had the alternator and battery checked a few times but every time they check OK. i checked all wires and the belt to the alternator but they all seem fine. i do have a mid level system in my car but that isnt the issue cause it still happens even when i have my stereo off. Anybody have a clue on wtf is going on here? its starting to annoy me now when i have to downshift to quickly past up slow cars or to climb a hill cause i live in the LA area and just to see my damn lights dim and can’t see sh!t in front of me.
need help with dimming of one head light
i just instlled my h4h and now one of the lights (drivers side) is really dim. the package says 100-110 watt but on the bulbs it says 55-65 watt. any one know what the deal is? please help. 
It might be the wrong bulb, or the electrical prong layout is different. I tried that before with two bulbs that looked identical, but the low and high beams weren’t working correctly and yes… one was dimmer than the other one…
thanks but the bulbs came new from japan, for the one piece head lights , i think i figured it out.
i told the shop to get me the low watt bulbs, when i fot them they had 100-110 watt on the package, but the buld it self says 55-65 watts on it,. so i belive i got the higher watt bulbs.
i tryied to switch the bulbs and got the same effect the drivers side is dimm as hell. which tells me the they are the high watt bulbs and the pass. side since it is first in the harness is robbing all of the power for its self,. so i wll have to get some relays and bigger wire to solve the problem, and to keep form burning up my wires. which means i will have hella bright ass lights, so i wll prob. just use my fogs in town. thanks 
For those with dimming lights problems, found a cure.
I had a bad dimming lights problems at night, when braking, I could see the lights dim a lot and just leaving the car idle with headlights and fogs on, would make the lights dim, when applying a little gas, I could see the dash lights become brighter. Well, I went ahead and added a ground wire from the battery to the car chassis and my dimming problems are solved! The lights still dim a little when the brakes are applied, but a lot less and as far as I know, almost any cars do it. When leaving the car idle, the lights stay bright! I inspected the stock ground wire and it looks corroded, so I simply added another one… I used some amplifier power cable I had laying around.
Hope this helps someone! 
thats interesting i just replaced mine too and noticed the clamping they use is pretty secure, so i guess corrosion has a big affect
How would i go about adding the ground wire from the battery and where is the stock ground anyway???
Originally posted by Integra Style
How would i go about adding the ground wire from the battery and where is the stock ground anyway???
check your connections first. make sure theyre tight. my stock connectors are soldered on so id have to either splice in or cut and use new connectors. otherwise, you can just unscrew the two nuts and slide it in if you have a regular one. then find a place to secure the other end, make sure its bare shiny metal (sand/brush it).
the stock ground runs down about 6 inches, is clipped against the frame, then continues about 18inches to the tranny
Originally posted by XDEep
[B]
check your connections first. make sure theyre tight. my stock connectors are soldered on so id have to either splice in or cut and use new connectors. otherwise, you can just unscrew the two nuts and slide it in if you have a regular one. then find a place to secure the other end, make sure its bare shiny metal (sand/brush it).
the stock ground runs down about 6 inches, is clipped against the frame, then continues about 18inches to the tranny [/B]
Exactely! 
A friend of mine found that when he used #4 guage wire, a very thick one, for both the battery ground and the other ground strap, he had much more power to the starter motor and no dimming of lights etc when at idle. His car is a 90 LS.
dimming lights
My lights dim when I do something as simple as use both power windows at the same time, and I’m planning on adding a amp and sub soon, which I believe may very well cause this dimming/low-power to occur more frequently.
I have read several posts about this situation but never really saw a “how to” explaining how to prevent/correct it. Extra battery grounds and some form of battery replacement seemed to tbe the ideas knocked around in these posts.
Could someone share some insight as to how I can prevent this problem, as I’d like to get it handled before I go about installing amp/sub. Any help/experiences out there?
if your lights dim when you use your power windows then either you have a bad battery or you need a altenator.But once your car is running the altenator powers the battery so you may want to make sure you altenator is working good.HOw many watts is the amp your thinking about putting in?
It depends, just because your lights dim when you use the powerwindows does not mean something is wrong. You should have the alternator checked out and check your battery to chassis, and motor to chasis grounds and make sure they are ok.
And remeber power windows are not going to be on allthe time and the large amount they draw will only be for a few seconds.
im running two calss a/b amps that put around 1500 watts out and are both high current amps and i get dimming but my battery for the most part doesnt get discharged much.
HTH
Heavier battery(or a deep cycle), or add a cap into your system, the cap will help take the drain from your amp(s) when the basss kicks.
Live low and loud:up:
Caps do not help the situation, nor does a larger battery. They are both band-aids to a problem.
a larger battery is to power the system when the car is off. a cap stabilizes voltage.
So what would you suggest teg2nv?
Originally posted by teg2nv
[B]Caps do not help the situation, nor does a larger battery. They are both band-aids to a problem.
a larger battery is to power the system when the car is off. a cap stabilizes voltage. [/B]
wrong, i am living proof of that.First i totally agree about the cap being a band-aid solution.However a optima battery does more than just help the system when the car is off or start the car.I have a yellow top battery in my teg, i have a 800 watt mono amp, and i have upgraded the wires under the hood, battery ground, altenator ground and power all to the 4 guage.I was still getting dimming, i then added a cap.I still got dimming.I then bought a optima yellow top and all the dimming stopped and all electrical appliances in my car worked better and lights got brighter.The optima helps transfer the power from the alt better, so its not just for starting or for when the car is off, it actually helps while the car is running too.Fortunately i am speaking from experience not from what someone else told me.hope this helps
wrong, i am living proof of that.First i totally agree about the cap being a band-aid solution.However a optima battery does more than just help the system when the car is off or start the car.I have a yellow top battery in my teg, i have a 800 watt mono amp, and i have upgraded the wires under the hood, battery ground, altenator ground and power all to the 4 guage.I was still getting dimming, i then added a cap.I still got dimming.I then bought a optima yellow top and all the dimming stopped and all electrical appliances in my car worked better and lights got brighter.The optima helps transfer the power from the alt better, so its not just for starting or for when the car is off, it actually helps while the car is running too.Fortunately i am speaking from experience not from what someone else told me.hope this helps
The reason you stoped getting dimming is that the optima battery has a large amp reserve. so what really is happening is that your stereo is using all the alternator power. Then using the optima power, but since it has a large reserve capacity you are not seeing it dim. if you left the stereo playing long enough the battery would eventually die out.
Curls where are you man. I know you can back me up on this.
So what would you suggest teg2nv?
Take your car and have the electrical system check. should be free. They will test your battery and alternator under load and make sure its oprating correctly or if something is week or a ground is bad. from there you should be able to decide.
HTH