Problem With Is200 Own Sound System

[mubz]

HI people, the problem i have got is i have used a bypass cable to connect the standard is200 speakers from the lexus amp to my own system but i have another amp in the boot which is running off my system aswell, for some reason whenever the volume ait high the sounds seem to drain the Battery and it starts to cut out until i rev the car up and the Battery charges, this even happens when the car is running, could this be to do with the live wire not being connected properly? does anyone know what colour the Live wire is on the bypass cable and in the is200 please? thanks

mubz

[Geoffers]

Its impossible to know its colours. A bypass cable could be made by anyone and quite often they don't stick to the standard Lexus colour sheme.

The Lex wiring colours are grey for switched live and blue/yel for permanent.

It sounds more like Battery drain rather than connection issues and is very common. As amps go, the Lexus doesn't draw that much (in comparison to others) so its feeds have no need to handle the current. You may be drawing a bit too much from the cabling here as well as taking too much charge from the battery/alternator system. I would put my own power feed to it if I were you anyway so you know exactly what you are working with.

To combat the higher drain you need some sort of device to supply the amp when it demands more power. This can be a separate Battery unit, high charge capacitor, etc. Have a quick browse through the audio sites on the web and there are various solutions. A Battery is going to be lot better than a cap but costs are higher. Without knowing the current drain it is hard to tell - a cap may not be enough - they can only supply a few amps for a short period.

Of course, it could all be that your Battery is a bit knackered. Has it always done this? Try taking tha Battery off and giving it a good charge. Consider adding your own power too.

[mubz]

I have replaced the Battery in the car before that does not seem to slove the problem, i have a power cap attached to the amp and the reading shows 1.4 but when it is playing the power drops down to 1.2, 1.19 etc and then back up! I have a feeling that the live connection is not properly wired and therefore there is no constant power, the Battery meter in the dash tends to drop down to 9 but then back up to about 9.75 (this is when the sounds or fine)! thanks

[rajhirani]

Hi,

depends how much current you are drawing, you need to have the correct size cabling for your amps. you should have a thick wire going from the front to the back of the car, with a fuse at the front and a fuse at the back. The earthing for the amp is also very important.

[Geoffers]

The fact it is bringing down your Battery tells steers me away from a simple connection issue - it MUST be drawing it in order for it to be reducing at the Battery. This is a bit concerning as the cabling supplying the Lex amp that your bypass cable gets it from doesn't have the capacity for this amount of voltage drop.

I think there are a couple things here. First one being that the battery/charge system cannot supply enough power and that the cabling does not have enough load capacity as well.

Ok, starting from scratch, I would :

1. Recable. New thick power supply cables.

2. Use a Battery. The cap obviously isn't enough. How about one of the battcap range?

What class is the amp? What its output (@2ohms) and rated current?

[mubz]

OK people i had done alittle something which seems to help the drainage of the Battery, i had connected a wire from the + and - of the Battery to the system live and - and also i am using the power and - from inside the car aswell so the power and - is coming from two outputs (hope this makes sense) this has kinda of helped the problem but i think this problem is down to not enought power to the system from the Battery or anywhere in the car!

[Geoffers]

You're right about the current not being delivered mate - that's why you need a second Battery! You could go for a Deep cycle Battery on the car also. Make sure you don't use the car body as an earth - run the cable separately and back to the Battery.

You could take it further and increase the alternator and cabling between.

Its not really not good practice to double up on the cabling as the power will back feed into the lower current device and if there's a fault there's a potential hazard. Single run, fused with the right wire will be good for the wiring itself. I understand this is only really for test purposes in this case.

What current is this amp and what class?