Big 3 done and still have dimming lights

SteveCZ28 said:

Yes I know the connections are clean, tight, and corrosion free. Checked all that when I had issues of the truck randomly not starting a few months back (ended up being security related)

I'd have to check white pages for an alternator or electric motor shop. I don't know of any off the top of my head. Although I never had to look for one yet.

I'm unsure of age of battery. Had the truck 4 years now. And it was in it when I got it.

Click to expand...

I figured you did but it wasn't mentioned so I asked. People often overlook the basics!

Have someone with a known strong battery hook up to your truck with some good jumper cables with their truck NOT running. "Good" jumpers as in heavy gauge wire and quality clamps (I'm sure you already know this). Put the positive jumper cable on your alternator post and not on the battery. Start your truck and bump your system then disconnect the positive from your battery. This will let you test with another battery without having to disconnect and remove your battery and lose all of your radio settings. The caveat here is the quality of the jumper cable connections. But, it may be worth a shot for a quick troubleshooting.

Sounds like you need to get a bigger AGM under the hood and then a second battery. Unless you want to upgrade the alternator.

Some people with different vehicles get away with adding a capacitor inline to their amp. Cheaper fix if it was to fix your issue. You could also be a bad ass and go to dual alternator for an over kill.

Personally I would go with dual batteries with 165A, that's only if your going to be running just that sub system and prolly would handle some bigger systems as well. If you have aftermarket lamps and all that madness then I would look at a bigger alt than the 165A or dual alt then.

I might try getting a optima deep cycle battery. Would that help?
I haven't looked into prices for the optima, or a bigger alternator.

AppocAlexx said:

Some people with different vehicles get away with adding a capacitor inline to their amp. Cheaper fix if it was to fix your issue. You could also be a bad ass and go to dual alternator for an over kill.

Personally I would go with dual batteries with 165A, that's only if your going to be running just that sub system and prolly would handle some bigger systems as well. If you have aftermarket lamps and all that madness then I would look at a bigger alt than the 165A or dual alt then.

Click to expand...

I don't see myself adding to the system. It sounds great to me. It sounded awesome when the amp was about half way up. It's decent with it at about 1/4 now. Wish I could fix this issue, and turn the amp back up

I haven't been a fan of Optima since around 2010. Their quality seemed to have plummeted then and hasn't improved as far as I know. Extra batteries, running a deep cycle, a stronger alternator... all are good to support your power needs. But, I think your stock stuff should be investigated first as I feel it may not be up-to-par. It's like those that want more power out of their 200K-mile engines, so they install performance muffler, intake, 'Vette servo, etc. but never once consider the "not fun/cool stuff" such as replacing the burnt out spark plugs, clogged fuel filter, dragging brake caliper...

second on the optima, they started outsourcing their materials and manufacturing. They just were not the same after that. There are other batteries out there that are equivalent to the optimas. Just search for batteries that most people use for bigger stereo systems and will find the best for around the same prices. Just make sure they are the right specs per our vehicles for CCA.

What I'm stuck on is which one do i start with. The new battery, or new alternator? Obviously these 2 items arent exactly in the cheaper areas.

Do both, if you can afford JL you can afford both

All my stuff was used from a buddy. Lol