20007+ GM Truck Electical Upgrade Thread. I stop when dimming stops.

[badstang123 10+ year member]

Alright, I finally spoke to Kinetik Technical and got some interesting information. I've been talking with Loopkiller about it but I figured since it's all about the situation involving my battery, my truck, and my thread it should be here for everyone to view:

The main technical guy at Kinetik affirmed that there has been a problems with the labels and the bubbling as I experienced. Also said to the extent I experienced it is normal. He also stated that the newer batteries coming out at this time have been fixed and no longer have this issue. I have a feeling since I bought my battery from Sonic Electronics a huge distributor it's possible that one had been sitting on the shelf for a while.

The second thing I found out is that with my wiring bypassing the factory setup (Which reduced voltage to 12.7 when the battery is fully charged) even if even if the alternator was putting out 145 amps and 14.7 volts (Which is it's rating) at all times that amperage is pulled and not pushed. Basically meaning that the battery would reject any additional unneeded amperage thrown at it by the alternator and that it would not cause a problem. He said the only thing I need to watch for is high voltage spikes especially 15+ volts. He said that any voltage over 14.4 volts will shorten the lifespan of the battery (I'm sure this is a conservative number to cover themselves). I've seen voltages mostly around 14.6 or so and a max of 14.9 volts. This being the case it looks as though I probably have nothing to worry about with my original big 3 so I changed it back to get maximum voltage at all times.

Right now I'm seeing a pretty consistent 14.7 volts with drops to about 13.7 or so. I'm pretty happy with the results. Now that I have my souped up wiring back intact. I'm going to keep an eye on headlight dimming this evening and report back. We'll also find out if my battery is going to explode or not //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/up2something.gif.dd110ecf3ae4b76050d87598f2f8de7c.gif

After that I'll reassess if that second battery is something I need to wire in or if I can get by with one.

- Justin -

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

Alright, I finally spoke to Kinetik Technical and got some interesting information. I've been talking with Loopkiller about it but I figured since it's all about the situation involving my battery, my truck, and my thread it should be here for everyone to view:
The main technical guy at Kinetik affirmed that there has been a problems with the labels and the bubbling as I experienced. Also said to the extent I experienced it is normal. He also stated that the newer batteries coming out at this time have been fixed and no longer have this issue. I have a feeling since I bought my battery from Sonic Electronics a huge distributor it's possible that one had been sitting on the shelf for a while.

The second thing I found out is that with my wiring bypassing the factory setup (Which reduced voltage to 12.7 when the battery is fully charged) even if even if the alternator was putting out 145 amps and 14.7 volts (Which is it's rating) at all times that amperage is pulled and not pushed. Basically meaning that the battery would reject any additional unneeded amperage thrown at it by the alternator and that it would not cause a problem. He said the only thing I need to watch for is high voltage spikes especially 15+ volts. He said that any voltage over 14.4 volts will shorten the lifespan of the battery (I'm sure this is a conservative number to cover themselves). I've seen voltages mostly around 14.6 or so and a max of 14.9 volts. This being the case it looks as though I probably have nothing to worry about with my original big 3 so I changed it back to get maximum voltage at all times.

Right now I'm seeing a pretty consistent 14.7 volts with drops to about 13.7 or so. I'm pretty happy with the results. Now that I have my souped up wiring back intact. I'm going to keep an eye on headlight dimming this evening and report back. We'll also find out if my battery is going to explode or not //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/up2something.gif.dd110ecf3ae4b76050d87598f2f8de7c.gif

After that I'll reassess if that second battery is something I need to wire in or if I can get by with one.

- Justin -

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/boink.gif.91933e72f927f2cefc79aff02573090c.gif Sounds like you got it all covered now. let us know how it all works out for you. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[JarvisB 10+ year member]

how do you bypass a factory set up? I am trying to understand how that is possible?

where was the wire supposed to be at in order to not bypass the factory set up?

 

[badstang123 10+ year member]

how do you bypass a factory set up? I am trying to understand how that is possible?
where was the wire supposed to be at in order to not bypass the factory set up?

If you look at the first page you will see the loop that the factor ground wires ran through. Under that setup or with 0 gauge wire running through that loop the computer will reduce output to 12.7 volts when it sense the battery is fully charged. What I did was run a ground directly from the negative battery terminal to the chassis. After doing so I see a consistent 14.4 volts at all times. It was that simple. Let's see how things play out over the next couple of months to see if it's safe though //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif lol

 

[JarvisB 10+ year member]

I see cool.. ok I got it now..

I was afraid that I would bump into this similar issue but now I get it; it wont happen to me unless I ground my wire with my factory wires in its own set up.. I am going to just ground it to the chassis..

One more question- did you replace your stock battery under the hood or you added another battery under it? If so then what is your stock battery?

I am in similar situation, I dont want any dimming or whatever to happen, but at same time I dont really have room to put second battery in the back.. and I dont think I will be able to put another battery under the hood either so I am trying to figure out if my set up will be fine with one battery..

Thanks

 

[badstang123 10+ year member]

I see cool.. ok I got it now..
I was afraid that I would bump into this similar issue but now I get it; it wont happen to me unless I ground my wire with my factory wires in its own set up.. I am going to just ground it to the chassis..

One more question- did you replace your stock battery under the hood or you added another battery under it? If so then what is your stock battery?

I am in similar situation, I dont want any dimming or whatever to happen, but at same time I dont really have room to put second battery in the back.. and I dont think I will be able to put another battery under the hood either so I am trying to figure out if my set up will be fine with one battery..

Thanks

I replaced the factory battery with the Kinetik. I will hook it back up in the other battery tray if necessary. I didn't drive it last night though so I didn't see if there was any dimming. I'm waiting for results on that before I start another project. I'm am also slightly concerned because I tested the Kinetik with a Midtronics and it only showed 485 cca. But at the same time while running I'm seeing lesser voltage drops. Time will tell I guess.

What vehicle do you have? What is the alternator rated at? What is the wiring setup now and what wattage will you be running rms?

 

[Innovative:Cory 10+ year member]

Headlights are so "sensitive" to changes in voltage, that is why when you battery gets lower they dim and when you have it running they are brighter, or when you say have it on a battery charger that will run 16v to the system they are even brighter... they don't respond well to changes in voltage...

If you really want to help out with dimming headlights consider installing a capacitor for the headlights only... you dont have to do a full farad in fact 1/4 farad cap per bulb would be more than sufficient. Because upgraded alternator and battery or not, the first thing that is getting the juice is the amplifier(s) with everything else in the car getting it secondary....

 

[Innovative:Cory 10+ year member]

You would also have to use a realy to keep the headlights from staying on when you turn them off.....

 

[badstang123 10+ year member]

Headlights are so "sensitive" to changes in voltage, that is why when you battery gets lower they dim and when you have it running they are brighter, or when you say have it on a battery charger that will run 16v to the system they are even brighter... they don't respond well to changes in voltage...
If you really want to help out with dimming headlights consider installing a capacitor for the headlights only... you dont have to do a full farad in fact 1/4 farad cap per bulb would be more than sufficient. Because upgraded alternator and battery or not, the first thing that is getting the juice is the amplifier(s) with everything else in the car getting it secondary....

Interesting idea. I've never thought of that. In previous installs I have noticed that two batteries normally alleviates this problem, since the amps drain the rear or secondary battery and the transfer from the front battery to rear is much slower than the instantaneous voltage drawn by the amps from the rear or secondary battery.

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

I replaced the factory battery with the Kinetik. I will hook it back up in the other battery tray if necessary. I didn't drive it last night though so I didn't see if there was any dimming. I'm waiting for results on that before I start another project. I'm am also slightly concerned because I tested the Kinetik with a Midtronics and it only showed 485 cca. But at the same time while running I'm seeing lesser voltage drops. Time will tell I guess.
What vehicle do you have? What is the alternator rated at? What is the wiring setup now and what wattage will you be running rms?

my 1400 doesn't test well on a CA test either except for the fact that it actually starts the truck in the cold unlike the other battery I had that wouldn't start in the cold and would fall into the 10v range on the audio system. According to the meter it was a good battery that was about 700CA (the flooded battery that would fall to 11.3-10.8 volts on audio)

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

I don't think that those hand held testers really put a true load on a battery. They use the internal resistance of a battery to calculate the CCA value. Since the Kinetik battery has such a low internal resistance, I think that throws the tester off. You would need a carbon pile load tester to put a true load on the battery.

 

[truckramrod 10+ year member]

Hey Badstang123, do you work at a GM dealer?

 

[badstang123 10+ year member]

I don't think that those hand held testers really put a true load on a battery. They use the internal resistance of a battery to calculate the CCA value. Since the Kinetik battery has such a low internal resistance, I think that throws the tester off. You would need a carbon pile load tester to put a true load on the battery.

That makes me feel better about things. And you are right the hand held one's do not put a load on the battery while testing like a carbon pile. I did take my truck to Pep Boys just to get them to hook up there machine to it real quick for free. That way I knew how the charging system was operating as a whole. It showed that the alternator and starting the vehicle were all perfect even though the battery tested at 485 CCA.

Hey Badstang123, do you work at a GM dealer?

I used to. I was one of the layoffs though. I still have connections there obviously and access to the GM Technical site. Why do you ask?

 

[rlcowboy 10+ year member]

Wow, I just ordered a Kinetic HC1800 from Dealer Cost Car Audio, I hope I get one of the newer ones!!

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

Wow, I just ordered a Kinetic HC1800 from Dealer Cost Car Audio, I hope I get one of the newer ones!!

Its no big deal, from what I understand is all you have to do if it happens is put a small hole/ or trim the sticker.