hey guys, i just installed a avic-d2 and a 1200watt amp with 2 1500watt subs.
i have silverstar ultra headlights, with silverstar foglights. everything dims, inside and out like my car is dieing. but it only does it when it bumps... not hard either. but when i do hit it hard my lights just about turn off. any ideas?
new batt? alternator? somone help please. i dont know why its doing it i had a 98 montcarlo with a 3.1 never did that. this is a bigger motor bigger alternator. weird??

anyways any ideas would be awsome.

The solution to fix that is either : 1 Get a compactior that is big enough for your system, or new alternator and battery..

Cheapest way is the compacitor.

In my 01 Se I'm powering 2 amps ( 1 for speakers, 1 for sub ) plus a compacitor. No lights flickering or dimming, everything is perfect...Plus I actaully like the look with a compacitor in there, to me its dressing your trunk up more.

Capacitors are only a temporary fix to a bigger problem. You are drawing too much current on the heavy bass hits, so to feed your amp the car draws power from wherever it can (i.e. headlights) so to keep the car running. What amp and subs are you running? Knowing what kind of voltage draw you got going on will help too..
Heres what I recommend:
1. Make sure your gain is set right, if you have it jacked up too high that will affect it some.
2. Get a new alternator, bigger amperage of course
3. Get a better battery something like an Optima Yellow Top (Deep Cycle)
Just adding a cap to an already hurting electrical system is just adding another draw which will kill your alt and battery anyway....
"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." Very true with cars....

cool thanks, also where is the batt in my car? i never really looked. i know its not under the hood. trunk?

Battery is under the back seat

Where do you have your power leads hooked up to? Positive needs to be on the positive battery terminal, and negative needs a very good clean ground.

If you don't have either one of these, that is most likely your power drain problem. I would bet that your alternator is at least the same amps output if not more then the Monte Carlo was. DO NOT go and buy a new battery and higher output alt. yet.

Make sure you lead your positive cable to the positive terminal on the battery, and the negative on a very good clean solid ground.

What size power wire are you running?

i had it installed im not shure on the pos/neg but its a 1700watt kit i tihnkg its 8g i havea 1200watt amp and 2 1500watt subs but i alos have higher watt'g headlights silverstar ultras, and a gps/touchscreen system wich takes more power

I would also suggest checking the positive and making you have a really good ground, some places that do installs do not make a good ground when installing, the paint has to be removed pretty well and connected to a piece on the car that has a good connection with the negative...what kind of wire are you running?

not shrue on the wire i just picked up a cheap kit off of ebay. it was only 12 bucks for the kit.

This is probably because you need to run a 4gauge wire from your alternator to your battery.

the wiring kit is really important, I would suggest replacing it with a good kit, and also make sure it is at least a 4 gauge kit, with good connectors....if it was 12 dollars it was probably junk.