Thread: 1998 Camaro Install- lots of pics, rear seat delete

Originally Posted by sporty_drew

Also i've found a yellow top forsale. It has a resting voltage of 12.79 and is the g31. He's asking 80+shipping. Does this seem worth it?

I'm from what i've read the only thing that an isolator holds above a relay is that if it shorts the isolator cant get stuck closing the circuit. You can fix that problem my having a fuse before your relay.

Did you load test it?
How old is the battery?
When your driving with the system turned up, what voltage is your car running at?

$80 is cheap. New they are about $190 for the yellows.

You should always fuse your batteries. Preferably within 18". The factory wiring harness is fused and your power cable to the back should also be fused.

Isolators don't have moving parts, so I'm not sure what you mean by them getting stuck.

Originally Posted by JasonWW

Did you load test it?
How old is the battery?
When your driving with the system turned up, what voltage is your car running at?

$80 is cheap. New they are about $190 for the yellows.

You should always fuse your batteries. Preferably within 18". The factory wiring harness is fused and your power cable to the back should also be fused.

Isolators don't have moving parts, so I'm not sure what you mean by them getting stuck.

I don't have anywhere to load test it.
My battery is 2 months old, and i had it tested Wednesday.

I've always gone off the 12" rule for fusing, so 'm good to go there

Thats what i meant. Thats what I've read the advantage of Isolators is over relays is (at least the only one that makes a big difference). Relays can get stuck.

Turns out he wants 120 shipped. Think i'd rather buy one new, or i can get a standard deep cycle for around that price.

The yellow tops only have a 1 year warranty, so don't think you'll get a nice warranty buying a new one. The red tops have a 3 year.

Don't you have an autoparts store nearby that has a load tester? What they do is apply a heavy load and watch to see how fast the voltage goes down. If it goes down fast the battery can't hold it's charge. Isn't your current battery still in it's free replacement period?

Have you checked for any extra electrical draws? Is the PC in the car? Maybe it's drawing a bit too much when powered off.

Yea I had them do that on Wednesday and they said it's as good as new. The battery has a 3 year warranty.

How would i go about checking if the pc was still drawing power? I don't see it pulling enough to cause this since i've left it on a few times (up to 11 hours) and still had my car crank over just fine.

You need a digital multi meter. I have one from radio shack for like 40 bucks. You switch it to measure amps (mine has a 10 amp fuse). Then connect the PC power wire to one of the probe ends and the other side of the power wire to the other probe end so that the power goes through the guage. You can turn on the PC and see how many amps it pulls while booting, while idling and when you turn it off you can see if it's completely off or still drawing power.

If the battery checks out OK, you should have your alternator load tested. Easist way is at a dealership. They can clip a probe around the alt. power wire and then add a load to the battery and see if the alternator can maintain proper voltage or if it can't. It's a computerized tester so it will say whether it's bad or not.

The other way is to pull the alternator and take it to a autoparts place that tests them.

It could be that one of the diodes burned up so it's running on 2 and it can supply proper voltage under light load, but crap out under heavy load. I had that happen to me recently. If you look at this pic you can see one of the 3 diode wires a dark color. The soldering had melted and the wire was not making good contact. The connection got super hot and changed color.

If you can get under the car you might be able to pop the plastic cover off and take a look. The regulator and diodes are all mounted externally.

OK i'll check the draw of the pc. I have a dmm already.

I just got this alternator and it was checked before i was sent out, so i'm thinking it's ok (hopefully). I'll pry just go ahead and get my old one rebuilt this week and go from there.

Also have you heard anything on Premier PRS Amps (pioneers). I'm looking at a PRS-X340 and PRS-X220 for my front stage. They are very underrated. He said his 220 benched at 70x2 and the X-340 is around 75 X 4 and 250 X 2 at 4 ohm bridged. They look good for a 2 way active front stage.

Do you think they'd be better for my SQ then getting another Kenwood (AB amp) to replace my Kenwood 9102d? I'm not sure if there would be a noticeable difference or not. One good thing is that i could make them look like one large amp in my amp rack.

Did you check all your ground cables?

Hook your DMM to the cig lighter so you can keep tabs on exact voltage. Try driving around with the stereo on then parking the car and see what the voltage is once it's off. Then drive around with the system off, park your car and note the voltage. Also watch the voltage while driving. Write all this down. Then in the morning before you crank up the car, check the voltage. Hopefully with enough info you'll see a pattern which will point you in the right direction.

I don't know anything about the Pioneers.

Originally Posted by giucar88

hello..where i can buy the mini keyboard black whit red buttons ?

I bought it at EB games (Gamestop)