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I dont think we have an FAQ on the Big 3.

I will right a short one up when I get a few minutes unless someone else beats me to it.

Basicly what it is the basic wiring of the car is not meant to support such current draws/demands.

The wire from the Alternator to the Battery and Negative Post to the Block need to be changed.

These wires are just to small.

BTW its been said/noted by people with extensive knowledge that the car ground is capable to support around 125 amps of current. You will be going over that so you may want to look in running a ground to the front...

ok does anyone have a detaitled description or how to on this or point me in the right direction?

the big3 is simply upgrading the wiring from your battery, alt , etc.

The big 3??? Ok I’ve been in car audio about 4 years now and I haven’t heard that expression elaborate? Also about my grounds all of my grounds (3) go to ground distribution block into another distribution block (future 4 more gm-f5100 on the way and two more ts-w2000spls on the way) then ground to body. With cap. So this is how my setup is run power wire (1/0) to distribution block 1 (I have 2 tsunami 1/0 in 4 4ga out) then out of distribution block 1 to 3 amps at the moment wire to second distribution block the 4th out has no fuse so second distribution block has no power at the moment. Ground explained above. Cap is inline. Ill get some pics up soon maybe that will help! How do you post pics? Do you have to have them hosted like other forums? O yea i had this professionaly done by a guy named mick who used to hold the world record in extreme 4+

it really sounds like you have a bad ground and if you have separte grounds for each amp than that would make it have differnt volume levels when the other cuts out. it also sounds like its getting underpowered and then when teh sub abp kicks out the high amp kicks the kick of juice and jumps the volume. the big three and a yellow/red top would be what i would try. and also regrounding everything.

Big 3 upgrade?

If not start there. Also your grounding spot for the amps. 1 spot, bare metal and close to where a unibody member joins that area of sheetmetal. THis provides for less resistance and more potential current flow.

Short of that I would say loose connection somwhere. The round AGU fuses have been know to be culprits sometimes. But since it fades in and out I dunno.

Usually when I trouble shot its by the seat of my pants. Just a lot of unhooking and rewiring and it usually magicaly work right then...

yea i do as i mentioned above i work for mtd products in valley city ohio we engineer outdoor power equipment like riding lawn mowers push mowers chain saws all that crap and i borrowed the ammeter from an electricle engineer. ok well ill try this out any ideas for my comp in two weeks?

Yeah don't worry to much about the amps your alts putting out at idle. The main thing to check is your voltage. if it is peaking 13.5 to 15 back to 13.5 or so your diode assemble is going out. If its just plane low 12 to 13 volts its the brushes. Either way yours doesn't seem to be suffering from those problems. So I wouldn't worry about the alt just yet.

You have an ammeter??? Give me one! lol

That is typical of alternators. They don't start putting out their power unless you are above idle.

Before thinking about getting a new alternator, get a good battery and unhook that capacitor. That will tell you there if you will need a new alternator.

ok i just checked my voltages/ohms and all that crap everything looked good i was at 14.2 volts and 3.45ohms at the amps. now i check the alternator and im not getting 160 amps im getting about 65-70 at idle. but how sure are you that this is it? i really dont want to spend 500 for an alternator if its not that?