Hey everyone. I got me an 09 HHR LT a few months ago, and joined the site trying to get info on upgrading my 7 speaker pioneer system and adding a little more bass to it. I added a 5 channel hifonics amp (700 watts rms) pushing all my doors and a pair of 12" subs. This worked fine and sounded really pretty good. Since then my amp has died (I've had it for years) and i bought a small memphis amp (50x2) to run my door speakers, just to get some sound back. This is working fine.
I have since ended up acquiring a Memphis 1000.1 amp 1 ohm stable, and a pair of 12" Fosgate T1's. The problem i have now is I can barely cut the system on before my lights start really dimming (the amp is wired at 4 ohm right now, trying to break the speakers in, so i am not even pulling the 1000 watts). I am afraid this is going to cause me some serious problems down the road if I do not get it addressed. I have been trying to do research on caps, batcaps, batteries, and alternators.
Has anyone had this issue with theirs and what steps do I need to take to correctly address this issue? I know we have some members who work with car stereo and such and just looking for information to help me figure out what i need to do, and also looking for recommendations on the best places to get this type of stuff.
Thanks for all your help guys

 

When I did my first upgrade, every time the bass would hit, my lights dimmed. I added an Optima battery to help the oem and haven't had an issue 3+ years later.

 

I agree.. An alternator would be the best fix, then battery and caps are just band-aids. They dont fix just mask the problem. I'm not sure of any HO alternators tho, so I'd recommend a 600amp kinetik battery or something similar. They are small sized and can be mounted next to the factory no problem.