When should I get a capacitor//high output alternator
well i got a sub in my trunk but im not worried that would drain too much batery, but now i have a dvd player in my car and i dunno if i shud get a capcitor//high output alternator. with these 2 things shud i even bother worrying about my battery life?? if not, what mods would force me to make that change?
cap if your sub and amp is powerful. alt. if you have immense power. example: i have 2 12"s powered by a 2000 watt rms amp, with a 6 farad capacitor. stock alt. i see little dimmage of the headlights if turned up all the way. in your current setup you are probably good, unless your throwing down about 1000 watts rms with your amp.
I wouldnt worry about it with ur set up. ... A sub and a DVD player is no reason 4 a cap or alt. Unless that sub/amp combo that u have is really really serious...
For every 1000 watts its good to have 1 farad cap. If you get too big of a cap you will need a bigger battery cause it will drain it. And then with a bigger battery your alternator will be short lived or atleast shorter.
Do your lights dimm when your subs hit, any lights interior or exterior?
If so its probably a bad idea to roll yuor windows up while bumping your subs, and you should probably get a cap.
The only reason to buy a cap is if headlight dimming bothers you, and even then the cap doesnt always help. A H/O alt you wouldent need to even begin considering unless you were over 2000 watts or so by a good margin.
I have 4100 watts and still dont need a HO ALT. Rockford 801s = 2400w and Rockford P4004 = 1700. I dunno if ur going on max power or RMS cuz that would lower it to like 1200w rms total. I gotta yellow top but that's just 4 starting in those cold as hell Wisconsin winters when its like 20 below. And I got 3 caps which is over kill and I could get by with 1 and 2 would b just fine but I got them at Best Buy when I used to work there for like $45 instead of $150 so It was a buy 3 for the price of 1 and I was like fuk it, why not?
yeah rms, never max power. Dimming of the head lights is not the only reason, a cap allows the subs to hit harder, and does not strain your battery an alt as much, if its not too big.
alt will cost too much....u relly dont need it.....i would get bigger bettery and cap get it done under 200 doller....if u runnin more then 1000w rms.....i got 34xcd
runnin 1600 rms amp....and two 12" 750w rms each solo-baric L7
got all the parts not installd yet.....shop told me that wont be any problem....
you can buy a one farad lightning audio aka rockford fosgate cap from pep-boys for $99.99 i am not sure if this is a great deal but i know i sold them for 150-200 in an audio shop.
Last edited by nick95673 : 08-24-2005 at 03:34 PM.
yeah rms, never max power. Dimming of the head lights is not the only reason, a cap allows the subs to hit harder, and does not strain your battery an alt as much, if its not too big.
agreed, a cap helps only to reduce the draw from the amp and limit the voltage, so theres no way it makes it louder. only caps that are going to help are over 50farad, the smaller farad cap's will only help for maybe a 1sec, if u need more power start by replacing the battery and possibliy add a second. also the big3 as some call it helps no matter wut.
