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Hello,

Im pretty new to this site but I have been reading about DIY mods and such for a while now. I got a 05 civic vp right now with a Kicker Solorbaric l5 12'' sub and a memphis pb600 amp. I have both running straight off the battery. I also have a pioneer head unit with a 6.5 flip screen and a dvd player under my seat. I also just recently switched out my rear 6x9's to the 240w pioneers 6x9's (great DIY on this site for removing the rear deck btw) Ive read alot of posts talking about getting high output alternators or optima batteries and I wanted to know if I was pulling to much from my battery. I have one of those display fuses under my hood and the reading I get from when my car is on and my systems up is about 14-15 (not taking account for the rear speakers/dvd player/few neons) Should I get a h/o alternator or a optima battery or would a power cap be enough?

 
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I would say it depends on how often you're really pushing your amp/sub. If you're one of those guys who has their non-fader all the way up and listens to it that way every time they're out.. on their way to work, cruising around, running errands, etc.. I'd say, yes you DEFINITELY need a performance battery and upgraded wiring to say the least. If you're finding that you're suffering mad voltage drops with the new battery, get the alternator.. otherwise if you just have it turned up a little for every day cruising but like to crank the non-fader up every once in awhile.. showing off to friends, competitions, that sort of thing.. I'd say you could get away without the alternator. I can't recall the stock alternators output off the top of my head.. for some reason, 70-80amps sounds about right? Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Pretty much, whenever the alternator is driven over 120% of the rated output, damage occurs. So just some simple mathematical equations need to be done.

 
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so basically u have an amp, sub, flip screen, and a DVD player...

U wont need a cap.
U wont need a battery unless ur one of those idiots who just sit in their car for 45mins and pound the **** out of their music which in turn makes them gay.
U shouldnt need an alt. I have 2 amps, 2 subs, speakers,deck, and Sirius running on my stock alt and its all good. I also have 3 caps and a yellow top though..

But W/o the yellow top and the caps the system still ran perfectly. I never noticed anything like a volt spike or anything like that that was drastic even with the system turned up.

Oh and by the way, Dark and I r both MECP installers. (1st and Bronze) So u can trust what we say.

 
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Thanks for the info guys. By the way kyle why did you end up getting the cap and the battery? I picked up a cap today just because my friend didnt need it and he prettym uch gave it to me so i figured it wouldnt hurt to mount it up to prevent any dimming or anything like that its only 1.2 fared so im not expecting it to work miracles. Im thinking I might be doing more mods to my car like underglow and some interior lighting but Im thinking lights really dont draw that much power especially the leds correct?