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i just bought a kenwood amp, its 480 RMS 960 Max watts, its powering a 500 Rms 1000 watt rockford sub. I have no capacitor, but i plan on getting one soon just didnt have enough money at the time. Basicly my question is, how bad is it for my alternator to be running a system like that with no capacitor? at night my lights dim and all that.. and if anyone wants to sell an old cap let me know, thanks

 
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Personally I wouldn't waste my money on a cap. Here is a good thread on capacitors on another board I am a member of. The whole thing is worth a read but on the 2nd page there is a long post explaining what capacitors do.

http://forum.elitecaraudio.com/showt...hreadid=119937

 
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I guess that summed up my opinion on caps...I believe I'll return mine tomorrow...looking at the math it really explains the lack of benefit from a cap...kindda funny when you think about it.

 
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A capacitor is basically like a big rechargable battery, it simply stores power so that you dont pull too many volts from your battery up front (thus the dimming of lights) A cap has been shown to save your alternator, but your best bet would be to get rid of your low end battery under the hood and replace it with a marine battery, like optima. My buddy has the same setup in his accord and it has been running on the same battery and alternator, with a 1 ferit (spelled wrong) power cap for 5 years and has never had a problem.

 
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its doing nothing to your alt, i have an 05 ex coupe, when the car is moving your fine, sitting still youll notice dimming of the lights if the GAIN on the amp for the bass is set higher than it should. you dont need a capacitor, im running an MTX Pro Audio 400x5 Thunder amp, 90 watts rms to each speaker and then 430 watts rms to each sub woofer @ 2ohms.. i just get a little dimming if i crank the bass to blow out my windows. If you are worried about this alot, get a yellow top battery

 
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It really has very little to do with the gain being set incorrectly on your amp. The capacitor will provide instantaneous power to the amplifier when the amp needs it (strong bass note hits).

When your engine is turning quickly (therefore the alternator is as well), you should have little problem with dimming. Because our cars have a small, low amperage battery, the recommendation to get a new battery is not a bad one.

I can tell you that I've been running a MTX 6500d (775W RMS) and a MTX 8302 (240W RMS), which are highly under rated. The fuse rating on the amps is 135amps. I've been using the stock alternator and stock battery for over two years with no problems (except if I listen to the radio with the car off for more than 10 minutes).

You should be fine with that one amp without a cap. If you upgrade to many high powered amps, you may think about investing in a cap.

 
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Here is the bottom line. I am not going to make anything up, this is straight from my Electical Engineering classes I am taking at my college.

A capacitor basically wants to keep the voltage across it constant. When installed off the battery and grounded with the chassis it is basically in parallel with the battery.
What that means is that the whole electrical system of the car drops in voltage (for example a large bass hit) the capacitor will output huge amounts of current to try to keep the voltage as stable as possible. A cap can output much more current than your battery can, because the battery can only output huge currents at nearly 0 volts.

Bottom line: capacitor kind of stablizes the electrical system. It supports it during heavy loads.

 
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I doubt you even need a battery unless you drive around blasting your system in unbearable levels. I have over 1500watts rms going in my car and when i turn it up say 75% i get dimming but its very minor dimming and nothing to be worried about. If your really scared about your electrical system, buy an optima yellow top and you will be 100% good.

 
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thanks guys..i actually just got two new lower rms 12's to replace my one higher one. i barely get any dimming at all, and also hits 10x louder. i actually think something is vibrating loose on my passenger window, when i put it down and watch it go down it sort of dips to one side looking like its going to fall into my door. its not too bad now, but i tend to drive with that window up all the way now

 
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This is true in most electrical situations, however when your amps draw a massive amount of current, they will drain the cap almost instantly, and then once the battery drains it really won't help because it doesnt have a chance to recharge. You still end up with spikes of voltage.

 
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cap just drains more power. its not a free energy source.

 
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uh-huh thats why a deep charge battery, namely the car audio optima yellow top would be much better than a cheap cap, the only way you could make a cap worth it is if you listen to your music with little bass and then a few big hits of bass where the electrical system needs an extra push for a few seconds