i have a regular battery and the stock alternator. im running a 400 watt alpine amp to 4 alpine door speakers and a 500 watt alpine amp to a kicker L5 sub with alpine head unit and 8 gauge wire. a couple guys at work said it would be a waste of money for me. if i didn't need a cap i could put the $60 towards a set of fogs

 

no need i dont think...

 

no you never need a capacitor, especially with that low of power. If your around 1500 watts of total power it wouldnt hurt upgrading your battery, or just adding another to your system.

 

Probably would be, you will know if you crank your system a night and your lights dim.

 

so if my lights dim at all should i upgrade my battery or get a cap? also, i plan on installing an e-fan in a month... wouldn't that drain more juice from the battery? with the sound system and e-fan, would a battery upgrade be a good choice or should i be fine with stock?

 

do the big-3... if you still have dimming problems upgrade your battery... if your still dimming upgrade your alt

a capacitor is not the correct solution to dimming problems

 

x2

Caps are only good if you want to get louder.

 

im 100% sure on this, do the big 3 first with 1/0 would make for a solid improvement. That should solve most of the dimming issues your having especially at that low of power. If not the improve your battery or alt. The alts purpose is to charge the batteries when the truck is on and moving (belt driven). Obviously if you dont realy just go out and blurp, you should be alright with just adding another battery to the system to have more back up power ready for when your system hits. A capicator is like 1/100th of a basic new deka 931 (I think thats right about the comparison) The point im getting at is capicators are pretty much worthless, if you ever have power issues, upgrade the lines then add more power. A capicator is just a crazy small battery but only like 1/3 the price sometimes higher.

I was the guy that got owned by a capicator when I was 16 from a car audio shop. I then installed my last setup adding an extra dry cell and a 250 amp alt and now my lights get brighter as I accelerate. I hear that is not necessarily(sp) an issue but just that there is more power available especially at higher rpms.

 

caps are about as good as a watch battery......pretty pointless and worthless.
get a better battery with a high amp hour capacity and do big 3.

 

Naw, no need for a cap.

 

uhh, i like louder... lol.

is this true yall?

o, and WHAT'S A BIG 3!!! excuse my lameness

 

Wow. More than enough incorrect info is in this thread as the entire site of CA.com. Its that bad.

Batts are necessary when dropping below 12.6v or when car is off.

Caps will help stabilize the ripple in the current and let true DC through, this will in turn make the caps in the amp more efficient and helping it to run cooler as well. This may help a slight bit.

Alt - Necessary upgrade when moving and when pulling more than 120% of the rated capacity of the alt. (which isnt much considering the vehicle normally pulls 85% of the rated output of the alt, when all systems are on.)

Big 3/4 - B+ to Alt+, B- to Frame, B- to Chassis, B- to Engine.

 

I've ran a few caps one in my very newb setup in a old 94 ranger which had dimming problems and a 1 farad cap fixed it. Now I have a 1 farad cap in my setup on my 05 which has way more power than my last system and most normal peoples and I've never had a problem. I don't see a problem spending $100 on a cap so you don't drain the baterry and make the alternator work hard on every bass note. I think telling someone with this simple of a setup to get a new alternator is absurd, why spend so much on an alternator when it's not necessary for a basic setup? My new system in my 08 will not get a cap just to see if this "big 3" really works even if it does there's no harm in getting a cap.

 

styx and I are correct. But we never said he will probably need one. Just the alt would be the upgrade after the Big 3/4 if the dimming problem is not solved.

 

Upgrade your wires. 8ga is too small.