I currently have a 1-Farad capacitor hooked up for my 1600 watt amp. At higher volumes the lights (headlights and taillights apparently) dim noticeably. I was wondering if the cap actually does anything good, such as even out the voltage spikes, or if it is just another current draw on the system. What im getting at: will the lights dim more with the cap out? Also, another subject...would i get better sound out of turning the gains up on the amps, currently about 30-50% depending on the amp, and keeping the HU volume below 50%? I have heard that turning the HU volume much over about 50% can cause distortion, where-as the amp would not distort until about 75% or so. By distort i mean what you can actually hear. Money is the deciding factor right now, i can get a couple new batteries in for free, but i cant get a bigger alt.
Well, it depends on who you talk as to whether an cap helps with dimming. I believe it can help even out the voltage spikes, but you also have to remember that a cap has to recharge, it can only produce its power for a very short amount of time. During that recharging time, your electrical system is really going to suffer. To fix the dimming, you'll eventually need to get a new alternator, or have your existing one rewound to produce more amps. An extra battery wouldn't hurt, but all you'll do is drain it if your alt. can't keep up with what you have now. As far as turning the gains up instead of the HU.... I'd say this a bad idea. I run my gains at practically 0 and am able to turn my HU volume to the max w/out distortion. It will also depend on the HU as to how clear the signal is at higher volumes. Generally, it is a very bad idea to use the gains as a volume knob, anyone on here will agree with me on that I believe. I personally don't like to turn my gains above half b/c i have heard distortion with gains at half... It all really depends on what kind of preout voltage you have (I forget which deck you have, or i'd tell you), but i believe if you have 4V preouts or better, there's no reason whatsoever to turn the gains up over half. If you feel there's a need to do so in order to gain volume, then i suggest you upgrade to a more powerful amp.
capactitors....even out the voltage drops but they cannot give out constant voltage...a capacitor stores energy....it releases it...and charges back up very quickly....secondly...your supposed to have 1 farad per 1000 watts...so technically u should have....2 1 farads....but that really isnt that much of a factor... the extra batteries will only put more strain on your alt...because your alt cannot supply one battery with the power...so how is it gonna supply two??...the lights will dim more with the cap out...u should buy a second one just to cover the extra 500 watts....(better to be safe then sorry) if you were to turn the gains up on the amps that would only force them to run hotter...hence shortening theyre life...and drawing even more power from your straining electrical system and distortion/clipping has no effect on your electrical system...clipping is the mere signal going into the speakers...not the power being drained from batts/alt what kind of car do you have....? ive got a 2002 neon....i ordered a 180 amp alternator from this dood named dominic...and thats a direct bolt-on for a NEON...hehe...only 300 bucks too....should be here next week(god i hope)...then with a deep cycle....and a redtop upfront...i could push double the power...ive got now...2400-3000 watts rms B) you can email him@ dominick@tds.net....great prices and get service....
got a 95 GrandAm...not worried about the JL drawing more current by turning the gains up. Just wondered if the HU would distort any at a given volume BUT i am using the 4-volt pre-outs for the signal. Pre-outs are low current so they are hard to distort. I just answered my own question huh? The cap thing is a mystery....the batteries i am going to get have quite a reserve on them. Both deep cycle, one with the starting specs required, the other for the amps. This will at least allow some functionality for a time, hopefully without the lights dimming as bad. Anyone ever put a small cap in front of their headlights? Ive got one here, an industrial 12-volt, .43 farad just laying around....
Caps == Waste o Money nuff said there are VERY VERY VERY few applications that a cap is truly usful, 99% of the time they either do nothing, or make things worse Get a New Alt, and More Batteries THAT IS THE ONLY LONG TERM SOLUTION Ps. 1 Farad per 1000W umm no, NO CAPS AT ALL NO MATTER HOW MUCH POWER
Can you explain how another battery would put more strain on his alternator??? I thought the alternator drew more power from the battery if it could not supply enough power to the electrical system. I MIGHT have this backwards, but i was fairly certain...
word...that means after i get this alt...that my caps are coming out!!?? and this will work with over 2500 watts rms....180 amp alt....redtop...and yellowtop...WORD!!! =O) (was gonna ask that anyway) also thats what people told me...so thats what i thought was right...thanks mike =) correct me if im wrong...but the alternator is a battery charger the alternator doesnt DRAW anything it PUSHES power into the battery say you have a battery charger....hooked to batterys in a discman thats like sayin the charger...is drawing power from the batteries...because it cant keep enough power in the batterys to keep the cd player running?? my point is.,...the charger cant charge the first set of batteries...it cant keep up...so adding another set...of even bigger batteries is going to put more strain on that battery charger?? correct if me im wrong though
so what your saying is, use the power from the battery to power the amps, and the alt (im not replacing it because im po) to recharge the battery. The additional battery will add more reserve power to the system, therefore be able to provide the power needed for a longer amount of time? I can get 2 good batteries for free, one to start, the other much bigger for the trunk. Would this setup stop the lights from dimming at high bass output? I do not mean can i run the car for 2 hours all the way up and not have the lights dim, i mean drive around town for a hour without the frekin lights dimming.
so what your saying is, use the power from the battery to power the amps, and the alt (im not replacing it because im po) to recharge the battery. The additional battery will add more reserve power to the system, therefore be able to provide the power needed for a longer amount of time? I can get 2 good batteries for free, one to start, the other much bigger for the trunk. Would this setup stop the lights from dimming at high bass output? I do not mean can i run the car for 2 hours all the way up and not have the lights dim, i mean drive around town for a hour without the frekin lights dimming.[/b][/quote] no that is not what I am saying In thorey once the car is started the battery should leave the equasion The Reason why it can not because of the bass "spikes" that cause huge amount of power to be drawn alot faster than the alt can product it you should never have "dimming" of any kind except for on the bass "spikes" With out buy s new HO alt you will be hard pressed to get out the "dimming" as head light also draw excessive amount of power, 20-30 amps :unsure: in some cases (mine are fused to 35amps) you can put small power caps on the HEAD lights, to help with dimming there you can also have your alternator rewound to increase its output about 20% over stock, it is normally cheap about $75
No an alt does not take power from the battery but your electrical system does. A battery helps by giving you the power needed when the alt can not keep up. A cap is almost the same think in a sense. A cap just doesnt hold a charge and charges/discharges faster. A cap can only help if the burps are not close together. A second battery will not help if your amp draws more power then you alt can put out over a period of time!!! say you amp can do 90 amps at 12 volts. That is 1080 watts. about 35% is used for your car and the rest for the stereo. so that is 702 watts. I am not sure how long it fast a battery can charge but say it can take in that much power a second. So that is 700 watts/s. Your amp takes 1200 watts for the beat. so that is 1200 watts and the alt can give you about 600 watts (some are lost do to inefficiency). So your batteries need to dish out 600 watts. This means that you can only have a beat every 2 seconds to allow the batteries to charge back up. What you need to look for is how many amps it can put out when asked too. That can be found by looking at the ca or cca ratings (cranking amps and cold cranking amps). But you have to know if it is measured for a second for 5 seconds. In the end you will always have light dimming if the alternator isnt big enough. And if i am wrong flame my ass!!! oh yeah and michael i am sorry for not putting that thread in the ot section. I didnt realize there was one cause i just clicked on the car audio link at the top and it doesnt show it there
I believe Sandt says that adding another battery will NOT cause more strain on the alternater. Something to do with less resistance with two batterys than with one.
caps ARE useful on a good SQ system. they help to smooth out any voltage rregularities. Otherwise, they are a bandaid at best, an expensive building block for your two year old nephew at the worst
Yes, a cap can be a nice filter....i think i shall leave mine in there, maybe move it in front the dBlock to readily filter out all 3 amps instead of just one. I will throw in the couple deep cycles soon and see what that does. It should help out alot.
i know a few people who have ordered from dominic...one question...at what RPM do the alternators produce full current (or more so, at which rpm are they rated)? i mean if it's around 5-6k like mr alternator's were said to have done...it doesn't do me much good, if it's closer to 1500-2000...that would be nice?
Only if the batteries are connected in parallel... If they are connected in series, the resistance would actually double... I am still debating if a capacitor like Alumapro 15F (with very very low internal resistance) would not be better than a second battery of a Batcap 800 type (relatively fast charging and with enough reserve to sustain longer power demand periods) :angry: This whole thing is really giving me a headache...
