Do I need a Cap? Battery? what?

[Magicfan25]

OK, I have a Pioneer HU thats 50x4 and a 500 watt JL amp pushin my subs. At high volume my indiglo gauges fade in and out noticeably and my headlights flicker some. I wanna stop this, but not sure of the best method.

I've been told a cap, but will it keep up with constant hard hits? (such as on the new eminem cd). Thezeb has 1 farad caps for $60 or $70 with the digital volt meter. Is the volt meter gonna mean anything to me? Also what all do I need with the cap? They have 4awg pass through connectors, can I use that instead of splicing the 4 gauge I already have?

I just bought a battery, but it wasnt an optima. Just a heavy duty from pep boys. Will just a battery solve the problem? If one cap isnt enough, would 2 do it? I think at $60 each 2 would be cheaper than a battery.

Please help me in my ignorance. If I can fix it for $150 or so, I think I'd rather do that than spend $250 on a HO alternator.

 

[white96x]

Ya-it sounds like you need a capacitor. No-the digital volt meter will not necessarily do anything for you except show how many volts-it's basically for show. A new battery won't do the trick-unless it's an Optima Yellow top for example-I'd say the best/cheapest way to stop lights from flickering/fading etc. is to get a cap-it will work

 

[davesexplorer]

-before ya do anything upgrade the postive wire you have going from the alternator to the battery, and the negative wire from the battery to the engine/frame.
-as for getting a cap, whatever floats your boat, if you get a cap with a dist block, and voltage guage, you wont have to buy any connectors and connect the ends to the cap. If you get one without a dist. block you will have to put power rings on the ends and run them off of the cap. Be careful though, as many lower cost capacitors with digital readouts, tend to "leak" energy, and could quite possibly drain your battery if not driven in a while.
-best choice would be the Higher Output alternator, and heavier wiring, but that means more $$$. But thats one less thing you wont have to upgrade in the future.....

 

[Lifted95X]

can you just buy 0/4 gauge replacement cables that go between the altenator and battery, or do you have to make them.

 

[jimbo74]

if things flicker when running, its the alternator.... you should uprgrade to an HO one.... if you cant afford it, a cap will help it out some.....

the battery should be fine.... as long as you arent playing loud when not havong the engine running......

 

[B94Sport]

You should not be getting noticable dimming from a 500 watt system, especially with a 2nd-gen Ex which has the 130 amp alternator stock. I would check your battery cables and possibly replace them if you get a high resistance (this costs less than a cap), and check your alternator as well.

 

[lynchintha93x]

Ok, cap is a no go...they ork for a while but in the long run it just puts more abuse on your battery and alternator. Unless you get a 2 or 3 farad cap you wont stop all the electric resistance. I would get a 120 amp alternator,an optima yellow top, and call it a day...sure it will cost more but you will notice a big difference...and when you want to, if you want to, you could go right into upgrading your system to lets say 1000 watts...in which case you would want to rn 0 gauge from your battery to a distribution of then a 4 gauge power and ground system with probably 10 gauge speaker wire. Good luck.

 

[white96x]

uhhhh-ya i'd say a new alternator and new battery is a good idea if he's running high wattage amp's but he's only got a 500 watt sub amp, a cap would be the most inexpensive and efficient way to solve the lights dimming problem. Maybe if he was running a high wattage amp+a high wattage door speaker amp, i would say get a new alternator and a high output battery too, but thats not the case ..........

 

[Lifted95X]

ok...i have a BRAND NEW 130A alternator in my X. I have an audiobahn 1100RMS sub that is only getting about 350w....and when the BASS HITS....where it sounds good...it does nothing to my lights, when it trys to hit the higher notes, they dim real bad. I don't know if this answers anything...maybe a cap and battery for me, but the alternator is brand new.

 

[springtensi0n]

Caps work well with even a moderatly high wattage system. It's recommended to get 1 farad/1000 watts, or so I'm told. I went ahead and got 2 1 farad caps and my lights barely dim. I'd say that's fairly good for a 1400+ watt system...

 

[white96x]

i got approx. 2300 watts with only one cap and my lights are fine, then again i have an optima yellow top, so i'm sure that helps out a lil'!!!

 

[TarHeel085]

my stereo is up in the 800 range and my lights flicker, i have the 100 CCA, 800 CA battery from pep-boys. my next step is 200 amp alt.

 

[white96x]

i was considering a new alternator too.

 

[jssong]

i heard that the bigger alternators usually have a hard time keeping amps runnin at idle., so u have to be in motion or revving to get the alternator to put out that much.. is this true?

 

[EliteConcept]

i have a 900watt system running with a 130amp alternator and a optima yellow top battery....runs flawless!

 

[lynchintha93x]

I have over 2500 watts running through my system and and a constant output of 14.1 volts at an idle of 1k RPM's with a Ford Motorsports 130Ampere alternator and an optima yellow top...no problem whatsoever

 

[zedsdead]

lynchin.....how come your idle is @ 1k? or is itj ust tuned to where you like it....i think its a little high....

i dont think the ho alt. will do anything bad to idle output, atleast my friends dont have problems, though they dont have x's, but when i get my system in next month im gonna have an optima and a ho alt (around 200-225 amps or so...dont want any dimming...)

i thought a cap was a good idea too, until my buddy got one and it didnt really do a thing for his sytem, we went back to the shop where he bought it from and the guy said that he knew that caps were a bad investment already, but didn't mention it to my friend when he bought it.....

just my .02$