Cap question

[Mafiakiller]

with having a capacitor make a big difference on saving battery life or w.e it helps for your car or audio equipment...my lights do dimm when the bass hits...so im guessing i do need one...

if you guys can help me by listing positive or negative(if there is any) of having a cap.

[euro4-door]

I have a cap and my exterior lights don't dim but my interior lights dim and I have a optima battery pushing 1600 watts through 2 square kickers...

[POST]

No. Caps are useless.

I don't care if you do ANYTHING with your car minus doing only power burps, they're useless. I used to have one and ALL it was good for was being a really expensive, really bright blue voltmeter. That's it.

If your lights are dimming, turn down your bass or get a new alternator, cause either way, you're going to end up doing both ;)

If you want a very big bandaid, get a second battery and charge your car every night. Make sure to keep an eye on voltage levels and only limit your bumpage to a certain amount of time to prevent the 2nd battery from discharging too much. It still won't help with the huge bass hits, but it will help (NOT FIX) the problem with the smaller ones.

[Mafiakiller]

aight cool....thanks

[Notladstyle]

Id get the cap if you have minor dimming.

It wont help battery life but it will lessen the variance in the load on your alternator which is stressful to it. It will also theoretically give you a higher peak output from your amplifier which should "stiffen" the punch notes from bass.

If you have severe dimming I would look into a newer / higher capacity alternator.

[MCOR]

Even though we don't push caps, I think they have their place. They're good for those systems that are right on the edge- EX: good size 1000-1500W systems with usually a mid/high amp and a sub amp, maybe a pair of 12's in a car type vehicle (Hondas, Mazdas, Nissans, etc.) that only experience a little light dimming at night but system voltage doesn't drop below 11.5 volts, fully loaded (ac, lights, bass up). It is a more cost effective alternative if no further upgrades are planned and will keep the lights from dimming. But, we usually push a battery upgrade to the Optima Red Top and alternator upgrade if available as step three. Step four is second Optima red top if steps one through three don't keep up. Understand though, two red tops, two caps, 160amp alternator still won't keep up sitting at a stop light for two minutes, lights/ac/2000 watts of sound all the way up-you will still get some dimming...

[TpaS13]

No. Caps are useless.

I don't care if you do ANYTHING with your car minus doing only power burps, they're useless. I used to have one and ALL it was good for was being a really expensive, really bright blue voltmeter. That's it.

If your lights are dimming, turn down your bass or get a new alternator, cause either way, you're going to end up doing both ;)

If you want a very big bandaid, get a second battery and charge your car every night. Make sure to keep an eye on voltage levels and only limit your bumpage to a certain amount of time to prevent the 2nd battery from discharging too much. It still won't help with the huge bass hits, but it will help (NOT FIX) the problem with the smaller ones.


+1 Exactly!