5 Farad Capacitor or new alternator?

ktan23 · Feb 5, 2005

Hello,

I wen to Street Beat today in Hayward and asked if I should get a capicitor.. they said that it would be better if I were to get a new alternator.. I wanted to get the Alumapro 5 Farad CAP, but I don't know what will work better because my interior lights are dimming during the night with my system.. I am running a JL 1000/1 with a 12 W7.. please let me know what I can do so I can bump all night and all day.. thanks..

300Con23s · Feb 5, 2005

whats the amps on the stock alternator?

mache275 · Feb 5, 2005

I have a JL W712 and a Memphis Audio 1200/1 amp and I use a 5 farad Lanzr cap, and I'm good, no dimming whatsoever.

mache275 · Feb 5, 2005

oops, that's Lanzar

wesexcellence · Feb 5, 2005

It's always good to add a cap. We are installing a 100farad Lightning cap for our system. The cap will work for those quick bass notes but not as well as an extra battery for longer notes. This is why we are also adding 2 SP1700 Stinger batteries as well.
The problem is at some point you actually wear down your alternator and that's where a good electric shop comes in.
Hope this helps, Wes

ktan23 · Feb 5, 2005

so do you think going with the 5 farad alumapro CAP would be good for now?

HemiMadness · Feb 6, 2005

Well heres my deal, I am running the Alumapro 5 farad Cap with a 1000/1 with 2 12W7's I noticed a huge differance when the bass hits a fast note, but for everyday music I would say it improves (lights dimming, voltage dropping, quicker bass responce) about 45%, My biggest concern was the outside lights including fog and tail-lights, and that helped them out quite a bit with the "dimming effect"

I have a few complaints aboiut the setup, first the cost factor, you could change to a higher amp alternator and a spare battery for about the same price. Second, I am ruinning 1/0 guage to the amp, but when I installed the CAP it only accept a 4 guage wire, which is still substancial, but not up to par in my book.

But overall I would recomend the setup due to the size and simplicity of the changes needed to make a vast improvement. But thats just my 2 cents

BilboCameron · Feb 6, 2005

You may want to look at getting a Batcap. A Batcap is basically a hybrid of a capacitor and battery. If you do some research on some of the respected car audio forums you will find that most serious enthusiasts do not buy into the merits of a capacitor.

A batcap stores energy like a battery but is able to discharge that energy at speeds that are close to a capacitor. From my experience a Batcap 400 is all you will need. I have used them in a number of installs and have been very pleased.

http://www.batcap.net/index1.htm

bigwise1 · Feb 6, 2005

ktan23 said:
Hello,

I wen to Street Beat today in Hayward and asked if I should get a capicitor.. they said that it would be better if I were to get a new alternator.. I wanted to get the Alumapro 5 Farad CAP, but I don't know what will work better because my interior lights are dimming during the night with my system.. I am running a JL 1000/1 with a 12 W7.. please let me know what I can do so I can bump all night and all day.. thanks..

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm running 1600W rms (Zapco 1000/4, 2 Zapco 500/1) and have called everywhere looking for a higher powered alternator. I talked to Ohio Generator, Stinger, H.0. Alternators, and Mechman and nobody can rewind or makes a drop in replacement as of right now. However, Mechman had a 300C alternator a week ago and said in a couple months they should have a drop in replacement.
Ohio Generator said, "There's good news and bad news about your Denso 160A alt. Bad news is we can't rewind it because the wires square instead of round and welded instead of soldered. Good news is that every Denso we've tested has pushed at least 10-20 amps more than it's rating and you've got one of the best OEM alternators in your car right now."
Read up on this: http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=007801;p=1 . You're going to have to do it when you get a high powered alternator so you might as well do it now and it should help performance even without a higher powered alt. I'm also getting an alumapro cap but I'm getting the 15 farad model and a better battery. Hope this helps.

bigwise1 · Feb 6, 2005

mache275 said:
I have a JL W712 and a Memphis Audio 1200/1 amp and I use a 5 farad Lanzr cap, and I'm good, no dimming whatsoever.

Are your gauge and inside lights dimming?

GUSRED · Feb 24, 2005

my car is dimming like crazy also please someone find a solution... i have a fosgate 800 rms watt amp a 50 farad cap and a 1700 cold cranking amp bat in my trunk...

bigwise1 · Feb 24, 2005

GUSRED said:
my car is dimming like crazy also please someone find a solution... i have a fosgate 800 rms watt amp a 50 farad cap and a 1700 cold cranking amp bat in my trunk...

Gus, did you read the link to the sounddomain forum in my previous post? That's what I would try next.

rogue · Feb 24, 2005

bigwise1 said:
Gus, did you read the link to the sounddomain forum in my previous post? That's what I would try next.

The big 3 upgrade did nothing as far as dimming on my car. I upgraded to 0g all around. It seems this car needs a HO alt or a secondary battery to handle a decent sound system.

wesexcellence · Feb 24, 2005

rogue said:
The big 3 upgrade did nothing as far as dimming on my car. I upgraded to 0g all around. It seems this car needs a HO alt or a secondary battery to handle a decent sound system.

We are going to run 2 SP1700 batteries as well as a 100 farad Lightning cap. Is the alternator going to handle this?

wesexcellence · Feb 24, 2005

BTW we are going to run 6600 watts rms, but mainly for demos. I spend most of my time in deep thought while driving.

rogue · Feb 24, 2005

wesexcellence said:
We are going to run 2 SP1700 batteries as well as a 100 farad Lightning cap. Is the alternator going to handle this?

I would think that if I am still having dimming issues even after upgrading all my wiring with 1600watts, then adding more of a load to the factory alt would cause it to be even worse.

It kinda makes you wonder though, What are all the other shops that have installed major setups in magnums and 300cs doing? Are they simply dismissing the dimming if a HO alternator cannot be found?

I assumed my Hifonics amp was to blame and had planned on replacing it with an Xtant 1001dx if I can find one, or an Orion XTR Pro 1000D in hopes that those amps would cause less dimming. Since upgrading the Big 3 my headlight dimming is minimal, but the instrument panel and aftermarket clock dim like nobodies business. Funny thing is, the NAV unit never dims.

Perhaps its the way the Instrument lighting is wired?

FWIW the EVIC never shows ANY voltage dips below 13.8... hmmmmmm.

wesexcellence · Feb 24, 2005

rogue said:
I would think that if I am still having dimming issues even after upgrading all my wiring with 1600watts, then adding more of a load to the factory alt would cause it to be even worse.

It kinda makes you wonder though, What are all the other shops that have installed major setups in magnums and 300cs doing? Are they simply dismissing the dimming if a HO alternator cannot be found?

I assumed my Hifonics amp was to blame and had planned on replacing it with an Xtant 1001dx if I can find one, or an Orion XTR Pro 1000D in hopes that those amps would cause less dimming. Since upgrading the Big 3 my headlight dimming is minimal, but the instrument panel and aftermarket clock dim like nobodies business. Funny thing is, the NAV unit never dims.

Perhaps its the way the Instrument lighting is wired?

FWIW the EVIC never shows ANY voltage dips below 13.8... hmmmmmm.

As long as you add enough amperage(batteries or caps) then you shouldn't have any dimming issues. However, these batteries need charging and this is where the H/O alternator comes in. Hince, my alternator question. On my Expedition, we usually put it on a 10 amp charger every 4 days or so. However, it has a 318 amp alternator. I'm more than a little concerned that the C alernator can adequately re-vive my set-up.

turbohips · Feb 24, 2005

Stock sounds not sounding so bad after all.

wesexcellence · Feb 24, 2005

turbohips said:
Stock sounds not sounding so bad after all.

Anything worthwhile is going to be harder than the status quo.

bigwise1 · Feb 24, 2005

rogue said:
The big 3 upgrade did nothing as far as dimming on my car. I upgraded to 0g all around. It seems this car needs a HO alt or a secondary battery to handle a decent sound system.

Rogue, I would upgrade your battery and add a cap before buying a h/o alternator.

5 Farad Capacitor or new alternator?

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