Any Car audio guys in here?

[abew330]

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i agree.. a HO alternator would help better than a cap

[flex1016]

no cap!! and yellow tops go bad in 2 years trust me i been in audio for a long time now.. first thing u haveto do is make sure u have all good grounds and upgrade ur power wire from your alt to your battery, if all fails buy a regular boat battery .. way betterthan a yeallo or red top trust me

[Albuynp Ryeno]

Originally Posted by Eye8Pussies

sorry, just to correct that, a cap does NOT help with dimming.

a cap helps the amp from clipping due to not getting power fast enough. But the cap itself also recharges fast enough to make the lights dim. Therefore, only a high output alternator that can replace that power pulled will reduce dimming. It doesn't increase any strain on the electrical system though, per se. at least not while its not really needed.

idk i have seen a lot of cars where dimming has been helped by a cap.

Oh ya a really easy way to stop dimming is to just use a hid kit with a relay harness. Thats an easy way to take like 80-100 watts of your electrical system.

[Eye8Pussies]

^ I've never seen a car where a cap has helped dimming. doing the big 3 can definitely help dimming though. and I've done lots of car audio and spent many many thousands of dollars before I learned what I needed, built a decent system and then moved on to performance and other things

also, theoretically, a cap does not help in this direction of current draw. It helps only when current is drawn from the cap, and does not affect what the cap itself also has to draw

[ariel_86]

I'm my Camry, I never had a problem with my lights dimming on heavy bass hits, and I had a cap installed. My old civic, on the other hand, never had a cap and always had the lights dim on heavy bass, so from my experience, a cap helps. but if the system isn't wired with the correct gauge or proper grounds or power cables running next to the RCAs and signal wire, then that is the first thing I would remedy.

Having the power cable seperate from the RCAs and signal wire, even back in the trunk where they hook up to the amp/capacitor is important. Anytime they cross, you're asking for interference more so than when they just lay next to each other.

[95PimpingCamry]

For interference make sure that you have good grounds throughout the system and DEFINITELY keep the power and signal wires separate.

The most important part of the audio system power is having proper guage wires and good connections. This can include the big 3 and higher quality/ heavier gauge wires/connectors.

As far as a capacitor goes, if the amp wants more power than the alternator can supply, you need a higher output alternator, end of story. However if the alternator can supply the required power, than a cap can also be useful. The cap acts as a low pass filter in the power system, what this means is that instead of large sudden current draws from the alternator, you will see smaller and longer current draw. This works by supplying the amp with extra power when it needs it (reducing the magnitude of the current spike) and then recharges while the amp needs less power (extending the current spike).
This will only help with dimming lights when the alternator is capable of supplying the R.M.S. current, but not the peak current. This case of dimming is caused by the magnitude of the current spike exceeding what the alt can put out, so the cap then steps in to help and then recharges afterwords.
Some people recommend adding a second battery instead of a cap. This acts like a capacitor, but with different properties. It will have a much larger energy capacity, but will charge/discharge much slower making it a less effective low pass filter (less help with sudden high magnitude current spikes), but helps more with a longer duration current spikes.
In the end though, whether you have a cap, second battery, or neither all of the power must ultimately come from the alternator.

[frojoe]

Originally Posted by ariel_86

I'm my Camry, I never had a problem with my lights dimming on heavy bass hits, and I had a cap installed. My old civic, on the other hand, never had a cap and always had the lights dim on heavy bass, so from my experience, a cap helps. but if the system isn't wired with the correct gauge or proper grounds or power cables running next to the RCAs and signal wire, then that is the first thing I would remedy.

Having the power cable seperate from the RCAs and signal wire, even back in the trunk where they hook up to the amp/capacitor is important. Anytime they cross, you're asking for interference more so than when they just lay next to each other.

I would bet a camrys stock alternator puts out a good amount more power than a civics, and the factory wiring might be beefier as well, the only way to judge if a cap is effective is an identical set up in an identical car, as with too different cars and setups there are many other variables besides a capacitor. Also, never let the power and signal cables run parallel to each other as ariel suggests, they should stay apart from each other, and where they must meet, they should quickly cross and then seperate again.

As far as batteries, i don't personally think they make any difference when the car is running, because the battery is only 12v, and the car running is like 14, meaning that the battery is adding nothing. A battery with a larger capacity only helps when the car is off. If you want to run with the car off, then as flex said a real marine battery is probably more effective and cheaper than an optima, but anythings better than stock. The following is from bca1.com, a car audio information site that many people respect greatly...

"Extra batteries:
Extra batteries are great if you want to listen to your system with the engine off. While the alternator is charging, the extra batteries will only draw current which could otherwise be going to your amplifiers. For proof, all you have to do is measure the voltage while the engine is running. It should be approximately 13.5-14.4 volts DC. Then turn the engine off and measure the battery voltage again. Now it'll be around 12-12.5 volts. Whenever the voltage at the battery is up around 14 volts, there is current flowing into the battery."

Originally Posted by Albuynp Ryeno

idk i have seen a lot of cars where dimming has been helped by a cap.

I'd love to hear how you knew the capacitor helped. Were the voltage drops less, the current drops less, higher decibel readings?

[Albuynp Ryeno]

Originally Posted by frojoe

I'd love to hear how you knew the capacitor helped. Were the voltage drops less, the current drops less, higher decibel readings?

The dodges headlights stopped dimming...

Oh but on a side-note in my sound system a cap is awesome. Before during bass heavy rap songs. My woofers would hit the first couple of notes really clearly but after that they hit the other notes not as hard. (btw the notes were all the same and they were played all right after another).

After the cap, all the notes were played identically. Also on the voltage display you can see the cap going down to like 8 and 9 volts. So yes i got higher decibel readings.

Unless you put a cap in a system that doesnt have a cap, you'll never know the benefit of a cap, since you'll think the song is being played the way its supposed to be played.