hooking up caps to amps

[NOAHS88accord]

I was curious what would be the pros/cons of hooking up two .5farad distributor caps to one 300watt amp? I know just one would be enough, but I was just curious what 2 would do. I plan on getting a MA AUDIO .5 farad cap

[TJ89Accord]

why not just get one 1 farad cap?

tim

[goldyaccord]

Originally posted by TJ89Accord
why not just get one 1 farad cap?

tim

I agree. use 1 Farad cap. even better, upgrade the alt. instead of paying for a cap.

[NOAHS88accord]

two .5's are cheaper than one 1farad, I have been wanting to upgrade my alternator for almost a year now but dont know of any place that has high output alternators for our cars

any help on that would be awesome!

NOah

[RobT5580]

You can get a 1 Farad cap off ebay for dirt cheap and a good brand to. I wouldnt bother with two .5 farad caps and i dont think they are that much cheaper. I got a digital top one for under $100 and you dont even need the digital top.

[AccordEpicenter]

If you were to compare them, 2 .5 caps would perform better than a single 1 farad cap, it just depends how much wiring you want to do. Multiple smaller caps are always better than one big one in electronics... just look at top end audiophile amplifiers. I doubt youd notice a difference between the 2 because youre only running 300w, if you were running 3-4x that you would for sure.

[kennycm]

what kind of amp is it, u might not need a cap.

[shepherd79]

wait a minute, if you gonna hook up a cap to 300watt amp because you lights are dimming than you have some electrical problem. our systems can handle about 500-700watt of power before you start seeing dimming light.
i am running 500watt system and it is just fine without a cap.

[AccordEpicenter]

upgrading your ground straps and battery connections should be plenty before you start with anything else, cheaper too.

[danronian]

Originally posted by shepherd79
wait a minute, if you gonna hook up a cap to 300watt amp because you lights are dimming than you have some electrical problem. our systems can handle about 500-700watt of power before you start seeing dimming light.
i am running 500watt system and it is just fine without a cap.

My lights dim alot with my 200 watt optimus 2channel mono amp, is this just a high drawing amp or do I have a weak electrical system? If I have the stereo all the way up the lights actually look like they are nearly shutting off, should I just clean up all of the grounds and buy thicker grounds or is it the alt.? I am also thinking of buying a higher powered amp since mine doesnt two much for two ten inch subs, will a jensen 460 watt amp be a good choice, since i really dont want to spends any more than 100 dollars, or is there another cheap brand of amp that would work good for two subs that handle 250 watts rms(my current box setup)?

[AccordEpicenter]

yeah i ran 200w with no discernable dimming at all, then i upgraded to 400W and got a little dimming which was fixed by upgrading my ground cables. I run the 1200w with just the big alternator (140 amp) and it dims slightly when rolling.

[TJ89Accord]

I have a Zapco 350 amp and 2 12" JL W3s and the lights dont dim at all. Even when I blast the hell out of it and just sit there in park. Check the grounds and stuff.

tim

[hondaaccord_86]

CHEAP AMP that works ok...

PERFORMANCE TEKNIQUE

you can get a 500watt amp for little under $100
i think the 1000watt is under $200

[AccordEpicenter]

ive never used one or known anybody who has but im really skeptical about those power ratings...

[Y3G]

one warning about caps!!
NEVER EVER CONECT THE TWO TERMINALS TOGETHER!!!!
unless you want your face to look like MJ then go right ahead

[shepherd79]

Originally posted by danronian
My lights dim alot with my 200 watt optimus 2channel mono amp, is this just a high drawing amp or do I have a weak electrical system? If I have the stereo all the way up the lights actually look like they are nearly shutting off, should I just clean up all of the grounds and buy thicker grounds or is it the alt.? I am also thinking of buying a higher powered amp since mine doesnt two much for two ten inch subs, will a jensen 460 watt amp be a good choice, since i really dont want to spends any more than 100 dollars, or is there another cheap brand of amp that would work good for two subs that handle 250 watts rms(my current box setup)?

if you lights dimming with 200watt amp than you should check your ground on the battery.
how old is the battery? if it is old, than you should get biggest battery you can fit.
oh yeah, you can go to autozone and they will check your electrical system for free and tell you what is wrong with it.

[Swan]

I'm not sure if they fit on our cars, but Stinger makes alternators... I saw it in a car audio and electronics magazine...in fact, I'm gonna go find the stinger website now and see if it would fit!

[AccordEpicenter]

i think with custom brackets you can make it fit anything. Serious hardcore car audio guys with comp cars somtimes use huge alternators from ambulances and what not

[danronian]

Where are the ground I should replace, the one on the engine is the only one i can remember seeing? should I buy a certain gauge? what kind of battery connections should I upgrade to? And if none of this does a thing, what kind of battery should I buy? As soon as I get this straigtened out I am going to buy a 500watt amp, but until my electrical can handle a 200watt amp I'm not changing a thing.

[AccordEpicenter]

use anything 4 gauge and bigger