ok guys im going to be running a Power Acoustik 1200w amp, not sure which series yet though. It puts out 300w RMS to 2 speakers. ok now for the speakers, 2 12" Pioneer Premier's. Im also gonna be runnin 4 ga. wire to my amp. I already have some box ideas and when i get it built i will get the amp and speakers. All i need to kno now is will i need a cap with this amp b/c i dont want my lights dimming, etc.

thanks for the help,

Kyle

 

if, and thats a big if, your lights dim, upgrade the wiring under your hood (anything that goes between the battery, alt, and ground) to at least 4ga. i got quite a lot of power in my system, and i have no light dimming. caps are a waste of money if your car is setup right.

 

i 2nd that statement

 

woulnt hurt to get a cheap one right? I mean, wouldnt it realive some stress from the altenater? I was running a 300W max system and it killed my stock aleternator. Thats about the worst thing, driving to work whatching my battery get lower and lower and just trying to findout where is a good place to stop. Dads house was on the way so it was all good. Not sure if I'm right but I think I may have just stressed out that altenator.

 

why spend $50+ on a worthless cheap cap (if its not rated to 20v+, its not worth it) when you can upgrade all the under hood wiring for $25 and have plenty of 4ga wire to spare? my sub amp puts out around 600w rms and its a class a/b (draws a decent amount of juice), and my component amp is also always goin. no dimming at all and no cap either.

 

$25? Go to homedepot man! The 4 ga wire is like 50 cents a foot!

 

ya I run 1000 watt amp sony. About the same rms as yours to 2 12s. I dont need a cap....Dont bother. Your call dude.

 

haha, yeah you can find wire pretty cheap. i tend to stick with the scosche 4ga kit because its so unbelievably cheap and the wire is very flexible. if i were to go for anything thicker, i'd get some welding cable (just as flexible, just no pretty jacketing colors).

 

The main reasons for a cap is to stabalize your electrical system. Its the easiest way to do so without having to go under the hood. If you new to the car scene and don't know much i would go with a cap. Because rewiring could be fun and if you don't know what your doing could take awhile. I didn't feel like rewiring my car with 4gauge. so i got a 1 farat cap. Im running my deck, 2 amps fosgate and mtx 4 channel, plus 2 6-1/2 mtx mids, 2-4*6 pioneer mids, and stock 6*9s right and, 2-10'' subs and 1-12'' mtx sub, I noticed quite a bit of dimming before i had put in the cap, but now its as if there wasn't even a system in the car. no dimming what so ever.

so the main thing is do you want to rewire or do you want to add a simple cap?

i personally don't know how to redo wiring but it seems like its a lil bit of work. i mainly deal with audio stuff thats my strong point in cars overall. the cap is fairly simple to put in

pwr from bat to cap,
another pwr line from cap to amp
ground on car to cap,
cap ground to amp ground on amp
and there you go.

heres a pic of how i installed my cap in my
84ta

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/362581/9

so depending on what you know you can go either way.

 

Upgrading wires does help a lot but there is still a limit on how much it will help. I upgraded all my wires under the hood to 4 ga. and it was fine on the sony amp, but as soon as I dropped in the 1200.1 JBL it looked like I had 8 ga. under there again. added a 1.5 Kole cap and no problems. then I switched to a Planet Audio TT1250D and added a second sub and a 4 channel amp for highs, and had to upgrade to the 2.5 farad Kole cap, and my lights still dim. Im getting ready to put in a TT2250D amp and a 4400M 4 channel amp (both Planet Audio) in so I am upgrading to 0 ga for the power and ground so I think Im going to go to 0 ga to the alt and whatnot and see if that helps enough where I dont have to add a second cap.

 

there really is no work what so ever to upgrade the underhood wiring. run a new 4ga wire between alt and battery (dont need to remove the old one, just add this one on) and change to a bigger ground wire. if you have a dual post battery, its even easier.

 

u can always go with a bigger alt.

i went and spent the $160 for a 140amp alt. i pretty much garentee the lights wont dim. lol but u can pick up a 100amp alt pretty decent priced.

just a suggestion

 

i've got a 105a alt and a 850 cca battery, so that may be a bit o help in my case just waiting for the battery to die to get an ultima red or yellow top.

 

i have a 105a alt. and a 780 crankin amp batt.

 

then i dont think u'll have a problem with diming lights with just the wireing. 105amp alt and 780cca batt will be plenty for what u need.

 

Ya dude like I said I got about the same setup as you and I have absolutely no problem. Dont waste your money:lala: