Would it help if i put a 2nd battery in the back by the box to power my amp? all my lights dim horribly now. And if i add that 2nd battery would it help that and could i smoke in it cuz my dad said the fumes will blow the battery up. any advice will help thanks

 

You shouldn't smoke in the car to begin with, but I doubt the fumes will hurt the battery at all (can't be much worse than some engine bays). And a more powerful alternator would probably be better than the battery.

 

i have a 140 amp alternator

 

You wouldn't have a problem doing this. Yes, car batterys do explode. The battery gives off sulphuric acid fumes when its being recharged at a rapid rate after a complete discharge. You would really only have a problem if the battery was completely dead, then you recharged it for a long period of time in a concealed area with no ventalation, then you would have to "light up" right next to all of the fumes.

hope that helps...

 

I HAVE TWO OPTIMA RED TOP BATTERY(WHERE THE SPARE TIRE USED TO GO) AND A 140 AMP ALTERNATOR.

 

Optima batteries are the way to go... no fumes, they are made with gel and can be mounted sideways, upside down.. or wherever you want. I'm assuming your problem is you are running some massive subs and thumping everywhere? if this is the case the second battery won't hurt but you may have already damaged your alternator.. the proper fix is to run one or two one farad capacitors, available at any decent stereo shop or even best buy. if you install one or more be Very Careful, if charged they will release the full load into you if touch both terminals.

 

why dont you just buy a power cap again?? after all thats what they are made for and they weigh less. Smoking and your battery exploding is actually funny just to think it could happen. You have better chances of winning the lottery than causeing a battery to explode from cigs.

 

It's actually hydrogen that batteries give off. Very very flammable.

 

^^^ What he said. When you charge a conventional battery it produces HYDROGEN (ie. Hindenburg, this crap burns at the speed of thought). But it only produces a little...

Have you done the BIG 3?

 

You could have biggest engine in the world but running it through 1" exhaust is going to kill the performance. Same goes for your electrical system. Good battery and alternator are being killed by the wiring. Upgrade all the connections, clean the terminals, etc. If that's all in good shape and you're still dimming the lights then I personally would go with an optima in the trunk.

 

Like said if your pumping big amps and have a strong alt. power caps is the best way to go.There made for your problem.

 

Caps are a wast, and when it come to car audio there made to drain your wallet. Do the BIG 3 if you haven't. If that doesn't help your problem, depending on what you have for an alt., a second battery my be the way to go. But most of the time good wiring and the right alt is all that you need.

 

im running 0 gauge wire and a 1 farad audiobahn capacitor and a second battery.

 

Wrong on both counts. Optima batteries are not gel cell batteries. Optima uses absorbant glass mat to prevent acid spilling. And they are still vented (those 2 little circles on the top) so yes they can still emit gas. I would still choose an Optima over a standard battery if I were to put one inside my car, though.

Optima FAQ

http://www.optimabatteries.com/publi...age.9999.0.gif

 

Either upgrade to a 200 amp alternator, or turn the amps down a little. Also make sure the ground strap that runs from your battery to your chassis is at least the same gauge you run to your amp, and upgrade the wire running from the back of your alternator to your battery. A 140 amp alternator and proper wiring in the engine bay and to the amp should be able to run a rather massive amplifier without noticeable dimming unless you crank the snot out of it and over run everything. You may want to try pulling out that Audiobahn capacitor as well because if you don't have enough current to feed the amp you certainly don't have enough to feed the amp and constantly recharge that capacitor, take it and wire it in line to your alternator to clean up the current coming from it if you want to get some real use out of it.

 

And... Is that 0 gage to the amps or what you used for the BIG 3?

 

im usin it for both

 

Optimas (red and yellow top) are great batteries. Stay away from the caps. On my trans am, I am running two 300amp iraggi alts and two of the Kinetic 2400 batteries. Extremely powerful with exceedingly fast recharge. Or you can look at the Eagle Picher, the Batcap 8400, the Stinger 2150, or the NSB-2190. All of the batteries in this family will give you optimum performance.

 

What are you running for amps? Stock alt.? I'm surprised you having light dimming with 0 gage for the big 3 unless you're pulling a lot of current.

 

Is this ONE amp doing this, on 0 gauge?

 

Pics of your setup would help clear things up.

 

WHY

LOOK AT MY GARAGE... CAPS ARE YOUR FRIEND....

 

^^^ Caps are the friend that borrows money and never gives it back...

 

I HAVE 40 FARADS OF FRIENDS AND THEY ALWAY PAY ME BACK

 

I've heard of a video where some guys went cow tipping with one of those
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I saw something on that same web page talking about they are mountable in almost any position and are fully sealed. check around see if you can find the batt he might be refering to.

it's in there just not the one you pointed out

 

that is what the cap should help out with is on those high peaks to be able to hold a reserve of energy rather then giving it only off the alt/batt.
plus a good cap shouldn't cause anymore avg drain
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just about every amp I built uses caps. they seem to do ok for me I must say.

 

Do a search for caps here. It's been beaten to death on this board. It's a much wiser use of your money to properly upgrade the electrical system them to dump it on car audio stiffing caps that typically have to high an ESR to be as useful as you think. Stop reading all the cap adds and do the job right. You amp has all the 'cap' it needs on the inside. Unless you opening out the amp and adding low ESR caps in after the amp power supply.

 

SO MY TWO STINGER HYBRID ELITE POWER CAPACITOR'S (20 FARADS A PIECE)
ARE A WASTE OF MONEY....

ARE MY DIAMOND AUDIO D9 AMP'S, SUB'S AND HEX SPEAKER'S A WASTE OF MONEY TOO?

 

Is writing in CAPS suppose to be some kinda pun? if so, we get it, now stop plz. its annoying.

I'm interested in hearing some proofs of Caps being good or bad. You mentiong the rest of your equipment just says you like to spend money or you MAY know something about audio systems. It says nothing about caps being good or bad.

 

My keybored is broken. caps lock is on all the time.... sorry....
I have to hold shift down to type in lower case.

First off this is a highly controversial item. Some people will die before they even try one of these, and some people buy one when not needed. I will try to present to you the facts of what a stiffening capacitor will do and what it won't.

This is meant to clear the air and get rid of any BS you may hear from other people, places, etc.

What is a capacitor?

An electronic device that can store electrical charge. The charge stored Q in Coulombs is related to the capacitance C in Farads and the voltage V across the capacitor in Volts by Q=CV.

They are used for power-supply smoothing or "decoupling". This is especially important in digital circuits where a digital device switching between states causes a sudden demand for current. Without sufficient local power supply decoupling, this current "spike" cannot be supplied directly from the power supply due to the inductance of the connectors and so will cause a sharp drop in the power supply voltage near the switching device. This can cause other devices to malfunction resulting in hard to trace glitches.

Well in layman's terms it is an item that charges rapidly and will hold its charge until it is discharged by the circuit in which it resides. Sort of like a rechargeable battery but it does it much more quickly. (note: this is over-simplified to give you an idea of how it works)

So hopefully by now you get the basic Idea of what a capacitor does.

A cap won't magically make your system sound better! It has some useful advantages.

1) Increases reaction time. Its true! When your amp hits a hard bass note it needs juice and needs it Q-U-I-C-K! If the alternator doesnt have the juice it will cut it short. Furthermore it takes time for the juice to flow from the battery to the amp. The cap effectively elimantes this.

2) Helps prevent voltage drops if the limit of the alternator's ability to supply the current is exceded for only a brief moment. Voltage drop is the result of the amp taking all the current the alternator is putting out and then some. This voltage drop will take away from other electrical devices in your car, like from your head lights and spark-plugs.

FAQ:

Q) How do I know if I need a cap?
A) You will never "NEED" a capacitor. There are other things that can be done so you dont have to use one. There are times when it is acceptable to use a capacitor.

Q) I was told I need a cap!
A) Well do you always listen and do everything you are told?

Q) I was told caps are junk!
A) Well you were told wrong! Caps have their uses.

Q) My lights dim when the bass hits. will a cap or a new battery help that?
A) No. A new, high output alternator is the only solution to this problem. the deep cycle battery will help when the car motor is turned off, only. the alternator supplies ALL of the power the electrical devices in your car use as long as the motor is running. period. a capacitor does not create energy. a capacitor can only store a few seconds of energy and then must be recharged by the alternator.

Now with that out of the way, I'll give my take on what a capacitor will or will not do for you.

A capacitor WILL:
-Stiffen voltage rails. If you experience very brief, momentary periods of high current demand that cause the electrical system to falter only at these rare, peak draw times, then a capacitor will supply the additional current needed (when bass hits maybe) to keep your voltage regulated, and prevent damage to the car or audio equipment.
-Increase response times for musical accuracy by reducing delay caused by a lack of high-current in transient periods. In other words, your subs will respond more quickly, because they don't have to wait for the alternator to supply additional current at the moment of demand. Amplifiers have to provide a very dynamic and quick response many times. A capacitor can assist in this.

A capacitor will NOT:
-replace the need for a larger, high-output alternator and/or a deep-cycle battery.
If your electrical system is inadequate, the ONLY way to fix this, and again I repeat, the ONLY WAY to fix this, is to replace the alternator. This is the SOLE source of electrical current for your car when the motor is running.
When the motor is turned off, the battery then becomes your source of electricity.
When the battery is run down, and when the capacotir(s) is/are depleted, the alternator has to work even harder in order to supply current to the car, the audio system, and also to recharge the capacitor(s) (which deplete very quickly) as well as recharge the car's battery(batteries).
So yes, by adding a capacitor to try taking the place of a high-output alternator, you are actually causing more work for your alternator, and causing even more damage to that stock alternator.
-make your system magically sound 10 times better.

Many people believe that a capacitor adds NO real benefit to an audio system, and this is why you never see before and after demonstrations, or factory capacitor company vehicles at IASCA events.
A capacitor does have it's uses, but it is not a magical fix for a lacking electrical system

 

Thank you LT1LE for taking the time to write that. Honestly the capacitor is about the most heated debate you'll get into over car audio my theory is that due to the high price of a capacitor and people are usually being duped into buying them when they don't need them, after they purchase them they want to justify the money they spent; kind of like switching to overkill wiring and hearing a difference when in fact there wasn't any. In any event if you know why you need a capacitor that's great and hopefully it will help you achieve your goal. If you don't know the true reason you would need a capacitor (and this reason is not to keep your lights from dimming, possibly from flickering but not dimming) then chances are you don't need it and your money could be better spent outside of the car audio store on a higher output alternator. I remember when I got into car audio and couldn't believe that the older people I knew didn't run what the stores had setup and the sales reps said was needed to sound good. It took me a few years to get wise to how most places work and start building systems that satisfied my wants for 1/10th what a "professional" setup would cost.
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To address the main question that I've somehow dodged and rambled around, my opinion is that a secondary battery won't help.

 

"I'm interested in hearing some proofs of Caps being good or bad."

Do a search here for caps and look for post made by Jim85IROC or by me. There have been tons of post by both. It gets old re-typing things that you typed 50 times before.

 

Interesting info LT1LE. To bad about the keyboard thing. I wouldn't think someone who spent boku bucks on their audio couldn't spend $10 for a new keyboard . I'm just messeing around. When my mouse died, I went a week using the keyboard to navigate because I didn't feel like going out to buy a new mouse .
Thats good to know.
I know things come up on searches, but searches are returned by most recently posted. So for me, or anyone else looking for info, this post will show up at the top of the serach and will help.

 

jeez man you guys have it easy. when I was younger my dad took my keyboard away form me thinking it would make me listen. well I learned how to type using the mouse and copy/paste

that sucked