Cap or alternator

[Brian03Galant]

I have an 03 ES 2.4....

I have an old Alpine MRP-200 amp and two ten's.

When I turn up the sub output on the head unit and the bass hits hard my lights dim at idle. When above idle they do not dim.

But putting a voltmeter on the battery terminals the alternator is putting out 14.3 volts when the bass hits it drops to 12.3....

Should I install a cap or is the voltage reg going in my alternator?

[oakrdrs187]

Capacitor my take care of this. HIDs won't dim FYI.

Anyway, in these cars it doesn't take much to get the lights to dim even slightly. I remember when all I had was a head unit and stock speakers no amps at all, on hard bass notes I could see a slight dim on the interior lights.

[nitrodude]

Alternator.

Don't waste money on caps. That's a bandaide.
Can you get away with a cap? Yeah.
Would an alt be better? Yeah.
Caps just store energy while the alternator supplies it.

[oakrdrs187]

Alternator.

Don't waste money on caps. That's a bandaide.
Can you get away with a cap? Yeah.
Would an alt be better? Yeah.
Caps just store energy while the alternator supplies it.

With a 200 rms amp, it's probably best to get a 1F cap and call it a day. HO alternators come with a big price.

If it were 2000 wrms, I'd go HO alt and multiple yellowtops and leave out caps completely.

[nitrodude]

I thought he said it was a 2000 lol missed a 0.

Yeah with only 200 watts get a small cap and do the big 3!
Small cap ~$30 and big 3 ~$20

What wiring are you using for your amp??

[Redhaze]

Dont waste your money on a cap... your lights are dimming because of a bad ground somewhere do the big three and shave your amp grounds to bear metal. All caps are good for is if your burping your car in a car audio competition (and even then you still need multiple batteries).

Caps only store quick burst of energy for deep bass notes meaning if you have multiple bass notes back to back your alt well be stress to hell trying to charge and keep the cap full and also your voltage well be real low because all the energy stored in the cap well be gone which mean your amp well clip whenever the voltage goes below normal 12v shorting your speakers life. your best bet is to do what i said above and also get a second dry cell battery (agm).

[Galantman03]

Dont waste your money on a cap... your lights are dimming because of a bad ground somewhere do the big three and shave your amp grounds to bear metal. All caps are good for is if your burping your car in a car audio competition (and even then you still need multiple batteries).

Caps only store quick burst of energy for deep bass notes meaning if you have multiple bass notes back to back your alt well be stress to hell trying to charge and keep the cap full and also your voltage well be real low because all the energy stored in the cap well be gone which mean your amp well clip whenever the voltage goes below normal 12v shorting your speakers life. your best bet is to do what i said above and also get a second dry cell battery (agm).

OK I will say this, a capacitor is basically a battery. Yes, his lights could be diming from a bad ground, but if it didn't that that before, and now it does it after words, he's drawing to much power for the amp to chrage the battery that quick, so it dims the lights. If you put a cap or battery in between the car batt and the amp (both work the same way) it will quickly discharge the Item that is closer to the amp (aka batt or cap) while the main battery slowly charges back up the cap or battery.

I will tell you this, before I had a 1F cap, my lights where diming all the time when the bass hit, and I think I even killed the car one time at idle because of that, and I was only pushing 500 watts, I now have 2 500 watt amps going to a dual 4 ohm subs, and I crank that thing with HID healights, no light diming at all.

[Redhaze]

1200watts big 3 no cap Hifonics BRZ 1700 at 2 ohms (cea rated) stock alt plus amped highs and mids no light dim. Just added a second battery to stablize my voltage now i stay above 13v at all times even at full tilt.

the stock wiring and grounding points are poor thats why his lights are diming if you look under the hood the grounding point is welded on (stock) which is a terrible spot for a ground. a better spot would be the strut tower.

You cannot compare a cap to a battery unless your looking at a batcap (which is a battery with a built in cap)....take your battery out and try to start your car with a cap you well see your epic fail in your comparison.

In the end a 64 dollar kintec is = to a 100fared cap ftw.
if you decide you want to buy a cap let me know i have a 1 fared sitting on my kitchen table... it was useless to me after my big 3

[oakrdrs187]

I will tell you this, before I had a 1F cap, my lights where diming all the time when the bass hit, and I think I even killed the car one time at idle because of that, and I was only pushing 500 watts, I now have 2 500 watt amps going to a dual 4 ohm subs, and I crank that thing with HID healights, no light diming at all.

HIDs won't dim brah...even if you pulled the cap and kept the amps.

[Brian03Galant]

I am searching for a tut on the big 3 install... I have searched but coming up empty

[Redhaze]

I found a tut

4g-0g tut First buy wire
next run the wire for the ground follow the stock wire.
cut the wire to length and install ring terminals.
bolt ground to engine and chasis (strut tower well do)
next follow alt stock wire measure and cut
install ring terminal.
bolt to alt then to battery
now connect ground to battery
http://forum.sounddomain.com/ubbthre.../312025/page/1
you can fuse it if you wish its not necessary some people do it just cause it came stock fused

ill post pics of my big 3 tomorrow if i get a chance to and when you do your wires you should solder the terminals on i forgot to do that part myself soo ill have to take all my wires off one day and fix it.

[Brian03Galant]

Thanks a lot maybe this weekend i can do this

Sent from my DROID3

[Redhaze]

Np and the reason i said do grounds first is because if you run out of wire you never want to much power going in then whats comming out. Good luck if you do it. it doesnt take long at all its pretty simple and make sure you LEAVE your stock wires lol dont pull them out ( you never know something may go wrong and you have to revert back to stock). just add to them. the current well flow through which ever wire gives the least resistance

[Galantman03]

HIDs won't dim brah...even if you pulled the cap and kept the amps.

Hmm, mine did before the cap. Oh and I forgot to mention I have a bluetop battery also so... yeah lol

[oakrdrs187]

I have never seen hids dim. Wows!

[Redhaze]

Hmm, mine did before the cap. Oh and I forgot to mention I have a bluetop battery also so... yeah lol

bad ground man your voltage is unstable get a DMM on your battery and put your stereo full tilt and watch your voltage go to town.

If your hids where dimming that means your voltage was going dangerously low i think HIDs voltage range is like 9v-16v? that means your voltage was droping below or around 9v.... your battery is doomed

I have never seen hids dim. Wows!

because your voltage should never drop low enough for them to dim if it does then your have some major electrical problems

[Galantman03]

I have never seen hids dim. Wows!

lol oops

bad ground man your voltage is unstable get a DMM on your battery and put your stereo full tilt and watch your voltage go to town.

If your hids where dimming that means your voltage was going dangerously low i think HIDs voltage range is like 9v-16v? that means your voltage was droping below or around 9v.... your battery is doomed

hmm funny thing is my battery is fricken awesome, and it doesn't do it anymore.. come to think of it, I think its the original altenator LOL oh well, just a couple more weeks and then its going into the garage for a very long time

[Redhaze]

lol oops


hmm funny thing is my battery is fricken awesome, and it doesn't do it anymore.. come to think of it, I think its the original altenator LOL oh well, just a couple more weeks and then its going into the garage for a very long time

wasnt trying to push your buttons just trying to inform you of other ways to fix your issue for a longer run for your vehicle and car audio. sure you can use a cap i did for long time because it solved my dimming lights issue until i did tests on my own vehicle and saw my voltage was still dipping down low and causing my amp to clip my subs anything below 12v on a amp is unstable for it making it clip/distort which well shorten your subs life.

[Galantman03]

wasnt trying to push your buttons just trying to inform you of other ways to fix your issue for a longer run for your vehicle and car audio. sure you can use a cap i did for long time because it solved my dimming lights issue until i did tests on my own vehicle and saw my voltage was still dipping down low and causing my amp to clip my subs anything below 12v on a amp is unstable for it making it clip/distort which well shorten your subs life.

nah man, your not pushing my buttons, I'm easy going, and still learning on things man lol. I was planning on fixing the grounds and what not when I redo my engine harness, just kinda been putting it off ya know? lol

[Redhaze]

nah man, your not pushing my buttons, I'm easy going, and still learning on things man lol. I was planning on fixing the grounds and what not when I redo my engine harness, just kinda been putting it off ya know? lol

o yea i know how that is it took me almost 6 months to just run 1 wire from my alt to my battery LOL.