At what point do you need a power cell?

[bamaster 10+ year member]

When I dropped off my car last night, the shop owner was trying to upsell me into an Optima battery and even a small battery for the trunk. "At least a capacitor", he said.

I'm certain I don't need a cap or second battery. I told him I could always add an Optima later.

So when do you think it would be appropriate to add a power cell battery?

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[18inchjeepin 10+ year member]

a dry cell battery? A sealed or marine or car audio designed battery would be a plus but probably not needed

 

[CRXBMPN 5,000+ posts]

so you have like 750w or so of power output in your system? a yellow top wouldnt be a bad idea.

 

[reclessantics 10+ year member]

Im thinkin about putting a yellow top in the back of my cab in my truck.

ill be pushing a little over 2k watts

but wouldn't a second batter still drain from the alternator?

or would it work as a huge cap?

 

[Plutoman 10+ year member]

At 2k watts, you'll want a second battery. You'll want to possibly look at a high output alternator, too.

With the second battery, the bat will be wired in parallel, so the alternator will put out twice as much current, or basically the equivalent of charging the second battery equally to the second.

A capacitor is not a needed add-on to a system, as what it will do is store a charge, and release it all at once - but then needs to be recharged itself, putting additional strain on the alternator.

As you add batteries, the amperage strain on the alternator rises, to the point where it could fry itself. H/O alternators are made to run high amps to the different batteries. But, if you don't plan on upgrading the system further, it should be fine.

 

[YourNameHere 10+ year member]

so running two batteries on a stock alt. is bad??? i thought it put less strain on the alt.