Do I need the cap?

[buster 10+ year member]

I have a factory 100 amp alt and about 900 watts of amplifiers that are voltage regulated running at 4 ohms. I have a 1 farad cap already wired in. Is it doing any good? If not, is it hurting the system bad enough to go through the trouble of taking it out and rewiring? Take it out or leave in?

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[Savant 10+ year member]

If your headlights (and other electrical thingymabops) are all running fine, then the cap isn't really hurting anything.. it might actaully help if you have a big bass spike.. If your system is being taxed for juice all the time, the cap isn't helping and can be hurting..

As long as your car seems to have all the juice it needs, I'd say leave the cap for now.. Probably too much of a hassle to remove it..

Just keep in mind, in general caps don't do alot of good. They have specific uses but most people think they can generate power and let them avoid upgrading an alternator which usually leads to alternator melt down.. If your system is running like it should, you won't get any real use from a cap.. If it's not running like it should, upgrade the alternator..

Hope that helps..

 

[Geminidj2000 10+ year member]

yeh if u have problems upgrade your alt.......... and the wires dont just upgrage your alt and not increase the ground wires and such (the mistake i made) I've herd mixed things about caps some say threy hurt some say they dont.... bit it probably does help during those bass spikes

 

[Primetime 10+ year member]

Gemini, what do you hit with those 2 IDMAxs in the sealed box? I currently have one in a sealed box that is a lil bigger than yours. I am thinking of adding another lol.. have you ever been measured?

thanks

Dave