Extra battery or Cap?

[gl-john 10+ year member]

I'm putting in a system in my old car. Nothing big but it does draw pretty good power. With the sub in now I notice that my head lamps dim when the vehicle is going down the road. I'm only running one kicker 850.4 amp and one kicker sub with components up front. Would you recommend putting a cap in or another battery. How big of a cap should i use? Or what battery?

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[adas Pro Seller]

850w, have you done the big 3 with at least 4ga? especially in old cars, it can make quite a difference

 

[gl-john 10+ year member]

Yes I'm running 4ga on power and grounds. Question is for this system would you recommend a cap or should I go to an extra battery.

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

Yes I'm running 4ga on power and grounds. Question is for this system would you recommend a cap or should I go to an extra battery.

depends on how old your car is...my maverick(73) has a 60amp alt on it, dimmed even with the big 3

I upgraded to a 120amp and had no more dimming issues

 

[bad @SS chevy 10+ year member]

everstart maxx marine drycell battery is 70 bucks @ wal-mart.. dont ever get a cap.

 

[adas Pro Seller]

Yes I'm running 4ga on power and grounds. Question is for this system would you recommend a cap or should I go to an extra battery.

I'm not talking power and grounds from the amp, I'm talking battery to chassis and engine block to chassis, and alt to battery, you know that right?//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif
If so, then I would recommend a extra batt over a cap...

 

[gl-john 10+ year member]

Not worried about the cars electrical system. It has a 130 amp alt and heavy enough wire to handle it. Just want to get rid of that spike of voltage.

 

[pilsburypie 10+ year member]

I'm having the same problem with my car - have a modern VW Passat, 1500w Impulse amp powering 2 12" Impulse subs with a 333w Sony amp powering the front components....... my lights dim too when the volume is blasting - headlights, dash lights etc.

Not done the big 3 - car is still in warranty and that may well invalidate that. Would the big 3 help dimming lights that much?

Why steer clear of power caps?

Would an extra battery help me?

Cheers, Mark

 

[stuckinok 5,000+ posts]

search.....

 

[dman4486 5,000+ posts]

I'm having the same problem with my car - have a modern VW Passat, 1500w Impulse amp powering 2 12" Impulse subs with a 333w Sony amp powering the front components....... my lights dim too when the volume is blasting - headlights, dash lights etc.
Not done the big 3 - car is still in warranty and that may well invalidate that. Would the big 3 help dimming lights that much?

Why steer clear of power caps?

Would an extra battery help me?

Cheers, Mark

search function will answer all of these ?'s...but because im semi drunk and feeling good, the cap presents more load on the system, and the battery is only good for stabilizing 12v...the car should run above 13.

more battery = longer engine off system time!

yes the big 3 helps

 

[adas Pro Seller]

Not worried about the cars electrical system. It has a 130 amp alt and heavy enough wire to handle it. Just want to get rid of that spike of voltage.

heavy enough wire being.....?
The largest difference I had in my electrical in my M3(which has THICK *** stock wire) was batttery to chassis and engine block to chassis in 1/0. With a stock 120amp alt and stock battery, I could do 1300w with a .4v drop in voltage. Before, it went down 1v. Trust me, those grounds WILL make a difference if you have stock grounding wires.

After an upgraded battery, my drop was a bit less. Also, If your still runnning the stock battery, a better duralast/everstart/ or better yet a sealed Kinetik/stinger 1800 would help you out

 

[Lakota 5,000+ posts]

Caps...booo

 

[Goindef154 5,000+ posts]

Yah definitely make sure you have a big enough stock battery first, just adding a second battery to the back isn't really going to hel anything at all if your wires and battery under the hood aren't big enough to handle the load.

 

[DBDRAGGUY 10+ year member]

Upgrade in this order: wire, batts, alt.