im now convinced batcap 2000 can't handle..

[vandiar2 10+ year member]

take one lead to the positive terminal on the battery, one lead to the positive amp input, what does it read? should be very small, like .005 ohms or somethin

ahh. soon as I go on break I will go test it.

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

ahh. soon as I go on break I will go test it.

do it with everything off, btw. If you get zero, you either can't measure small enough, or you need to step down the setting on your dmm. If you get like .5 you know you have a serious problem with your connections

 

[vandiar2 10+ year member]

Alright.. I could get a 150 amp alt for 150 bucks + shipping... so about as much as a battery would cost me. Would 60 amps make that much of a difference or.. should i spend that on a good battery up front.

 

[Rashaddd 5,000+ posts]

Alright.. I could get a 150 amp alt for 150 bucks + shipping... so about as much as a battery would cost me. Would 60 amps make that much of a difference or.. should i spend that on a good battery up front.

the thing about HO alts is they usually produce a lower percentage of their max current, at idle, than stock alts do, so your 150 amp alt may only charge about the same at idle as your 90 amp one, but assuming it's rated properly it'll make a pretty good difference having the extra 60 amps of charging while you're driving. I'd look into seeing if you can get a bigger one like 200 amps or more, but especially if your current alt is really old, yes a HO one should be a big improvement.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

I have a pair of batcaps sitting within 2 or 3 feet of my amp, running 1500 rms. If I measure voltage at the batteries playing a test tone full tilt, it drops to about 12.6 after about 15 seconds. At the amp, it drops into 11's...the difference? The wire and connections.
Edit: Which aren't very good and I need to fix them but I can't be bothered because I'm taking it all out soon anyway...

I don't think he is playing tones, he is playing music. I would expect the drops he is getting from tones, but not music.

Bullshit I don't dim with my 9.1 unless I crank it up all the way. I mean I did burps with my 9.1 and my voltage would drop to like 13 or so. But regardless a no battery is going to be good enough without something to charge it. And if he is riding around full blast all the time, the alt is not going to be able to produce as much current as he's pulling. I would get an h/o alt before saying the batcap isn't working. No matter what battery you put in there, if it isn't be charged as much as it's being used, it won't get the job done.

He has his batteries fully charged and the both passed load tests. Even with his batteries fully charged, he still dims on MUSIC.

I have knu 1/0 from front to back pos and neg. 1/0 welding wire on the big 3. I guess I don't understand exactly what you are telling me. I have checked all of my fuse holders, made sure everything was snug. I am lost no doubt. now, the guy that was talking about being having low voltage at idle. The car I am driving is a manual. at high rpm's going, my lights still dim.

I don't think your alt is too small, but there is still a chance that it is defective. If it is defective and needs replaced, you might as well entertain a HO alt.

Ok.....1000w rms means you're pulling what, 100A at most? The 1500 he's using has 160A fuse rating. They are efficient, but if he has a 70 amp alt too, there's a 60 amp difference between what both of ya'll are pulling.

1000W RMS

x 80% (efficiency)

---------

1250W

/ 13.8V (average under load)

---------

90A

Now if he is running music, there is no way he is pulling half of the fuse value on that amp. He can clamp the wire to be sure, but I would bet you a whole bunch that his amp is not pulling anywhere near 130A, even playing music at full tilt. He might peak near 100A, but no chance he is staying that high continuous.

the thing about HO alts is they usually produce a lower percentage of their max current, at idle, than stock alts do, so your 150 amp alt may only charge about the same at idle as your 90 amp one, but assuming it's rated properly it'll make a pretty good difference having the extra 60 amps of charging while you're driving. I'd look into seeing if you can get a bigger one like 200 amps or more, but especially if your current alt is really old, yes a HO one should be a big improvement.

This is very good advice and something that OP will have to look into when replacing his alt, if necessary.

 

[vandiar2 10+ year member]

take one lead to the positive terminal on the battery, one lead to the positive amp input, what does it read? should be very small, like .005 ohms or somethin

it read .000 ohms. so thats good.

 

[Phlipbak 10+ year member]

Well pilgrim, it ain't cutting it. He has had it charged and load tested and it is coming back as full and good. The dang thing just ain't getting the job done.

In case you haven't figured it out YET----

IT'S NOT THE BATTERY.

I have a stock 160A (it's stock, but it's an HO ) alt in my Charger with a 700CCA stock battery and a Batcap 2000 next to it in the trunk.

I have a Sundown 100.4D sending 450-500w total (class A/B power, keep that in mind), and an AQ2200D pushing my subs hard, 2200-2400w @ 1 ohm. I have a voltage meter in-line before my AQ, it doesn't drop below 13.8 or so while driving, and only goes to 13.0 or so at idle, even on heavy, low hits.

IT'S NOT THE BATTERY. IT'S THE ALT.

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

In case you haven't figured it out YET----
IT'S NOT THE BATTERY.

I have a stock 160A (it's stock, but it's an HO ) alt in my Charger with a 700CCA stock battery and a Batcap 2000 next to it in the trunk.

I have a Sundown 100.4D sending 450-500w total (class A/B power, keep that in mind), and an AQ2200D pushing my subs hard, 2200-2400w @ 1 ohm. I have a voltage meter in-line before my AQ, it doesn't drop below 13.8 or so while driving, and only goes to 13.0 or so at idle, even on heavy, low hits.

IT'S NOT THE BATTERY. IT'S THE ALT.

So what happens if you play your system with the engine off? Do you see the voltage drops like vandiar does? I would think that the Batcap 2000 should be able to play his music without serious drops with the engine off, right? If not, then it is way too small to handle the load of his system. My Kinetik HC1400 plays my 900W+ system for hours before I start to see voltage drops anywhere near what he sees in 30 seconds of playtime. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/confused.gif.e820e0216602db4765798ac39d28caa9.gif