Im sooo confused!

[ackinum6910 10+ year member]

I'm going to purchase a Hifonics bx1000d amp. All I want to know is my stock alternator and battery going to be able to handle that power. Should i get a red top battery? Should a get a capacitor? Should I get a new alternator? I haven’t gotten a straight answer yet. People said that capacitors are useless, and others said that you need one. I’m soo confused. Someone please help! Thanks.

Here is the link to my amp....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...;category=18797

Click to read more...

 

[ss3079 5,000+ posts]

What is the size of your stock alternator ... ? I'd go as large as your budget will allow you to - just some headroom for when you want to upgrade later on, or if you ever decide to add some additional features such as strobe lights or neons.

- Steve

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

Depending on the type of car, you should be ok. Just give it a shot, if your headlights dim then its a pretty good indicator you primarily need a new alternator, though a few poeple have had success stories with caps, might as well fork over the few extra bucks to either get your's rewound or get a new one (alternator). A new battery really isn't necessary, if you upgrade your alt then maybe, but don't worry about antyhing until you have problems with it.

 

[z24max 10+ year member]

either way you go about it you will have to dish out some dough. i have succes with my cap for diming my head lights. a red top bat will not solve this problem but it will last you a little bit longer than a standard wet cell batery. if you dont do anything right away you will have to spend money later on.

 

[nosaj070 10+ year member]

I doubt that if you are never putting more than a 1000 watts through a relatively new car you will need an alt upgrade. I've run 900 on 3 diff amps in my civic without any problems at all.

 

[BumpNGlow]

It's hard to get a straight answer from people on this because it's really hard to tell. Some cars can handle an extra 1000 watts, some cannot. And even worse is that the same make and model may vary on it. It depends the condition of your alternator and the age of your current battery. There's really only one way to tell and that's to install it and see. Then before getting a capacitor, upgrade the big 3 and then see again. If that does not solve the problem, get both your battery and alternator tested (free at most parts stores now). If either is bad, replace it of course; if both are fine, then you might look in to a cap (if dimmage is minimal) or a secondary battery if dimmage is more severe. It's really hit or miss.

 

[ackinum6910 10+ year member]

Thanks for all the help guys. I have a 94 mazda mx6 ls with about 119,000 miles on it. I have no idea how big the altenator is but im probably just gonna hook it up and see what happens.