Wiring my Cap

[Chrispy_Civ]

I have a 95 civic and I'm Running (2) 12" Crunch Black MAxx CMXR-12's off of an SPL SPL series2-1200 probably not putting out a real 1200 watts. (ha-haha) Anyway, I have a matching 1.2 farad power capacitor from SPL as well. Before I had the cap my lights would dim to the point that my head unit cut out. This is because I h ad my subs hokked up into a one ohm load like an idiot, I know that amp can't handle that. Now that I have my subs hooked up in series and my cap installed my headlights just dim really bad. Don;t make fun of me for this but I think it might be because I have my cap grounded with my amp....like they're sharing the same ground connection because I was too lazy to drill another hole. Man I feel dumb. Everything else is hooked up the way it should be. I was just wondering if sharing the same ground with the amp cancels out the effect of a capacitor? PLEASE HELP!!!

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[80_Cutlass_mn 10+ year member]

It sounds to me like the only thing wrong is that your alternator is waaaaay to small if the voltage drops enough to make your cd player cutout and come back on. You need to look into getting a high output alternator for your car, also that cap isnt helping anything, fact its hurting you more than its helping. Caps are IMO useless, they actually add another drain to an already struggling electrical system. There are some people that will tell you that they are good, but only if the charging system is up to par, but even then the cap has little to no effect other than show. Also to answer your ?, the cap and the amp are supposed to share the same power and ground connections. Thats how they work.

 

[Chrispy_Civ]

Thank you very much for your advise. Should I take out my cap or just leave it there cause it looks cool? If I leave it, where can I buy a better alternator online or at a major chain of stores? THis would be a great help if you could give more advise.