what are the pros and cons of a capacitor

[LOOKINFORSPL?]

Its only a temp fix. If you have the money invest in another battery and do the big 3 upgrade caps add more resistance to the electrical if im not mistaken(please correct me if im wrong).

[InfiniteRuckus]

pros - the flashing lights & voltage meter are decorative

cons - stress to the the electrical system. they use more power than the amp alone & compete with the amp for power until recharged. go with the big 3 upgrade, added battery, & an alternator upgrade.

i bought one despite everyone's opinion on them & learned the hard way that they aren't worth the money.

[J00bles]

A little background would be good first. He has a Power Acoustik BAMF 5500, and that's gonna power a 15" Fi BTL. He has no electrical upgrades yet, and I will be helping with his system install. I have been telling him that he is gonna need a run of positive and negative from the front to the back, both 1/0g. He will have his Big # upgrade done in 1/0g. I am trying to tell him that he doesn't need a upgraded alt at this point, but he should do the proper wiring, and get a second battery. They have cheap batterys that will be good for his use at the auto part stores.

Do you agree???

the only thing i disagree with you on is the alternator. Increasing the alt's capacity will benefit the entire system if its one of the first things done. the batteries need to charge some how. and never forget the fact that when voltage is higher, less amperage is required to create a specific wattage. why wouldnt you want to be in the 14v range full tilt, all day everyday?

[Toady]

Best Advice Ever. If you wanna stop dimming and get all around better voltage and get rid of drops, get a decent battery, alternator, or big 3. I am currently Running 3 Capacitors in a bank, and a cap-cell 600. They work nice for me they stabilize the drops, which means on some long bass notes when the note continually drops the voltage the caps work to help bring it back up and keep it from dropping low. I have a more noticeable difference with the caps now, but i had to do the big 3 and i bought a mechman 270 amp alt. The reason people hate on capacitors so much is because they think they serve the same purpose as a battery. Its like comparing a crossover to an amplifier

[MECHMAN]

A capacitor does not put any extra strain on anything, nor does it help anything.

You can test before and after the isntallation of a cap (regardless of how big it is) and your results will be exactly the same.

Do yourself a favor, and add a battery to the rear of the vehicle, or replace your under hood battery with a larger AGM unit, such as an XS power battery. You will see a vast and immediate improvement both to the system's performance and reduced dimming / voltage drop. An upgraded alternator is nice, but is not necessary to support a battery upgrade.

Of course, so your big 3 upgrade as well.

[Flint_810]

dont waste your money on it. save a little more and buy a smaller battery like a kinetic hc800. capacitors do almost nothing to help light dimming or solve electrical issues.

oh ok i was told that by my buddy just had to make sure thanks!

[Flint_810]

for $100 you can get a kinetik 600 battery which would help much more with current discharge. you could get a larger battery, and it would help a bit more.

do that^

ok cool i was lookin at an kinetik 800

[bkolfo4]

An upgraded alternator is nice, but is not necessary to support a battery upgrade.

Of course, so your big 3 upgrade as well.

Thank you. I explain to so many customers that you have to have battery reserve. Just an alt will not do it in most cases. A 270 amp alt with a minimal 30 amps being used by the vehicle leaves ~240 amps for the amplifiers. That is not enough to support even 3000 watts, so you are going to have to have battery reserve to run the system.

[Flint_810]

A little background would be good first. He has a Power Acoustik BAMF 5500, and that's gonna power a 15" Fi BTL. He has no electrical upgrades yet, and I will be helping with his system install. I have been telling him that he is gonna need a run of positive and negative from the front to the back, both 1/0g. He will have his Big # upgrade done in 1/0g. I am trying to tell him that he doesn't need a upgraded alt at this point, but he should do the proper wiring, and get a second battery. They have cheap batterys that will be good for his use at the auto part stores.

Do you agree???

what up cheezy? should i get the kinetik 800 or just go big with the shuriken sk-bt100?

[Flint_810]

pros - the flashing lights & voltage meter are decorative

cons - stress to the the electrical system. they use more power than the amp alone & compete with the amp for power until recharged. go with the big 3 upgrade, added battery, & an alternator upgrade.

i bought one despite everyone's opinion on them & learned the hard way that they aren't worth the money.

right that was the same thing i was gonna do. i'm glad i got your opinion tho thanks!