Aight,
I am doing the final phases of my system and I was wondering if I need a cap. I have my old one from my old car (.5 farad) and wanted to find out how to charge it and what not. But I have seen on this side that 50/50 of the people are split about having a cap/xtra battery to run their systems. What I wanted to know is anyone running there system without one of these and having no setbacks? (dimmin lights and bad bass)?

BTW: I am running 100 x 4 to my insides and a kicker L7 (500 watts)

 

Yup, I running 1k watts to three 10 inch subs w/o a cap. I should prolly get one though.

 

1250 watts with no cap or extra bat here. you don't need a cap.

 

If you would get dimming or anything a cap is the last thing you need. Try the Big three upgrade first.

The Big Three Upgrade- http://forum.sounddomain.com/forum/u...=5;t=007801;p=

Then upgrade battery/alternator. But for only around ~1000 watts, I wouldnt think you would need either.

 

hmmm...im only running about 500 peak...thats temp though. of course...currently it sounds like im pushing 1500 or more...one sub

 

1600w here, but I have a 1.2 cap. No dimming issues at all. Really need a battery thou. Leave the radio thumpin for an hour....car won't start. Found that out last weekend

 

Do you have the engine running or in the on position?

 

I did a solid 2kW w/o a bigger battery or cap...just haven't had the time to upgrade my batt...even though it's sitting here.

Never played w/o the car on though...lord knows that'll kill it in 1/2 hour ;) And ScionDad, don't feel bad...I tested my old system once...took 1/2 hour and my Neon wouldn't start w/o a jump.

 

agreed. big three solve most issues....

i have well over the 1,000 mark (won't give the true number because its not a contest here)
i had some dimming, did the big three and its all but gone.
a cap or battery is the very last step to cover up a problem.

 

car not running = 12 volts....
car running = 14.4 volts...(AKA...more power)

always have the car on.

 

I told her to watch the voltage (she has 3 points of metering) and if it gets below 11 volts, start the car. I came back to her car about 45 min later (beer break ) and seen 9,8V

I said well, I'm thinking we are gonna hear clicking. Yup, but there is over 50 cars here, so I'm thinking someone can jump us.

I told her to wait about 15 min with everything off and try again. Well, it did start after waiting. I need to get a yellow top and make sure she only does it with the car running. It's tough at a show tho.

 

If I'm not mistaken guys, ace already has a cap. And if his
lights are dimming or not, the cap is ALWAYS helpfull for
tightening up the bass.

So yeah, I'd say install the cap.

 

I will be running 1200 watts with a 15" Kicker Solo Baric L7 and I will have to see if I am going to have any problems. But I was running the same amp with 2 12" Autotek subs in my cavy without any dimming issues or power surges and did not have a battery or cap for the longest time. So I hope I wont have any issues with it in my XB.

Mike

 

im running a jl audio 1000/1 with a red top in the engine bay. no cap. and no extra battery. my light dim even when im revving the engine. i need a higher output alternator.

 

Yea, I have a .5 farad from my old system (now that I think about it, even with my SL2 the lights dimmed a bit, not too much though) I just want want anything strange happenening.

For those who have been running their systems without a batt or cap, have you experienced anything weird? Also, did upgrade your "big 3"?

 

I am going to run a RE SX to a ED nine.1 this weekend with a yellow top and 1 farad cap. Shall see what good it does.