Stiffening Caps
- Thread starter GrantK
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Offroader5
New member
Rule of thumb is 1 farad per 1000 watts of amplifier power. So, if you only have 500 watts, then you'd really only need a half farad cap (but a 1 farad with only 500 watts wouldn't hurt anything).
If at night when your lights are on and you are blasting your tunes and it makes your lights dim when the bass hits, that is usually when people think they need a capacitor.
That said, you don't need one. A capacitor is merely a band-aid and isn't the "right" way to handle the problem. You should first vastly upsize your ground cable from the battery to the chassis AND the ground cable from the engine block to the battery (since your alternator grounds through its casing/bracket to the engine) AND then vastly upsize the power cable from your alternator to the battery. These cable runs are pretty short, so buy a pretty hefty gauge. Not too much $$ since you don't need to buy that much. If you're going to do it, do it once and go with something like 0 gauge or larger (1/0 or 2/0 if you're feeling frisky).
All said and done, you'll probably pay much more for a 1 farad capacitor than you will for the larger cable and ring lugs for mounting.
If at night when your lights are on and you are blasting your tunes and it makes your lights dim when the bass hits, that is usually when people think they need a capacitor.
That said, you don't need one. A capacitor is merely a band-aid and isn't the "right" way to handle the problem. You should first vastly upsize your ground cable from the battery to the chassis AND the ground cable from the engine block to the battery (since your alternator grounds through its casing/bracket to the engine) AND then vastly upsize the power cable from your alternator to the battery. These cable runs are pretty short, so buy a pretty hefty gauge. Not too much $$ since you don't need to buy that much. If you're going to do it, do it once and go with something like 0 gauge or larger (1/0 or 2/0 if you're feeling frisky).
All said and done, you'll probably pay much more for a 1 farad capacitor than you will for the larger cable and ring lugs for mounting.
BrianSD_42
New member
Also upgrading to a high quality 4G stereo wire and then ditching any 8G wiring for 4G + switching to a high performance battery would be a much better upgrade.
I had a cap for years and problems persisted. I finally just upgraded my stereo cabling and switched to an Optima Yellow Top. I haven't had any problems since.
GrantK
New member
Thanks!!!
I had a feeling that caps were more of a placebo for poor planing/system design than anything else, that's why I asked.
I'm currently designing my system and plan on dual yellow tops with direct 1/0 power and ground for the amps (along with upgrading the under-hood wiring to match). So I should be in good shape.
I had a feeling that caps were more of a placebo for poor planing/system design than anything else, that's why I asked.
I'm currently designing my system and plan on dual yellow tops with direct 1/0 power and ground for the amps (along with upgrading the under-hood wiring to match). So I should be in good shape.
BrianSD_42
New member
I would be cautious about the dual battery setup. Some people get it to work but I think it is a $400 - $500 invest that is difficult to troubleshoot.
Here are my power plans:
1. Yellow Top Optima (there might be better batteries out there)
2. Big Three Upgrade (search T4R or read BigFishAllDay's thread)
3. Replace the Toyota alternator with a new factory alternator ($250 - $350)
ONLY after doing steps 1-3 would I consider a dual battery upgrade.
I thought about doing a dual-battery setup after reading several threads but I decided I would only do it as a last resort. If you don't have a strong knowledge set on basic electrical theory (Ohm's Law, AC/DC Power) I wouldn't do it. It is one thing to buy parts and install them but even a good dual battery setup will still encounter issues eventually.
Who will troubleshoot it?
:hatsoff:
Here are my power plans:
1. Yellow Top Optima (there might be better batteries out there)
2. Big Three Upgrade (search T4R or read BigFishAllDay's thread)
3. Replace the Toyota alternator with a new factory alternator ($250 - $350)
ONLY after doing steps 1-3 would I consider a dual battery upgrade.
I thought about doing a dual-battery setup after reading several threads but I decided I would only do it as a last resort. If you don't have a strong knowledge set on basic electrical theory (Ohm's Law, AC/DC Power) I wouldn't do it. It is one thing to buy parts and install them but even a good dual battery setup will still encounter issues eventually.
Who will troubleshoot it?
:hatsoff:
