Capacitors....worth it?

Sorry I disagree guys, It's sound like your useing a Stiffining Capactors as a band aid. The first thing any good installer should always do is beef up the complete chargeing system, get the biggest Alternator in AMPs you car afford. Run bigger gage wire, better grounds. Your System will love it and sound great. (run cooler, cooler amp= better sound, ) If you still need a Stiffining Cap or two or three then put them in. but not until you do the basics.

Hope this help,

Julian59

I agree with DYohn, a cap is not a good idea.  You should be good with your current set-up but if you want to do an upgrade you will want to look into getting an alternator upgrade.  If your alternator can not keep up with your system a cap will not help, it will actually hurt your system.  A cap is for quick notes not continuos loud playing.  If you play your music loud for long periods you will want to upgrade your alternator.  If you add a cap you risk the possibility of your system running out of juice when playing your music loud over periods of time.

DYohn correct me if I am wrong, but I have had the experience of playing my music loud with my car running and only to have my system to shut down because my cap ran out of juice.  I am running about 1,100 watts RMS and a 3 farad cap.  This problem never occured before installing the CAP.  Duplicate problem occured in a different system running over 1,500 watts using a CAP.  The removal of the cap fixed the situation of the system shutting down but created the problem of heavy dimming lights.     

Yes, a large capacitor like that can actually shut down your car - or blow out your alternator or voltage regulator.  What happens is after a large transient where it discharges, it will immedialtely try to charge back up to its normal voltage and will draw as much current as teh system will allow.  This can add such a large load on your car's electrical system that the cap will overload the car's electrical system by itself.  With multiple quick "hits," the continuous cycling from the cap recharging at max current will also add extreme loads and stress on your alternator and can lead to premature alternator failure.  I have also seen amps shut down on low input voltage each time a large cap tries to recharge.  Like I said, more harm than good.

Dyohn, I know that caps were for instant peak music over short periods of time but never took the time to analyze the entire situation.  Now that you have put it in perspective I think I will have to get rid of the cap and replace it with a DVD player and upgrade my alternator.

I dont think you need any upgrading. 300rms wouldnt do much at the max to the electrical system. If it somehow does, firstly up the wires going to and fro the alt with way bigger wires. That'll help the flow. If that somehow doesnt do it. Look around on ebay and get a high output alt. They are relitivily cheap there.