What is a Good Capacitor?

that car is a diesel??  too cool. The Ground could be insufficient from the battery but I havent crossed that problem before. Maybe you could change the ground cable to a heavier ga. Hang around for solutions from some of the others here who have alot more knowledge in this area.99 F-one fitty

Pioneer Premier H/U

Alpine EQ

Kicker 1200 amp

4 Kicker comp 10s

6 kicker SS65.2 components

i think im going to give that a try.. its a cheap start, and it cant hurt. Thanks for feedback. **** TDI - because real cars dont spark ;) ****

This is probably a stupid question but... you do hook the power wire up to the bat right?  Would it do good to hook it up to the alternator?  As you can tell from the name I'm a boxmaker not a hooker-upper.  Still trying to learn about the electrical area.

Boxmaker......im kinda like you. I mostly excell in the construction area of installations but Im pretty sure you shouldnt hook the amps power wire directly to the alt. Probly since the Voltage would change as the engines RPMs change and voltage spikes.99 F-one fitty

Pioneer Premier H/U

Alpine EQ

Kicker 1200 amp

4 Kicker comp 10s

6 kicker SS65.2 components

it would be more or less the same me thinks, because you would still have a power wire feeding back from the battery anyways. Battery is best.

I just bought a poweracoustik 2.4f cap for 80, and the only problem I have had is that the instructional drawing is confusing. And their tech support is even forse, but other than that I have had no poblems. Battery is the place for the powerwire. If you went to the alt. you would have power spiking problems, but also you wouldn't be able to run your system if the car wasn't on

I added a 4ga ground to my jetta. I think it helped a little, but didn't solve the problem.

you did the right thing by running the bigger wire for your ground. now you need to get a higher output alternator. i got mine from www.4alterstart.com and it solved my problems. and run your power wire straight to the battery with a fuse very close to the battery. this should solve your dimming light problem. i had no luck at all with stiffining caps.'85 Toy

i do have a 130amp alternator, so with the amp cranked (which it never really is), it would use 60amps.  So now i've got 70amps left to run my day lights, everything else is off. (well..  im sure theres a bit needed for computer and such, but thats minimal).  Even if I was left with half that, I would think that my headlights would be ok.

As for the cap (to keep within the topic of the forum), I found it made a big difference to the clarity of the bass produced.  I hooked up a volt meter before and after, and found it did even out the voltage spikes a lot.  Some things I have heard of that make caps not work so well include:

-Not grounding the cap seperatly from your amp-Using too small a cap (0.5 farad cap will not help a 1000W system)-Lastly, you are supposed to fuse both ends of your main power cable with a cap installed.  Sounds weird, but it you are in an accident, ar have a power wires insulation wear off from rubbing somewhere, along the lenght of you car, the fuse next to your battery will pop, but you will still get a nasty back charge from the cap - which can create some unwanted fireworks.  So you should also have a fuse right next to your cap.  Problem is, some guys have put the fuse in between the cap and the amp, and apparently due to the fuses higher internal resistance, the cap wont function properly. 

[GRND]---[BAT]---[FUSE]---------------------------------------[FUSE]----[CAP]---[AMP]---[GRND]

                                                                                                                        |                                                                                                                        |                                                                                                                  [GRND]