Adding A 2nd Battery

I'm relatively new to the whole audio scene although i have done minor system installs in a couple of vehicles... but i have never done a second battery install so i do have a couple of questions. a friend of mine told me that i will need to put a capacitor between the new battery i'm going to mount in my trunk for use in wiring my amp... he told me that i would need this capacitor in order to keep from drawing extra amps off of my alternator. so my question is this... Will i indeed need to install a capacitor in the system (it's only going to be for everyday use) or what? What is going to be the best thing for me to do in order to connect this new battery up and not risk draining my original battery or burning out my alternator. I've already researched getting a new alternator with high output, (mine is a 160 amp), but i can't find any what so ever for my vehicle, ( 2000 pontiac grand prix). any help will be greatly appreciated!!

If you'll do a search for caps, you'll realize it will only help to "smooth out" the voltage created by your alternator. It does not alleviate any extra current draw from the alternator- neither does an extra battery. A second battery is sometimes used to run a system while the engine is not running, and an isolator is used to keep the two batteries seperated. That way, if you run the system for too long, you can still start the engine with the primary battery. If you can tell us what your goal is, we can help you achieve it. Be specific- let us know what you're trying to do. Are you going to use this system primarily for competitions (sq or spl?), or street use? What equipment do you have/plan on using?My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

lol your friend does NOT know what he is talking about...a cap will not do much if anything at all...most of use here despise the use of capacitors. you do not need to install a cap between the two batteries...that would not do much to help performance. I would recommend installing a heavy duty relay between the batteries I dunno what your friend means about the cap and connecting amps to it...you can wire your amps directly to the second battery lol

thanks for the help.... i'm trying to use this system for purely street use but i would like it to achieve some respectable "bump". I'm using an audiobahn Alum15n sub (dual 6 ohm coils) and running that off of a Total Mobile Audio T500.1 (500 RMS rating). i just wanted a second battery really as a backup so i do not drain my primary and get stuck somewhere. This system is really what i want although i know that it may not be up to some standards so any help is really appreciated. if ya'll can think of something else that will be in the same price range and that will achieve a higher dB level please let me know and i'll sell what i've got to achieve better.... oh, and i'm going to get a ProBox SuperBass ported box to mount the sub in. thanks again.....

thanks for the help.... i'm trying to use this system for purely street use but i would like it to achieve some respectable "bump". I'm using an audiobahn Alum15n sub (dual 6 ohm coils) and running that off of a Total Mobile Audio T500.1 (500 RMS rating). i just wanted a second battery really as a backup so i do not drain my primary and get stuck somewhere. This system is really what i want although i know that it may not be up to some standards so any help is really appreciated. if ya'll can think of something else that will be in the same price range and that will achieve a higher dB level please let me know and i'll sell what i've got to achieve better.... oh, and i'm going to get a ProBox SuperBass ported box to mount the sub in. thanks again.....

If you're just running a small system, there's probably no need to worry about the alternator. Just figure the extra current demands and decide whether or not the factory alternator can handle it. Since you just want to isolate the batteries, take a look at the link provided by aznboi3644. That should give you what you need.My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

thanks for the help everyone... i know what i'm gonna do now!