Batteries?

Considering upgrading to a dual purpose Yellow Top Optima. My setup: '91 Acura Legend with a 110 amp alternator 2 Amps = 1000 watts RMS (total) 2.0 Farad capacitor Do you recommend just a better starting battery, or would a dual purpose Yellow Top work? I am a little concerned with the Yellow Top because I don't know if it would meet the vehicle specific capacity requirements of 12 V - 61AH/5HR. I think I know what this means 12 volt 61 amp hours and 5 reserve hours. I would like to avoid installing a second battery and upgrading the alternator. Any recommendations? Better suggestions? - Adam

I guess my question is, does it matter if the new battery I get meets the same Amp Hour rating as specified in my owner's manual? Because the Optimas I am looking at are only 48AH or 55AH.- Adam

If I did chose to just install a second battery, would I need to upgrade the alternator? I know that an isolator/regulator is needed if I wanted to run the audio system with the car off and not drain the starting battery. But if I don't want to run the system with the car off, I don't need an isolator right?- Adam

A second battery is only needed if you plan on running your system with the car off for an extended period of time. An alternator is most likely required depending on your stock alternator. My question to you is why do you even have a cap? do a search in the forus for capacitors and you will see why you dont need one. Upgrade your big 3 while yure at it too.

From what I've gathered from multiple sources, capacitors have or have not proved to be helpful. It depends on the install setup and how you (every body is different) listen to your music (i.e. what kind of music, how loud you listen, how long, is the vehicle running, etc.) I would not use a capacitor if in fact I got a second battery. But this is not my original goal. Regardless, I was wondering if you could give me your input on whether or not a Yellow Top Dual Purpose (Optima D34, for example) battery would suffice for my 1000 watt RMS setup. Right now I plan on keeping the stock alternator which is 110 amps. I am also looking into doing the "Big 3", as you suggested. - Adam

Alternator, all underhood wiring, and 2 red tops, no isolator. FAR better than simply replacing the starting battery with a single yellow top. Keep the cap, you already bought it. It won't hurt anything, and can prove to be a reasonably effective filter, if little else. Yellow tops are supposedly only good if you are planning on doing a lot of parking lot listening, they are (again, supposedly, but has never been proven to me yet...) better suited to the deep cycling of parking lot listening. Read here for a little more input on this reasoning. Here are another few threads asking about red tops, some vs. yellow tops.It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."

Thanks for the input, haemphyst! AFter reviewing the threads that you linked to, and this one http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/newmain/battcapalt/ from a different site, I think I have a good idea of what to do. I took your words with a grain of salt and think I am going to upgrade the "Big Three", and install a redtop under the hood and a second (identical) redtop in the trunk near my audio setup. I noted in a past thread that you recommend fusing both ends of the power wire between the batteries, correct? If so, do I use the same fuse amp rating (i.e. I have a 100 amp fuse cell under hood, so should I use a 100 amp fuse cell between the 2nd battery and distributor? I will have a power distributor, a 4-channel 400w RMS amp, and a 600w RMS mono amp for subs. So considering this, where would you recommend the capacitor be installed, probably from the distributor to the mono amp? As far as my alternator, I don't think I am going to upgrade unless I have problems further down the road. After all, my system is solid but not rediculous. Thanks again for your help, I'm grateful that someone so knowledgeable is willing to give me input.- Adam

The fuses are there to protect the car and the wiring. You will install a fuse at both ends of the wire for whatever gauge you have, i.e. a #4 would be fused at 150A, both ends. This is to protect the wire, should a fault aoocu, and you want to make sure that both batteries get disconnected from the fault. BTW, I like that page. It's pretty close to what I've been saying all along!It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."