capacitor problem?

Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=55639
Printed Date: May 20, 2024 at 12:44 AM

Topic: capacitor problem?

Posted By: sydewayz_510
Subject: capacitor problem?
Date Posted: May 13, 2005 at 1:55 AM

can someone please tell me why my headlights are dimming now.....before i was running 2 12" POWER DVC by rockford with the old school PC1800 PPI amp along with a 15 farads capacitor by phoenix gold....and my headlights didnt dim.....but since i replaced my 2 12" POWER DVC with 1 12" W7 from JL audio....my headlights are dimming????....shouldnt 15 farad be enough???

Replies:

Posted By: dwarren
Date Posted: May 13, 2005 at 2:05 AM

the cap will not prevent the lights from dimming, the BEST thing to do is the big three. 1. high(er) out put alternator 2. better battery 3. the wiring in the engine bay, grounds and power wires.

The capacitor is merely a second battery that does not produce power, so if your alternator cannot keep with up your amps, the amps simply suck the "juice" away and the batteries will not have time to recharge.

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Posted By: sydewayz_510
Date Posted: May 13, 2005 at 2:21 AM

Thanks dwarren for the lightin responses....i will take your advice and upgrade those things......one last question....what do you mean by #3 the wiring in the engine bay, grounds and power wires??...do i need to replace some of these wires with a bigger gauge wire....and if so...which wires specifically...

Posted By: dwarren
Date Posted: May 13, 2005 at 2:33 AM

Upon receiving a 200 amp HO alternator, it was suggested by the mfr. to use nothing less than 4 gauge, of course going bigger won't hurt

Make certain you have a good ground for amp and the wire size meets or exceeds your power wire size. The same goes for the bat. to chasis ground and bat to body ground. An easy way of doing some of the under hood upgrades is leaving the factory wiring, and adding what you need, although this is not always the case.

if I am unclear about which wires to upgrade I would suggest a search on this site and do some reading, in fact there is a very recent post that is very clear, maybe a page before.

You a bay area local?

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Posted By: oonikfraleyoo
Date Posted: May 13, 2005 at 8:33 AM

Search for "the big 3"

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Nik
Jeeputer Progress
[|||||||||||-] 90%
Check it out.

Posted By: MoneyPit
Date Posted: May 13, 2005 at 9:46 AM

https://forum.sounddomain.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=5;t=007801

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Bill
System in progress:
2 Kicker KX400.1's - 945w RMS
2 12" P3's in a ported box built by local shop
1 Kicker KX250.2 to drive the mids and highs
1 set Alpine SPR-136A for mids & highs

Posted By: MoneyPit
Date Posted: May 13, 2005 at 9:57 AM

sydewayz_510 wrote:

.....but since i replaced my 2 12" POWER DVC with 1 12" W7 from JL audio....my headlights are dimming????....shouldnt 15 farad be enough???

I too had my lights dimming without the Big3 upgrade and stock 70a alt with just one of my KX400.1's and an old set of 12's. I threw some P1's in temporarily until I have a box built and buy a pair of P3's (may go with Eclipse Alum's).

The lights no longer dimm at all. On hard hits I can see the volt guage drop to about 10v but the lights don't dimm. I'm guessing the old......old 12's were sucking up the power until they finally froze the voice coils.

Are the JL's new or used?

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Bill
System in progress:
2 Kicker KX400.1's - 945w RMS
2 12" P3's in a ported box built by local shop
1 Kicker KX250.2 to drive the mids and highs
1 set Alpine SPR-136A for mids & highs

Posted By: sydewayz_510
Date Posted: May 17, 2005 at 2:16 AM

hey dwarren,

YES, I am from the BAY AREA.....to answer your question....and thanks for the reposnses people really appreciated....I'm currently doing the upgrades right now...so i'll post again later and let you guys know how it went...