capacitors, farads to watts?

I have been told 1farad per 500-1000w will suffice...

#1:  Capacitors are a poor band-aid cure for a poor install or overtaxed electrical system.  There are better solutions for those problems.

#2:  If you don't have the amps installed yet; then how do you know if one of the above mentioned situations will even occur?  Have you every heard the saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

I agree with steven 150% but have been told what I posted as far as reccomended value. But I don't use caps on my systems but sometimes a customer comes in and already has one so I will install it..it does no harm. However....... 

If your big 3, alternator, amp power/ground and installation are up to par..you will have no need for a cap. If any of the aformentioned are not up to par..a cap won't help anyhow..well at least nothing you would notice..

But...they look cool.

haemphyst wrote:

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8 bazillion?

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Yea, that's just a few more than a butt-load. 

pitoaudiovisual, pretty much...yes.

For example...if the system you installed is taxing the alternators output...you will notice the lights dimming on bass notes. Now it is not just the lights that are losing current...everything electrical in the vehicle is..but the only thing you will really notice it on is with the lights...you can't actually see electricity...but you can see light.

If the system is using too much power....it is leaving less for the lights...a bad alternator/charging system can cause this....a good alternator that doesn't have the ability to power what you added in addition to it's normal demands of charging the battery and supplying current for everything while the car is running can cause this...and wire that is not up to par can cause this.

A cap may help make up for some of the voltage drop in the amplifiers wiring (which is where the cap is located if installed properly) but only for very brief moments...if you still have other issues..they need to be addressed or you will still have dimming lights. I have on some occasion helped with this problem simply by rewiring the battery AND the headlight wires with larger gauge wires..but..you need to be aware of the total draw on the charging system..and what it is capable of supplying before you can assume wire gauge alone is the cause.

I wouldn't nessecarily agree that caps don't work.

I would say however that they are too often believed to be able to cure issues that they won't.....if that makes any sense...lol