Capacitor

[kondo]

I have been having trouble with my car when I run my heater and my system and I'm not moving. My car starts idleing rough and then the bass cuts out sometimes. So I added a 1 fared lightning cap to my bass amp and it seems to be helping out. I currently have a 75x4 PG mid amp and a PG 4600 200x2 bridged for my bass. How big of a cap should I buy. The one in my car right now is borrowed from a friend. I am thinking about getting a 5 fard PG cap, or is that too much. Any one with caps and a big system please let me know what you are running

Thanks

Nick

[ZXLNT]

Ya need a bigger alternator. Cap is just kind of a bandaid. You need more alternator to get more current to keep your battery charged and supply current for your amps.

[indiglosolara]

5 farad too much for what you are running.

Im only using a 1 farad on a 500/1 Jl amp and 2 Jl e2150 amp... and it dont have any problems... 1 should be enough unless you running over 2000watts.. 1 farad is for 1000watts if i remember correctly..

[Luc]

There are a few things you can check/change first. Do you have 4-gauge power? How many subs are you running from the amp? If multiple subs, make sure it's not wired up such that the amp can't handle the load. These are the two most common problems for sub amp shutting down: not enough current and load too low. Most 2-ch amps can't handle 2-ohm bridged mode, which translates to 1-ohm stereo, but do fine in 4-ohm briged, which is the same as 2-ohm stereo.

[indiglosolara]

There are a few things you can check/change first. Do you have 4-gauge power? How many subs are you running from the amp? If multiple subs, make sure it's not wired up such that the amp can't handle the load. These are the two most common problems for sub amp shutting down: not enough current and load too low. Most 2-ch amps can't handle 2-ohm bridged mode, which translates to 1-ohm stereo, but do fine in 4-ohm briged, which is the same as 2-ohm stereo.

With this in mind.. im running a 4ga wire from batt to my capacitor.. then i have a distribution block from 4ga to 8ga to my 3 amps.. all agu fuses are 80 amps each.. and 140 in under the hood... with the amps im running do you think i would have any problems or should i upgrade my power from 4 to 2 or 0 ga and the 8 to 4 ga...??

I was also thinking of adding another 1 farad cap just to be on the safer side...

[Luc]

You should be fine with the 4-gauge run on the main cable. If you have a 140-amp (assumed ANL) fuse in the main one, you should always fuse other amplifiers that will be equal to or less than the main fuse. In your case, fuse the 500/1 w/60-amp fuse, and the two e2150 w/40-amp fuses. As long as the 8-gauge power to the 500/1 from the distribution block isn't too long, you can keep it. Otherwise, if there is another 8-gauge output, just add it to the 500/1. The only time you would need the 1/0-gauge is if you had something like two 1000/1s and one 450/4. Your 1-F cap is fine, just use it for the 500/1 only.

[prophesized]

its your electrical system that is the problem so you cant fix things by avoiding it. get a better battery like optima, svr, westco, etc. if things are still bad upgrade the alt>ground, alt>battery, and battery>ground wires using 4 guage or bigger wiring. then if you are still having problems, get your alt rewound or get a high ouput alt.

[HKSV6SLE]

just like what everyone else said. ground the amp better, i had shutdown problems with that too until i grounded it again. also, i have two 1 farad caps running a RF 700S and an Alpine V12 4 channel amp. all that pushing two RF 12 He2's. i ran a test recenlty on my alternator and even with the ac runing headlights, foglights and a Bass Mechnik cd on full BASS overload the alternator held up fine. so geting a stronger battery might be a good idea. unless your running huge amounts of power changing you alternator may not do much, i thought that was my problem until my mechanic tested it for me, i didn't even get close to hiting 80 amps.

[kondo]

Here is what I am running.




The SVR gell cell batery, through a PG circuit breaker instead of a fuse box. If you look real close you can see it next to my air filter.

My power wire is four gauge and then goes through a PG distribution block

And is split between my two amps.

Power wise I have a differnt bass amp than the one in the pic it s PG 4600, I am only running 1 PG x MAX 12 in ported MTX thunder box. So the 4600 is only running at 2 ohms.

Other than that my other amp is running 4x75. I also have a SAFC in my glove box and indiglow gauges. My head and fog lights are both aftermakarket fake HID style. My electrical system is so weak if I try to roll down my windows my headlights dim.

I installed the 1 farad cap after the distribution block so that the power is comming straight out of the distributiuon block and going in to the capacitor and then in to the PG 4600.

Can anyone help me?

thanks

Nick

[Grazi07]

I think a 5 farad cap could power a 3rd world country.....

[HKSV6SLE]

with all that and your windows can't roll down at proper speed then there's probably an underlying problem somewhere like bad alternator or maybe even with the windows. i noticed that with our cars the alternator handles most mid power systems ok, but the stock battery can't keep everything charged up. since you changed to an aftermarket battery that should take care of that end of it..so..

[Luc]

Power wise I have a differnt bass amp than the one in the pic it s PG 4600, I am only running 1 PG x MAX 12 in ported MTX thunder box. So the 4600 is only running at 2 ohms.
Nick

I'm not familiar with PG products, but just doing a search came up with the XS4600 amp. Is that the same one you are using? If so, WHY are you using it to power the sub? It's a 4-channel amplifier, and how is the single sub wired up?

[TadS]

I'm not familiar with PG products

PG stuff is really good . I used to sell it, back when they had the Route 66 out. (1995ish) The X-max is a DVC right?

[kondo]

since you changed to an aftermarket battery that should take care of that end of it..so..

I have always had the SRV bat and my lights have always dimied I just added the 1 farad cap two nights ago. So I thinkI am going to get a bigger alternator. Or my electrical is jacked. As far as my amp its a 4300 or a 4600 or something like that. I am going to take a picture of my current set up and post it when I get home from work.

Nick

[kondo]

My bad the amp is a 2500 here is how I have it hooked up now it looks kinda gheto but it is just a temp cap until I decide what to do.


Nick