Capacitor??

[makaveli3004]

hi i just recently purchased a system for my 97 camryi got a 200 wat deck 1000 watt amp and 2 12" subs. i noticed that at night when the bass hits the lights dim. someone told me over time this will kill the alternator and that i need a Capacitor to fix this. i was wondering what Capacitor would be good enough to get cause i see ones with different Farad ratings

[bmwm3guy]

i think a 1 farad capacitor shoudl suffice in your setup.

[sr20de4evr]

what specific amp do you have?

Since you said your headunit is "200 watt", I'm assuming your "1000 watt" amp is closer to 300 watts. If that's the case then you don't need a capacitor at all, just upgrade the magic 3 and make sure you gain is set correctly. If you don't know what the magic 3 is then just run a search, it's been discussed a million times.

[makaveli3004]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3092690115 that is my amp

[makaveli3004]

sorry i meant thi link please delete last one http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....oryId=cat03087

[sr20de4evr]

Well assuming you're running it at 2ohm, you're only getting 400 watts out of that amp. That's not near enough to overload your electrical system. Upgrade the magic 3 and you should be set.

[makaveli3004]

i searched for the magic 3 i could not find it where should i search for it. also if its only runniogn at 400 watts how do u use the other 600 watts

[sr20de4evr]

http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...d.php?t=215435

And there are no other 600 watts, you have a 400 watt amp that's labelled as a 1000 watt amp. Welcome to the wonderful world of peak power ratings that mean nothing. It's technically not false advertising, since they can simply say the 1000 watts is the peak power, even though it really doesn't make 1000 watts even if struck by lightning. It's a screwed up world....all of the mainstream brands follow this rating system, you have to read the specs themselves to find out what power the amp really puts out.

[burly]

Whenever shopping for an amp, look for RMS and per channel ratings, not peak values and overall amplifier power ratings. Unfortunately, most if not all companies in the market advertised on peak power, which is useless in practice.

As for your dimming, upgrade your grounding points, check the gain and as long as you don't have any other additional aftermarket high current draw products installed, then you should be ok with the stock alternator and without a capacitor. If you do have other high current draw devices, then thats a whole new ballgame.