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NEED help for car audio questions and problems with power? - ok i have a car audio system, i have a sony amp (1500 watts RMS) and one 12" sub 800 watts rms. i have my amp hooked straight up car battery and i have some power problems, my lights go down and i read a article or many that say this is a really good way to screw up your alt. so i dont have alot of money but i dont want to f up my car so do i just buy a capacitor or get another alternator and battery and hook my system up to that?

Best Answer: Most cars only have a alt that can supply a maximum of 1000 Watts RMS. Smaller cars can supply a maximum of around 750-800 Watts RMS. Installing an amplifier without upgrading your power supply can result in the death of your alt. It has happened to me before, and it is not fun. If you are having power supply issues, the best thing you can do for your vehicle is the "Big 3" upgrade. This requires you to upgrade your alt to anywhere from 150 Amps to 200 Amps, as well as upgrading a few wires under the hood to 0 Gauge wires. Another add-on that can help your car would be to upgrade your battery to something that has more CCA (Cold Cranking Amps). Anything with 750+ CCA should do you good. I highly recommend NOT buying and installing a Cap in ANY system. Caps actually add to the problem with power supply issue's because they act as another battery which you alt now has to work harder to keep up with the power supply, resulting in the alt to die sooner. If you don't have much money, I would personally take out your system, and save up until you have enough to do the "Big 3" upgrade in your car. It will be worth the wait. Believe me! - kaerfpl

Hotrod you have obviously NEVER worked on a competetion build because very very very very FEW people use capacitors.... if you see a capcitor you can pretty much tell that they dont know what they are talking about You will need to do the Big 3 What kind of car/size alternator do you have? - Patrick

cap's are near useless for car audio. they are a gimmick to get your money. google 'the big 3' and do that. it will work 10x better than a cap for less money. - dragon breath

Your 1500 watt RMS amp and your 800 watt RMS sub will not live well together for long. If you are using a ported enclosure I would stick to anywhere between 400-600 watts on an 800 watt sub for durability, you can go higher in a small sealed enclosure where the cone control is better, up to the 800 watt max RMS, and still live happily and have plenty of power. As far as hooking up the amp, you won't need an extra alt. for one 1500 watt amp, a proper capacitor should work depending upon the output of your alternator. Upgrading the standard battery would help as well. - HotRodGuy

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