Help in need answers

I have a 1994 Acura Integra. I have 3 10 inch jl audio w3 d6. I am about to purchase a kicker 1200 watt amp thats @ 1 ohm stable. My car has a baby sized altenator, what can i do so i dont drain my battery so fast? I was looking at adding an additional battery but how would i hook it up? Also is running an amp at 1 ohm bad for the amp and speakers? Thanks for you info.

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Capacitors...capacitors will be a lot easier than installing an extra batter and a lot cheaper. Go with an Alumnapro 5 farad, you will not be disappointed. The extra battery is a lot of work, you have to isolate the second batter, run a lead directly off of the alternator all the way back to the second battery...there is just too much work involved for a system that a capacitor will do more than enough work for. Alumnapro 5 farads...if you have problems finding them let me know. I can get them for $300.

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running an amp at 1ohm is only bad if it isnt 1 ohm stable.....and the subs will handle it..subs will handle any load...but amps wont...they have to be ohm specific...if you were to drop a 1 ohm load on a 2ohm stable amp it'd go poof....1 thing also..no need to open the gain all the way.....keep it a nominal setting like 12v or so...since your altenator is only 12v you wont put as much of a strain on it...and remember....1 farad is equal to about 1k watts....so that should help on how many you purchase if you choose that option

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 Capacitor Ratings

sc0rch is right....except in his rating of capacitors. 1 farad is thought to be enough for 1kw. However, this isn't the case with 99.9% of capacitors on the market today. Lightning Audio and Stinger are probablly going to be the biggest names in capacitors, possibly along with Rockford Fosgate. These are "traditional" capacitors, which have some draw backs. They are big and bulky, and they are always "hot". Once a traditional capacitor is put in your car and charged, there is no uncharging it, unless something goes bad, or you remove it from your car. This means your amps will always be "hot". Alumnapro has recently designed capacitors for the car audio market. They have been designing capicitors for the military for many years now. And for systems of up to approximilty 1500-2000 watts Alumnapro reccommends a 5 farad cap. Anything over that and I would go with a 15 farad Alumnapro capacitor.

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I didnt know caps were like that...i never used one i was just going by what i have been reading..... so basically there is constant power to the amp no matter what?

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thanks for the info. i found a high output alternator thats 135 amps do u think that would help out alot?

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I have a friend with 3 JL w0 12's and a 1200 watt JBL amp. It killed his stock alternator and he had it professionally rebuilt to 150 amps. I would get the 135 amp alternator before anything else. I think his stock one was 65 or something like that.

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Upgarde your alternator. Capicatators don't do shit. Actually you wont be running a 1 ohm load you will be running a .75 ohm load. If they are the dvc's. If they are the svc you will be running a 2 ohm load. And know it won't hurt the subs to run a 1 ohm load because the amp will see a 2 ohm load or a .75 ohm load.

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 what do you mean caps are always hot??

when you charge a capacitor, it holds the voltage of the voltage that charged it, so it will be holding a 12 volt charge, but, the remote lead turns the amplifier on and off, a capacitor is in parallel with your battery and just like with your battery, when you turn off your car the remote lead turns the amp off. so its not always hot.if that were true you should say the same thing about the battery. me personally, i would never put a system in my car that required a cap or a high out put alternator. every 12watts of amp power requires 1amp of current, therefore if you stock alternator can handle 70 amps, i wouldnt put more than 840 watts rms worth of amps into a car, actually it would be less because the alternator still has to run the ignition system headlights blower motor etc. also, when you car engine is running, the amps get power from the alternator not the battery, so you wont be draining your battery anyway, unless you are blasting your system so load that the alternator has a hard time charging the battery....if you choose better quality speakers and enclosures and tuned them right you can get a louder sound with less power.

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In a traditional capacitor, once it is charged, the capictor holds that charge...until manually discharged, even when you turn your radio off there is still charge in the capacitor, and since your amp is hooked up to the cap, its always hot...

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 how co uld it be hot?

by hot , do you mean your amp is always on? because that's not true because the remote wire operates a relay which disconnects the amp from th power supply, no matter what is supplyin the voltage cap or batt.

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he's right it will be hot, but the amp will not be on. being hot means that if the circuit were to be closed then it would draw power ( if the power wire were to be grounded) but there is no current because there is nothing to draw the current.

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