posted
I don't have the money to upgrade my alt. right now, but I want my amps to have the voltage and amps that they deserve. I haven't actually checked it out yet, but I think my alt. is probably only a 100A or 105A (1996 Oldsmoblie LSS).
What the hell is a Batcap? I mean, I know "what" they are, but what exactly do they do? I have heard they are a battery, a capacitor, a battery that acts like a cap, and a cap that acts like a battery. What do they do?
Also, would adding a second battery be better than adding a batcap? I currently have a 3 farad stinger cap also. Should that stay or should it go? And what would be the best battery in my case, I plan on leaving the stock under the hood.
I believe that with my current amp (Eclipse 34230, 370w X 2) on my components it will probably only draw like 40-50A on the top end (rated at 100A max) and possibly a Tru H-1 Hammer on my sub (running 1.2 ohm load, I was told for music it would only draw like 80A on a regular basis with music). So I figure probably my draw will probably be like 130A with music play. I may do some comps, but nothing hard core, just to see what I hit and for fun.
So, in my situation, Batcap or Second Battery and should the cap stay??
Sorry this was so long, but I tried breaking it up so it was easy to follow. Thanks!!!
Posts: 436 | From: Hollow Depths of Hell | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Hey, I am running a MMATS D200HC with a stock 90 amp alternator right now. Upfont I have a Yellow Top and in the rear I am trying out a BatCap 400. I am actually kind of unimpressed by the Batcap. I can still pull my voltage down to 11-12 if I get on it hard. My amp is running at 1 ohm mono (its a monoblock as you know) which is what it wants and to a sealed box setup right now (my wall is gone). Now you are going to piss your pants when you hear this. What you see below was my setup a few months ago and for a good time of about 6 months I RAN IT OFF MY STOCK ALTERNATOR before I upgraded to an Ohio Generator (now I am back to stock as I'm playing with appearance/rice stuff now), however I had 5 Yellow Top Optimas (the 1 upfront plus 4 in the rear because in the trunk there were 6 MMATS amps (4 on bass with each having its own battery 2 feet away) ALL OFF the stock alternator. What you see in the photo is only the bottom rack full and that is all I could support with stock alternator, but still that is 2 class D 1200-1800 WRMS amplifiers. If I ran the second row I would pull to 9 volts in a matter of seconds. So If I were you I would run a new upgraded battery under your hood, my choice would be Yellow top or Stinger, some form of high output battery or deep cycle battery. Thats it, if you want though I would also run one additional battery (Yellow Top) in the trunk and hook the amp right to its sideposts a few feet away. ****I ran 5 Batteries in parallel on my stock 90 amp alternator for 6 months and I drive my car over 120 Miles per day!!!!!***** Everybody said my alternator would burn up and its still running fine as we speak. I think you will be fine with one high end battery upfront, but you will notice a slight audible difference and cooler running amplifier (happier amp) if you give it its own battery in the rear. As for my Batcap400 thats all I have in the rear right now and the 1 Yellow Top upfront (I left DB Drag for a while only running sealed box in trunk now aka normal setup, no wall) The Batcap honestly I can say from direct real time comparison does NOT hold the voltage as steady as did a second Optima in the trunk instead. I can drop 3 volts now on a burp when I would only drop 1 volt with the 2nd Yellow Top. But weight is a big issue now as I am going for looks and functionality now instead of SPL, the Batcap does make a diffence though and only weighs about 5-10 pounds. I am not exactly sure what a BatCap is composed of however I know it is some form of a Lead Acid battery and it does break easily. I had problems with the top posts of my first one it would only output power when I pushed downwards and I did not overtighten the terminals ever. They are very delicate it seems. However when I called the phone number ontop of the batcap (XStatic) they were VERY nice and had me send them mine and they FedExed a new one to me immediately after inspecting it. VERY nice people with a cool little thing I am still expirimenting with.
posted
oh i almost forgot about your cap, keep the cap in rear and try and get a new High end battery upfront. Then maybe sell the cap and replace it with another identical battery in rear, but I'd do high end upfront, cap in rear.
Posts: 841 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
Yeah man I'd say you should be fine with a stock alternator, even I was running stock for a while untill I seriously needed to perfect numbers, the Ohio helped stiffen out the voltage somewhat but still I could pull voltage to 12 and below with all 4 Class D's connected. Batteries actually seem to be the main buffereing item on burps not the alternator. Batteries seem to be what truly will stabilize your voltage during a hard draw because they can all team up. So with a setup that you will get on hard sometimes for fun and to see what it can do, I wouldn't bother worrying about your alternator. I needed money for a transmission rebuild and gave up my Ohio and am running stock myself now with the single Optima upfront and Batcap400 in the rear (I only run one 1200 Watt Class D now). If I feel like getting on it hard for a few minutes I can pull votage down but she keeps bouncing back up and within a minute or two of having it turned back down the voltage will stabilize back to 14.3 or so. So you will be fine with stock alternator unless you see any outright problems when running it (very doubtful) or are going for the reason to squeeze every last 10th of a dB out of the setup in hard core competition.
Posts: 841 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
In my opinion in a playable nice system streetable system (aka what i'm running now, trunk setup) you can daily drive a 1,000-1,500 WRMS Class D with a good upfront battery, maybe a Cap or two and a nice 0 gauge power run back and good conenctions, with Stock Alternator of 60-120 amps. Conditions arent ideal but never are, they are perfectly acceptable. You just have to draw a line between whats reasonable and whats not, too keep voltage at 14 even with one amp you would probabaly need 4 batteries or more and a huge alternator. But its totally unecessary to keep perfectly solid votage unless you need absolutely every last watt for every last 10th of dB.
Posts: 841 | From: Pennsylvania | Registered: Feb 2002
| IP: Logged |
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic