Thread: Capacitors...what's a good brand now-a-days?

Battery was at 13.9V at idle, added grounds and got it up to 14.4-5V at idle. So, that's the reason I want to add a capacitor. May upgrade the alternator at some point, but not anytime soon.

B15 Alternator is 105 IIRC and can be had cheaply.

This is for a 2002 G20, so isn't that the same alternator?

The B15 and P11 have different alt's. Unfortunately, the RR G20's got leftovers from the 98+ G20. The P11 alt from '98-'02 has a 90amp unit. The B15 2.0 alt's are 100+ amp. Even the QR B15 alt's are 100 amp.

Back in the day, I was running a monster system in my B15 SE (putting out over 150db) and I did have issues with interior and headlight dimming, despite having the best wiring/grounds and new OEM batt/alt. I upgraded to a 1 farad cap and it improved the situation a great deal.

I think in your case, switching to the B15 alt, getting a cap and maybe upgrading the ground wiring to a bigger size would get rid of the light dimming completely. The size of the wire/ground wire plays a much bigger role then people think.

If you don't want to change the alt, a 1 farad cap (no need to go bigger) should be more then enough to smooth out the power delivery to avoid any noticeable light dimming. I was running a 1 farad Accucap Unit and was happy with it. Stinger, Monster etc. will all do the job.

Oh, didn't know that about the alternators.

I've seen alumipro too, those any good? I've upgraded my ground wires, and added a power wire from alt to battery.

Honestly, I'm not too famailiar with Alumapro. I checked their web-site and the web and it seems as though they only have caps available in 5, 15 and 50 farad capacities. All of which would be overkill for a simple 1 amp setup. From reading some info on their units, it does appear that they are a step up from the older style stiffening caps, like the one I have. Apparently they charge and discharge quicker than a standard stiffening cap. Unfortunately you will pay more for these and the large capacity unit might be counter-productive as the battery would have to charge up to the capacity of the unit you get. A simple 1 farad stiffening cap WILL charge and disharge much quicker than a standard 12V battery so it will help to eliminate most/all of the voltage fluctuations that are causing the visible light dimming.

I did see a nice BNIB Rockford Fosgate 1 farad stiffening cap on ebay the other day, it sold for just over $20 I believe, in an auction. This would be perfect for your set-up.

I wonder if anybody has had any experience with Belva Capacitors? According to their website, their 1 farad unit retails for $79.99 but I see them listed on ebay and other sites for $29.99 with free shipping in the USA. Might be worth a shot at that price?!

Okay, I will check out ebay. I'll have to do some research on brands I havent heard of. Thanks