Thanks for all of the information guys. This forum is great! I did order a 1 Farad cap today along with my other stuff. I read that 1 Farad equals 1000 watts so I should be set. Having my lights dim when the bass hits would start to annoy me after awhile.

Is their a specific brand of alternator that is better than others? Also, I bought the service manual from helminc.com but there is no index listing for alternator. How could that be?!?

My lights only dim @ idle after warmed up for a bit.

www.domesticperformance.com is your best Alternator Bet hands down. 140-200 Amp alts.

Could always just run an extra batt for the stereo... Thats what Ive always done but whatever

That might not actually be a bad idea. It would definately save some cable routing. I'll have to see if I have room in my trunk. What kind of battery do you use to power your amp?

Try a Optima Yellow Top to power your amps, well worth the money.

Just outta curiosity...how long can your run your amp before you need to recharge your battery???

And also, how DO you recharge the battery? Is it hooked up to the alternator as well?

the stereo place ran 4 guage from one batt, back to the 2nd, tied it in at the positive ran another wire off that to the amp then grounded the 2nd batt...

I can see where'd it be a good deal if you could use the battery for a couple hours. Then, when you get back home, remove it and recharge it with a charger. It'd really be neat to be able to install something that would monitor your car'* power consumption/generation and charge the battery here and there when it'* most efficient to do so.

Either way, it'd be nice to be able to crank your stuff up and not have to worry about any other electrical system in the car, cause if you people run stuff like me, I do "bragging rights/loud music" for about 5-10 minutes, and then that'* enough of that, back to normal bass. It'* not really worth the strain on the electrical system.

just remember, you get MORE POWER out of a running car... ona batt youd get maybe 12.2 volts max... on a running elect system in a car you get 14+......more power in means more power out