Alternator #3 is toast, need a cap?

[matt4pl]

so i was driving last nite after rewiring my stereo system. my lights got dim, etc, eventually the car just died on me, wouildnt start. my system consistes of teh following:

two 10" kenwoods subs, powered by a 500W crunch amp, bridgedinfiniti referance series components up front, 90W rms, 270W maxsony xplode 6X9's, boxed, in rear, i belive 70 W rms, 230W maxthe speakers are pwoered by a rockford fostgate amp running 4x100W max, 4x50W rms

4awg wire from battery to distribuytion block, 8 awg to amp and grounds

i had an stock alternator upped to make 90 amps. i talked to my a buddy of mine, and he says i need a capactitor. i never had this happen, cause as far as i know the other two alternators were killed by an oil leak in the front main seal, which i fixed after the 2nd one went. so, is it likely that i need a capacitor for the system or should i be looking elsewhere? if it makes a difference, i have aftermarket groundwires installed also

ThanksMatt

[matt4pl]

i should also mention ive been doing some blasting these past few days. usually i have it maybe 1/4 of the way up max, usually closer to 1/8 or so. i also have an optima red top

i also have 4 cold cathode lights inside the car... http://www.newegg.com/Product/...Specsits been suggested that they take too much power to run, but ive had 8 of them in the car before when i just had the subs and nothing liek this happened
Modified by matt4pl at 5:12 PM 7/16/2005

[PoorManQ45]

i talked to my a buddy of mine, and he says i need a capactitor.

SOrry to say, but your buddy has fallen under the spell of marketing hype.

A capacitor is the equivolent of putting a bandaid on a cut artery. It'll help a little bit, but the blood is still going to come out.

Basically, don't get a capacitor.

Unfortunately, you have most likely killed your battery also if indeed your alternator failed. You may try to put it on a charger to see if it takes a charge.

Do you have a volt meter? If so, charge up your battery until it reachs about 12~12.5volts. Then start the car. Turn all electronics off. The volt meter should at least read a higher voltage then it did with the car off. If it doesn't then your alternator has indeed failed.

If it did indeed fail I recommend that you upgrade to at least a 130amp model.

[matt4pl]

i highly doubt the battery failed, but it does have a3 year warranty on it, so im good. about the alternator, any suggestions on a good one that wont cost my any organs?

[PoorManQ45]

Well, you won't have to sell any organs, maybe a little semen though

The reason I say the battery may have failed is that if the alternator failed and you were running off the battery and the car just shut down, that means that you drained the battery almost completely, most likely below 10volts.

Most of the time when this happens to a battery it is unable to be brought back to life. This includes deep cycle batteries. The most you should ever drain a battery is to 20%.

Like I said, hook the red top up to a charger and if it takes a charge then it's ok, if it doens't take a charge then use the warranty.

Before you go replacing th ealternator you should make sure that it's dead. Recharge the battery like I said. Measure the voltage with the car off, then start the car and measure the voltage while it's running. If the voltage does not read higher then what it did with the car off then the alternator is dead.

What kind of car do you have? And what year is it? I'll look around for an alternator.

Do you have a max price that you're willing to spend?

[Rex]

What kind of car do you have? And what year is it? I'll look around for an alternator

From his sig - Owner of 96 240sx, aspen white

[PoorManQ45]

Thanks rex.

I'll start looing for alternator and post what I find

*edit* You're an ***. I just realized it's in his sig

[matt4pl]

lol. thanks guys, i'll get crackin on it tomorrow, i jsut got battlefield 2, gotta get my fill

[PoorManQ45]

I trie dgoogling for an alternator but all I came up with was a bunch of forums with people talking about installing one, but no links to where to get one.

I'll keep looking

[PhopsonNY]

I am running JL audios 450/4 and the 500/1 with Dynaudio system 360, Infinity cappa 6*4 in rear and a Jl 10w6v2 sub so I needed a new upped alternator too.

Was going to get a yellow top and a cap, but found I did not need one

Got it from these guys...

http://www.4alterstart.com /

They got me a 150amp alternator for my 1990 s13 for about $275.00 shipped.

I have had no problems with it at all. I am now swapping it onto my Sr red top

good luck

[matt4pl]

did your old one crap out on u too?

[PhopsonNY]

no, but did a lot of research before I did my stereo and I found this site that was pretty close to what I wanted to do to my car;

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com....html

I figured, why take the risk with it?

You can see what I did to my car here... work in progress

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