capacitor

i just recently bought a 5 farad power acoustik capacitor and i got a generic owners manual, but i wired it up, positive to pos, negative to neg, and let it sit and charge for a couple hrs like the manual said.... after that i turned the system on and it still dimmed the lights and sounded the same, is there somewere i went wrong or do i need another battery to provide the rest of the power? i figured the 5 farad would be more than enough since im pushing 3400 watts im open to options im new to the cap situation.... let me know

thanks

Lane

Keep in mind that capacitors (regardless of size) are only a storage medium.  Remember there's no replacement for amperage.   So if you're running an amp rated @ 500 watts RMS with a 5 Farad cap, and a stock alternator, you won't see a noticeable change in stereo performance.  I own a Civic that had a 60 amp alternator.  My sub amp is rated at only 320 watts RMS.  When I'd crank the stereo 3/4 of the way up, my lights would dim, big time.  I swapped my stock alternator with a 135 amp, high output unit .  Not only do my headlights stay bright, but I've eliminated the use for a capacitor altogether.  Not saying that capacitor's are bad news, but with the cash you spent on that cap, you could've purchased a high output alternator, with a  heavy duty (4 gauge or heavier) amp wire kit.  Hope this helps

No problem. 

You said you're running 3400 watts.  Assuming that's your system's MAX output, use 1700 watts (about 50%) as your RMS output.  Go to the car audio section of this website, click on recommended power & ground cable sizes, and use the data as a guide.  The chart only goes up to 1400 watts, but it should be sufficient enough to give you a ball park of how heavy a wire & how large an alternator to look into.

Caps will only work if there is anought power to supply them.  A HO alt and a wiring upgrade should solve the problem