I'll be hooking up a new sub and amp, and my concern is that the amp uses two 40 amp fuses.

First, does this mean it will draw up to 80 amps of power?

Second, will the stock alternator in my 1999 Civic DX suffice, or will I need to add a capacitor?

Thanks,
MC

 

Just because the amp has 80 amps worth the fuses does not mean it uses 80 amps. If you have a constant 77 amp draw it has the posibility after continued use for say 3 hours to blow the fuse. Therefore if the amp draws say 60 amps then they would give it 80 amps worth the fuses. Also if it did use 80 amps it would only be for a moment being music has a beat and is not a constant draw. I would say that your alternator and battery should be fine to power it. And last of all if you plan to upgrade your electrical system then I would get your alternator "cranked" or get a new battery such as a Kinetik they hold much more power than a stock or advance auto battery.

(p.s. if your headlights just blink a little bit and you want it to stop a new battery would be what you are looking for)

 

Thanks for the info, kana.

Considering when I will actually be installing the amp and sub, I'll be able to check if my lights blink on the heavy notes.

As a follow up (and I know this is probably REALLY noobish) but should I put an 80A fuse on my power cable because my amp is using 40Ax2 fuses?

 

yes definatly use a 80 amp on the power cable if you cant get an 80 just use a 100 but don't go too much bigger and don't go smaller than 80

 

My lights dim when the bass throbs, but so does my hearing lol.. So it's not so much a problem any more, although an upgrade is probably in order.

Ohh Kinetik batteries, never heard of 'em. Since I dabble in the 4-wheelin' world, the only buzzwords I'm surrounded with are Optima and Redtop. Will have to research 'em.

 

When your lights are dimming, it means your alternator and battery are struggling to provide enough current to your car's electronics. I'm not sure what this means to everything else, but I do know it's wreaking havoc on your amp(s) if the voltage to it/them is dropping below 12V. A lot of damage results in your amp never being able to produce the same amount of power without replacing at least the damaged transistors/mosfets.

 

^^^ Speaks the truth!

My 25 to Life Punch 150 has 120 amps worth of fusing and it is a class A/B amp with about 65% efficiency. My Linear Power 1502IQ has 25 amps of fusing, and is a tad bit more efficient. So I have the potential to draw 145 amps at any given moment and my lights DO NOT dim at night!

As for upgrades, I upgraded the engine to the chassis ground cable with a 1/0 wire and the battery negative to chassis with a 1/0 cable! I also have a Kinetik battery being charged via the stock alternator, and would choose Kinetik over Optima 10 out of 10 times! Heck, I would use an Interstate battery before I went with an Optima for car audio!

As for capacitors, I have only found them useful for filtering and noise rejection, not to stop the lights from dimming. In fact, I would NEVER use a cap to fix a dimming problem. A newer fast discharge battery is better than ANY capacitor when it comes to keeping your vehicle voltage higher!

 

Also, some amps will BLOW if the voltage dips too much!

 

You mean go into protect mode. Any amp worth its dollar (even most cheap ones) will go into protect mode if the voltage drops too low.

 

No, I mean blow as in power supply components and mosfets go up in smoke! Do not rely on an amplifier's protection circuitry as a substitute for a proper electrical setup because Murphy will come back to remind you that protection circuits will not always save your amp!