im thinkin about putting maybe a yellow top in my 97 civic ex
bought a battery from autozone like not too long ago and its already dead!!
i have a american bass sq-580 pushin a pair of orion 12's.
man it bumps but am i using too much juice?? i wanna upgrade the alt
but for now i need a battery.
or should i put a capacitor??
also will a optima fit in my honda??
thanks

 

I put a Kinetik HC1400 in my 1997 Civic EX coupe. IMHO Kinetik is better than Optima! The only good an Optima Yellow top will do you is if you are constantly running it down and charging it back up. IIRC, the yellow top is a deep cycle battery and is designed to be drained down and recharged multiple times. With that said, it isn't always the ideal choice for your sole battery in a vehicle.

Are you playing your sound system for extended periods of time with the engine off? I ask because I have 1,200 watts RMS in my Civic, I still haven't upgraded the alternator, and I have yet to run the Kinetik down to nothing. Granted, I don't play at full blast all the time, but my Sub amp is a class AB amp with 120 amps worth of fusing and my mids/highs amp is another class AB amp with 25 amps worth of fusing!

A capacitor will only serve as a band-aid on your problem and may or may not address the issues you are having. That capacitor has to get its charge from somewhere, therefore it will be yet another load on your already overloaded alternator. If you have one, you could try it out, but I would not go out of my way to purchase a capacitor to solve your particular issue!

 

THANKS !!!
no not really. mostly drive when im bumpin.
i know today i got my alternator tested at az
and it was pushing only 43 AMPS!!!
so now im looking for a high ouput alt.
somethin not too big tho!!! at least 100amps
you know where i can find one for a good price??

 

i would think a stiffening cap, would be a good idea.

 

the az testers are wrong my friend has a 280amp or bigger alt and they told him it was only puttin out like 100amps

did you have to relocate the battery by the specs that i had it said that the 1400 was a tad too big so i was gunna go with the 800.

WAY!!!!! BETTER!!!!!!!

 

well AZ testers are only decent for stock alternators. i also had them test my old high power alternator on the car and it only tested like 100amps for my 2-250amp alt.

but if you really want to fix the problem buy the alternator first and just charge up your old battery.


but i use yellow top optima in my car. a large yellow top D34/78 will fit with just minor mods....

first flip the batterys plastic tray and slightly trim the battery case to clear the rear firewall ac bolt holding the lines on the firewall, and the second bolt to clear is the front tower upper control arm bolt... simply trim the bottom of the batteries case a little bit and the battery will drop right in!



the battery did help a bit of dimming. and it does have alot more power than the factory size battery has!
tho i didnt put one in my 96civic. i put both of my yellow tops in the truck since i plan on going alot bigger stereo in it than the civic.

 

THANKS !!!
i think i might just go with a kinetik battery.
or prolly just duralast gold. that wht autozone
recommened for now.
and man i called some local car audio stores and
there charging me 600$ for a 260amp alt!!!
not to mention im just tryin to push a 800 watt american bass
amp. im not tryin to make my ears bleed yet !! lol
maybe later on the road.
STILL LOOKIN ON EBAY FOR SOME ALTS THO!!
cant really find none.

 

well if ya want a nice high power alt
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=72391

 

I had to replace the J bolts with 12" J bolts that I cut to fit. Also, instead of using the tall posts, I used the shorter post that came with the Kinetik. It is just enough for the Positive terminal to grip onto... As for my negative, I just ran a bolt through the existing negative lug. I need to get a photo of that up soon. It isn't pretty, but I am a function over form type of guy anyhow

 

*cough* shameless plug *cough*