lol I hate it when that happens my ipad does it all the time and in the end, I'm like why bother? Lol Well a lot of people will disagree with having an alternator upgrade and I respect that, I wish I could have read your understanding of upgrading the alternator, I would definitely be open to it. Would definitly be cheaper. i think you are dead on about the big three and the yellow top. And I couldn't agree with you more. It's just that it all comes down to where is the power for the electrical system coming from? And if you can make that stronger? Why not? My understanding of a capacitor is that it acts as a go between from the battory to the amp and it stores power so when a amp requires those peak power usage (dimming headlights) it won't draw it off the battery, unless you are hitting hard and the capacitor hasn't had a chance to recharge, which leads you to dimming head lights anyways. I'm sorry about the wrong 200 amp alternator number, honestly I Haven't messed with 12 volt for a good ten years or so and I just threw that number out there.
^^Tech Article Link I wrote on my LINCOLN Continental from LINCOLNSonline.com^^ Yea....... I drive a Dodge pick-up.... Why do you ask?
If your wires are still there, simply hunt craigslist and pawnshops seeking a cheap setup, and installation is as simple as plugging in 4 wires.
If your lights are dimming while driving then your alternator is not supplying enough amperage, and its time for an upgrade (Assuming the big 3 and deep cycle battery are done). Bad dimming at idle is almost expected and is usually taken care of by a capacitor. It wont eliminate it, but it will make it a lot better. Really you only need to upgrade to alternator if you're running well over 5000W, or your alt is putting out much less than ~100 amps. My 85 amp alternator ran my 2500W system with no dip while driving, and very little at idle. Before I did the big 3 I was debating on upgrading to a 130 amp alt until someone suggested the big 3 upgrade. After I did that I had no more problems. OK I'll add to this... You run a 00 gauge from the +batt to the +amp and a 00 from amp neg to body ground, right? From the alternator+ feeding the battery+ is a 14 gauge or so. The alternator is grounded to the engine which is grounded to the body via a very small ground wire or strap. The battery is grounded to the body by a small 14 or less gauge wire. This set up creates a situation where most of the amps power is being taken from the battery and the alternator cant push enough to keep up, so the battery dies. Adding to that is the ground is insufficient to complete the large amperage cycle which chokes the amp. Basically NOT doing the big three puts all of the strain on the battery, and almost eliminates the alternator from the equation. The battery is only supposed to store energy, not supply it. Thats what the alternator is for
Actually had 3 amps on four 12's putting out ~2000W... I had a 1000W Pyramid (Bridged to 1 ohm running 2 12" Kicker DVC's in a sealed box) 500W Kicker (Bridged running 1 12" Kenwood Typhoon in a bandpass box) 500W "Fast & Furious" something or another (Bridged running the other Kenwood Typhoon) Was also running a 500W 4 channel Kenwood (maybe?) (Running interior speakers) Though I dont exactly remember the specs, the kenwood was probably only putting out half that rated wattage. I think the 500W rating is like 2 bridged channels put out 250W/PC or something like that, but I had it running 4 separate channels so it was more like 75W/PC. TBH I'm not 100% sure what amps I had running in the last in-car-nation ( ) because I was always up-grading them, but I think that was the set-up I pulled out before she went to the big parking lot in the sky....