Do you need a capacitor?

[the88thpianoman]

From the reading I've done, this almost always spurs quite the debate. I have a 5 farad capacitor that I'm trying to decide whether or not to include in my install. The stuff I'm setting up includes:

Stock alternator at 136 amps.
Big 3 upgrade with 0 gauge.
Optima yellowtop D34 at 750 CCA.
4 ch amp at 640 watts RMS (2 ohms x 4): http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_23945_Hifonics_ZXi804.aspx
Sub amp at 900 watts RMS (2 ohms x 1): http://www.onlinecarstereo.com/CarAudio/p_23922_Hifonics_BRZ12001D.aspx

This is in addition to about 800 watts of auxiliary lighting installed, however I cannot foresee any situation in which I would be pushing both the lighting and stereo at the same time. That said, I am wiring and fusing the whole system to be capable of running everything at once, and eventually I will be upgrading the alternator to match.

Now if I use the capacitor, this would be for the sub amp only. Probably what I will do is install the whole system without it and then see if I am getting any headlight dimming. But I figured some informed opinions beforehand couldn't hurt either.

[MacLeod]

If youve already got it, might as well install it. It wont hurt anything. Do you need it? Not at all.

[the88thpianoman]

So the claims that a capacitor will be very rough/demanding on the charging system aren't really true?

Also, do I need to take any caution given that I've had this for about five years and never powered it up, or are they unaffected by shelf life? I appreciate your help.

[MacLeod]

Yes it will present an extra load on your charging system but it shouldn't be a big problem unless you've got something like a 60 amp alternator. I'm not sure about shelf life on those things so can't help ya on that. If in doubt, just don't install it cause you don't need it.