Good cap's

[Hyundia_90250]

:dj: :halm: :drive: O.k. I'm in the market for a a capcitor.....don't need something huge I'm only running less than a 1000 watt amp......what are good brands?

[projectx515]

When I Was Running My System I Was Running A Lighting Audio 1000 Watt Amp And Two 10 In Audio Bahns And Had The Wal Mart 1 Fared Power Cap. And I Never Had Any Trobles With Power Loss Or Dimming. I Also Had A 1/2 Fared Fosgate One Hooked Up To It Which I Didnt Like As Much....... ..

[Hyundia_90250]

Walmart huh...well since I frequent walmart...might look at them.....

[VTElantra]

Being he got it from Walmart, it was maby a Lighting Audio Cap. Atleast around here they sell some Lighting Audio stuff. I have a 600 watt Eclipes amp and I can get my lights to dim if I play rap.

[Gun5]

the company doesn't really matter a cap is a cap goto ebay get a nitro one for $42-$50 shipped... how much are the 1 faread ones at walmart? (1 faread = 1000 watts 1.5 = 1500 watts ect)

[ryan s-b]

caps are not a good solution unless you already have a strong electrical system (HO alt., deep cycle batt, good grounds, etc.) dont waste ur money

[Gun5]

caps are not a good solution unless you already have a strong electrical system (HO alt., deep cycle batt, good grounds, etc.) dont waste ur money

if your lights are dimming and such it should still help a few people here have told me its made a diff, I have ground wiring and im going to be getting one in a few weeks for around $50 because sometimes my lights dim

[ryan s-b]

ok. caps supplement you electrical system by storing charge and fill the "void" so to speak when the electrical system cant give the power the amps demand. this is all fine and dandy. but what happens after the cap has done its job and has fully discharged? i'll tell you. it recharges. to get to the point, now your poor alternator not only needs to charge the battery but it also needs to charge this cap. this adds extra strain on the alternator, thus weakening your charging system further than it was before. soooo, if you desperately want a cap, get a H.O. alternator first so that your cap will actually do something. for those who don't believe me, im an electrical engineering student and i know what im talking about.

[2loud2k2xd]

caps are not a good solution unless you already have a strong electrical system (HO alt., deep cycle batt, good grounds, etc.) dont waste ur money

lmao, didnt we have this discussion a while ago?.....

everyone has their opinions about caps. they just help out the electricle system when aftermarket sound systems are installed.

i have everything on the list except a h/o alt and i push over 3000watts rms, with the stock 80amp alt. (68,000+ miles, same alt)
caps are great, if headlights dim. and dimming headlights from the bass WILL be the cause of blowing bulbs (take it from me, i was going thru headlight bulbs every WEEK).

anyway, i had a 1.5 farad lightning audio cap(80.00-ebay) and it worked great. i now have a 3 farad xtreem power cap. the golden rule is 1 farad for every 1000 watts.

as far as a h/o alt for our cars, i know of 3 places that can make them....for over 600.00. too much for my pockets at the moment.

[projectx515]

i think my wal mart cap was only like 60 dollars i think it help out alot my personal opinion though......never had a problem with an alt either

[Hyundia_90250]

I have a friend the installs house alarms for ADT......he used to install car audio....he said the same thing "get a cap".....as for up'ing the alt....too much money for that I'll just disconnect the sub before I do that.

[Micce]

The purpose of a capacitor is to store an electricial charge, and discharge when needed (or when full if its just a regular capacitor). I think another battery for your subs and amps to run off of is a better idea before going with a capacitor. Like ryan said, once it does it's job, it sucks the live right back out of your battery and alternator. But, I dont think its going to discharge it all at once, only when its necessary, so, if that is the case, I would get one. But if it fills up, discharges, then repeats constantly, its only bad for your car. Whatever you do, NEVER connect the two points of that capacitor together.... If a full 1 micro farred can make a slightly large spark, just think of what a million of those can do :-X

[2loud2k2xd]

i compete with my car. when i do, i put a MAJOR drain on my 2nd battery and cap. i hit over 140spl in comps. i have a digital voltage display on my 3 farad cap. ive NEVER seen the voltage drop below 10volts. never. even when playing a 35hz-45hz track for 30 seconds in comps. so, as far as draining the cap and making the alt and stock battery work extra hard to replenish the power stored in the cap, i dont think its a strain at all. very minimal if the most. even with the stock alt. and i do, and still am running the same stock alt that came with the car. and i have 68,000+ miles and never any problems. most people are running about 1500 watts peak or less, therefor they wouldnt be able to fully drain the cap. prolonged playing the system without the engine running WILL put a major strain on the batt and alt because it has to work extra hard to replace all the juice being sucked up by the system.
my .02

[Hyundia_90250]

O.k. ....here's what I'm running:


Stock alt: 75 amp o/p
Reverse Indiglo Gauge Face
JVC head unit

Amp: Kenwood 8401 4 Ch
Ch A: 60x2 watts RMS
Ch B: 180x1 watts (bridged)

Speakers
2x 5 1/2
2x 6x9
1 10" sub

If I have the headlights on then there is dimming but if there off (parking lights) then no dimming....dimming happens only when the bass hits....also the odometer light dims also...so I'm guessing that I'm just over on.....

[2loud2k2xd]

i would get a 1 farad cap. better to have more than less. even with that set-up, you really only need a 1/2 or 3/4 farad cap.

[ryan s-b]

2loud, i know you got some serious setup going... tell you what, why dont u take OFF ur cap and see if ur lights START dimming. my guess is that they won't. having good grounds and thick wiring should handle that problem. then again i could be wrong. test it out. the results could prove interesting.

i wouldn't go more than .5 farad for dude's setup... and even then... do peeps realize that amps already have many caps inside them...

[projectx515]

...power caps dont charge and discharge all at once...from what i understand the subs still run off the battery the purpose of the cap is to cover a strain on the system from lets say an hard hit. the amp will draw the extra power from the cap instead of the battery. eliminating power spikes caused by the amp drawing so much power at once.kinda like having a live powerline running from the battery to the subs that never breaks , then you install the power cap inline on the powerwire (like adding an extra battery) and when its needed it pulls the extra current from the cap instead of having to pull the extra current from the battery, but the power from the battery stays constant the intire time and slowly recharges as the power runs through it. correct me if im wrong but thats the general idea right? when i had my subs in my power cap never dropped below 11.5 volts and it normally stayed around 13 volts. sorry if some one already cover what i said in this post ..but i m at work and didnt really get to read every post in depth. :)

[2loud2k2xd]

2loud, i know you got some serious setup going... tell you what, why dont u take OFF ur cap and see if ur lights START dimming. my guess is that they won't. having good grounds and thick wiring should handle that problem. then again i could be wrong. test it out. the results could prove interesting.

i wouldn't go more than .5 farad for dude's setup... and even then... do peeps realize that amps already have many caps inside them...

if i remove the cap, i still wont be able to dim my lights. because i have a dedicated 1125ca yellow top for the system. i have plenty of juice from both batteries.

as far as caps being inside amps....not sure about that. i highly doubt it tho. imo. ive seen the inside of both my amps and there is no power storage thing inside.

[BigMix]

amps do have caps in them but they are so small you would need like 1000+ to equal what a 1farad cap can hold.

[2loud2k2xd]

amps do have caps in them but they are so small you would need like 1000+ to equal what a 1farad cap can hold.

so in other words, the internal cap could store about 1/10 of a farad of juice? why even bother. it would take up useless space for bigger and stronger more important internal parts.

[ryan s-b]

all im tryin to say is that caps are not a quick fix to other weak links in one's electrical system. peeps see dimming headlights and instantly think caps instead of thinking other parts (inadequate wiring) could be the culprit.

[Hyundia_90250]

I had someone check the wires....no prob there......it was installed with a kit....they alt is fine.....althought the car ground wires are stock I'm gonna make a kit soon

[2loud2k2xd]

i would also reccomend a good ground wire kit. i forgot to mention that earlier. it will just helkp all the electricle stuff out better.