What A Capacitor Does
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What A Capacitor Does
Okay,
An Answer to all who always reccomend a cap as the fix all solution to electrical problems.
A Capicitor is an electrical storage device much like a battery. However a cap is designed to charge and Discharge very rapidly. When you have heavy bass hits in your car this is when the most electrical current is drawn from your electrical system (big voltage drop) What a Capacitor does is when your amps discharge rapidly the capacitors reserve power discharges and "helps" your electrical system out untill it's fully discharged. This helps with 2 things. Dimming lights and Bass response(steady supply of voltage). But after the bass hit is done and the cap is drained. The Cap must recharge, and it does this VERY fast..Which if you pay very very close attention you will notice your lights dim for about .2 of a second. When the cap recharges is draws more current than your alternator can put out and usually drains down your battery a little. If the music stays slow everythings Good and recharges. If you're running bass tracks then your battery will be slowly draining as the music goes on. Your lights still won't dim because the cap is "fooling" you into thinking everything is good because you won't notice any sudden dimming. However your lights will slowly and gradually get dimmer and dimmer as overall voltage drops more and more. This is where Big problems can happen.
1) Your battery will deep cycle and never fully charge again
2) Your ignition system may not have enough power available to make your spark plugs spark
3)Voltage may drop low for an extended period of time and your ECU will have have to draw more amperage to keep working thus getting hot and possibly Frying.
If you have only Minor Dimming problems here and there a Cap is perfect.
However if your lights dim with every bass hit, and you listen to alot of "bassy" music you will need a High Output alternator.
Cheers
Mohawk
An Answer to all who always reccomend a cap as the fix all solution to electrical problems.
A Capicitor is an electrical storage device much like a battery. However a cap is designed to charge and Discharge very rapidly. When you have heavy bass hits in your car this is when the most electrical current is drawn from your electrical system (big voltage drop) What a Capacitor does is when your amps discharge rapidly the capacitors reserve power discharges and "helps" your electrical system out untill it's fully discharged. This helps with 2 things. Dimming lights and Bass response(steady supply of voltage). But after the bass hit is done and the cap is drained. The Cap must recharge, and it does this VERY fast..Which if you pay very very close attention you will notice your lights dim for about .2 of a second. When the cap recharges is draws more current than your alternator can put out and usually drains down your battery a little. If the music stays slow everythings Good and recharges. If you're running bass tracks then your battery will be slowly draining as the music goes on. Your lights still won't dim because the cap is "fooling" you into thinking everything is good because you won't notice any sudden dimming. However your lights will slowly and gradually get dimmer and dimmer as overall voltage drops more and more. This is where Big problems can happen.
1) Your battery will deep cycle and never fully charge again
2) Your ignition system may not have enough power available to make your spark plugs spark
3)Voltage may drop low for an extended period of time and your ECU will have have to draw more amperage to keep working thus getting hot and possibly Frying.
If you have only Minor Dimming problems here and there a Cap is perfect.
However if your lights dim with every bass hit, and you listen to alot of "bassy" music you will need a High Output alternator.
Cheers
Mohawk
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Rep Power: 0 Yeah, Too mnay people use a cap as a Band-aid solution to electrical problems. It's not designed to be a Miracle tool it's an accessory to help regulate voltage and Increase bass responce. Not supply miracle to an electrical system.
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Mohawk
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Mohawk
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Rep Power: 0 ok well heres a question my car already dims some with bass drops and im pushin 2 12" orion xtr's with a 150X2 amp and probably around the end of the summer or the winter im goin to jump up to orions competition 12's and prolly run them with around 1k watts and then have another amp for my highs... i know a capacitor isn't goin to do much to help out with what im goin to have.......what would be the next thing to consider gettin.....stronger alternator or stronger battery or just a seperate battery in the trunk to run all speakers off of
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From: Car Audioville, Quebec, Canada
Rep Power: 0 An Extra battery will just be more strain on your electrical system. Only Solution for running mega wattage is a quality high output alternator. Ugraded wiring, and A Cap to keep Minor dimming at bay and improve bass response.
Cheers
Mohawk
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Mohawk
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Rep Power: 0 Im thinking about putting an AEM pulley system in my civic but my lights dim a little here and there from my bass hits. Should I buy a cap or spring for a bigger alternator? I only have 1 10" JL Audio running off a 300watt Plant Audio amp. The amp should power the sub just fine but my dash lights dim sometimes anyway.
What do you think?
What do you think?
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1) Your battery will deep cycle and never fully charge again
2) Your ignition system may not have enough power available to make your spark plugs spark
3)Voltage may drop low for an extended period of time and your ECU will have have to draw more amperage to keep working thus getting hot and possibly Frying.
Cheers
Mohawk >>
I think ever since I have installed my amp, my car has problems turning over. Instead of turning the key to have the engine start right away, the engine sometimes studders and then starts. The capacitator should help relieve that strain as said in #2 correct. And also, from looking at them, I am assuming you just connect the power cable from battery to one connector of the capacitator and then connect the other end to the amp. Is that the correct way? I haven't done a capacitator before, my Corolla never needed one.
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You've allready deep cycled your battery by the sounds of it. TUrn your car off. Make sure everythings off.. and measure the voltage acorss your battery terminals. If it's less than 12.5 after te cars been running for 10 minutes. You have a problem and your batteries F&$ked...If it's harder to start this means that your battery is not supplying the necessary voltage and current to turn your starter with force. How Many watts are your amps?..
Cheers
Mohawk
You've allready deep cycled your battery by the sounds of it. TUrn your car off. Make sure everythings off.. and measure the voltage acorss your battery terminals. If it's less than 12.5 after te cars been running for 10 minutes. You have a problem and your batteries F&$ked...If it's harder to start this means that your battery is not supplying the necessary voltage and current to turn your starter with force. How Many watts are your amps?..
Cheers
Mohawk
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Rep Power: 0 I only got one pioneer amp 2 channels (the one that lights up got it like maybe 2 years ago) 160wX2 480wX1 running 2 rockford I think 10" subs. I got a generic basic not numerical tester lying around (the needle goes in range from replace to good) when I set it at 12v the needle jumped all the way to good. I did this with the car off? I hope this helps you understand better mohawkboom
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Rep Power: 0 Hmmm May be a problem with your Starter than for the slow starts..or the weather... THat's not enough power to cause your batt to go..Unless you sit around parked and bump your system..or all stop and go driving.. If the starting problem keeps up take it to the dealership
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Rep Power: 0 It doesnt' happen evertime, and I don't believe I have had it happen when leaving the house for the first time. I think it happens occasionally when say for example I drive to a store, stop in for a few minutes and then go back out to start the car. I am assuming the farad capacitator would correct this.
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Rep Power: 0 Will/Should I get a capacitator if I decide to get a set of pulleys? I was thinking in the future of getting a set, but I have heard that with them on the electrical current doesn't cycle as fast (or something along those lines) putting strain on your stereo/amp system.
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From: Car Audioville, Quebec, Canada
Rep Power: 0 Alien.. Did you read the original post to this... a Cap does not do much.. All it does is stabilize voltage feed to your amps.. It's good to prevent minor dimming and help bass response. Not help your electrical system in any real useful way...
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Mohawk
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From: Car Audioville, Quebec, Canada
Rep Power: 0 Well Optima Red tops is a primary/starting battery that won't fit in our cars.. Optima Yellow tops are accessory deep cycle batteries.. But if you add an extra battery to your car.. it's MORE of a load on your Alternator..What I did at first was ran the stock battery..a battery isolator and an Optima yellow in ym trunk.. Now I have a H/) alternator and an SVT primary battery.. all set..
Adding a second battery to your car is almost as expensive as getting a H/O alternator.. and the alternator will give you the best gains...Start a new thread about adding a second battery and I'll answer all the Q's I can.
Cheers
Mohawk
Adding a second battery to your car is almost as expensive as getting a H/O alternator.. and the alternator will give you the best gains...Start a new thread about adding a second battery and I'll answer all the Q's I can.
Cheers
Mohawk
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Rep Power: 0 as a installer for the pasdt 5 -6 years i agree a cap is not a proper bandaid for a failing electrical system. it is presented to everybody as one .. it does help , but a H.O alternator and the Proper gauge wire , and similar ground wire will do more than caps, i gained 3 db by takin out my caps and putting a extra battery in my old car. but i also had a HO alternator . rule of thumb for caps is every 1000 watts you want a full one farad cap ... antoher thing to think about is if your gonna get pulleys, if you dont wanna spend a crap load of meny you can get the 15 farad cap beast that they sell i know people that have it and they have pulley etc, and it works great...
as far as the red to or yellow top ... for system power get a red top. it is a better battery for the application . i personally have had them i plan to relocate my battery in my trunk wtih a red top painted blue ( how i have no idea yet) ..
as far as the red to or yellow top ... for system power get a red top. it is a better battery for the application . i personally have had them i plan to relocate my battery in my trunk wtih a red top painted blue ( how i have no idea yet) ..
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From: Car Audioville, Quebec, Canada
Rep Power: 0 a Cap is an acccessory.. more like an aid.. It's like Polysporin to bandaids.. still doesn't fix the problem though [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG]..
The Extra battery does offer more surge capacity..but for a stock civic alternator it's too much added resistance.. I know..I hada yellow top in my trunk and I was always manually recharging it.. Now though with my H/O alt.. no problems.. I tried taking out the cao.. but I lost a little bass response.. but gained 1.4DB's... For me.. Sound quality comes first and foremost.. Besides that I was allreadybreaking high 140's [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG],,,
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Mohawk
The Extra battery does offer more surge capacity..but for a stock civic alternator it's too much added resistance.. I know..I hada yellow top in my trunk and I was always manually recharging it.. Now though with my H/O alt.. no problems.. I tried taking out the cao.. but I lost a little bass response.. but gained 1.4DB's... For me.. Sound quality comes first and foremost.. Besides that I was allreadybreaking high 140's [IMG]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/IMG],,,
Cheers
Mohawk
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Rep Power: 0 yeah ... most people dont wanna spend the time or the money on a new HO alt... and some people think that the battery is the way to go .. and they all have there points and downfalls.. ... the HO alt is def the way to go . ...
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Rep Power: 0 Yup yup..
A Deep Cycle battery will do good.. but only if you can still keep your voltage over 12..and turn the system down to give it time to recharge...Otherwise... H/O Is the only safe way to street a high power system.
Cheers
Mohawk
A Deep Cycle battery will do good.. but only if you can still keep your voltage over 12..and turn the system down to give it time to recharge...Otherwise... H/O Is the only safe way to street a high power system.
Cheers
Mohawk
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Rep Power: 0 I have a question... I recently bought JLAudio 12" W0's subs... for my amp I bought PowerAcoustik SP4x-600 with a bridge max of 600W's. Now I bought a Lightning Audio 1 Fared Capacitor. The capacitor isn't going to hurt my car at all being at a 1 when I probably should have got a .5 would it?
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optima is crap, mine and alot of others had it die in about a year. and even if they were good batteries, that wont help give you more power.
