Capasitor hookup guide please?
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New member Username: TpharohBradford, Ontario Canada Post Number: 9 Registered: Dec-06 | I just purchased a 6 farad cap for my car. I bought it for future plans. But in the meantime id like to install it. The guide/install pages it came wich are a japenese to english translation looks like jiberish to me. and im not new in the audio install world. Just cap's. All id like to know is how to charge and hook it up to my car. It should be simple right, but i dont understand the Positive input / output terminals and the neg input / output terminals. In the diagram it comes with to install it, doesent make sence to me. Anyone? If u need to know its a Soundstream sx6 6 farad. And it comes with im guessing a little light to charge it. |
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Silver Member Username: WaresgaragestereoFort Valley, GA Post Number: 315 Registered: Mar-08 | A Cap! omg. anyway here what i was told.  no very many ppl on E like caps tho. |
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Platinum Member Username: WingmanaliveA pic is worth 1000 posts!! Post Number: 17808 Registered: Jun-06 | Because they are more or less just jewelery. There is no substitution for an adequate charging system. Period. What happens when you spend more than you make? It catches up to you.........  |
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New member Username: TpharohBradford, Ontario Canada Post Number: 10 Registered: Dec-06 | Yeah i dont NEED a cap, but it will relieve some strain on my battery for a short period of time. And as it goes for a charging system?, Either i throw around a grand to buy a new alt. Or i upgrade my big three, a battery, and get a cap. Which u cant say wont help. I have a mitsubishi lancer ls. And there is NO HO alt. I called like 30 companys, and one company had a "HO" alt for me which would boost my amperage by 15. for 800$ not installed. Im not a fan on buying one from the internet cause its an expensive piece. Anyhow. I understand the diagram u posted. But it doesent tell me which positive or negative to hook up. I have 2 pos and 2 neg dont forget, input / output on either. |
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Bronze Member Username: TpharohBradford, Ontario Canada Post Number: 11 Registered: Dec-06 | either side* |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Northwest PA Post Number: 8232 Registered: Jul-06 | " it will relieve some strain on my battery for a short period of time " Umm no. " Or i upgrade my big three, a battery, and get a cap. Which u cant say wont help. " Big 3 and a good battery will defintely help, capacitor no. |
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Bronze Member Username: TpharohBradford, Ontario Canada Post Number: 12 Registered: Dec-06 | Thanks for the answer ms, That solved all the problems. Or not. Im not going to argue the cap arguement cause im no scientist. But A cap DOES do something. It may be so significant that u may not notice. But if my amp pull through a 100$ cap instead of my 500$ battery. Ur telling me that would not do anything? Even when a bass note hit. It wouldent drain from my battery, instead draining the cap. Thats not true? And if they make caps and advertise it works and all the flash they put on the packages. IF it were all lies, could i not sue them for false advertisement?. Besides this is a help forum. Ive read other posts about caps. And nobody seems to help people at all. What a joke, Instead the know it alls look down upon the people who decide to buy a cap. theres no harm in guiding someone and explaining how its not the right choice to buy one. But i see these posts and people cutting up people and whatnot, and NEVER ONCE giving any of the needed advice they are looking for?. What if i was givin the cap? no harm in installing it then right? so ill ask again. I need help installing one. not telling me theyr sh*t. Thx no1  |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Northwest PA Post Number: 8233 Registered: Jul-06 | No harm in installing it, but it won't help any. The capacitor performs the same function as a battery, stores energy and releases it. But it stores such a small amount compared to a battery that it makes no meaningful difference. You're much better off spending the money on a better battery and big 3, that WILL make a difference. |
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Bronze Member Username: TpharohBradford, Ontario Canada Post Number: 13 Registered: Dec-06 | I did upgrade the big 3, cept my alt. I cannot find a HO alt for my vehicle. It sucks. So i turned to a cap for now. Maybe i cant go bigger than what i already have? O well. Sometime ill get the custom build HO. But im not desperate. Thanks |
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Silver Member Username: WaresgaragestereoFort Valley, GA Post Number: 324 Registered: Mar-08 | what kinda car?????? |
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Gold Member Username: Nd4spd18Northwest PA Post Number: 8242 Registered: Jul-06 | You get a high capacity battery like odyssey, stinger, etc? If not get that. The cap doesn't make the charging system support one bit more power. |
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Bronze Member Username: TpharohBradford, Ontario Canada Post Number: 14 Registered: Dec-06 | 03 lancer. If any1 knows where to get a higher amp alt, id be glad to know where. |
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New member Username: Warhorsesolox12sPost Number: 2 Registered: Sep-08 | capacitors do help. we hooked up a car without one with a 500 watt amp at full power and evertime the bass hit it would drop the bettery voltage. very bad. the next week he put a capacitor on it, we hooked it up to the same vat 40 battery tester and whenever the bass hit, it did nopt drop, causing less damage. but i do agree a better charging system is better, but what do you do if you cant afford it. and id need to know more aboput your car to find a better alt. i know someone that might be able to find one or build one comparitively cheaper than a new one |
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New member Username: Kingpin317Post Number: 1 Registered: Jan-09 | you can use an eclipse HO alt in a lance if its 00-05 they all run off the same alt just depending on the size engine. if that does seem right t you do some research about it. you can also use a 01-05 stratus alt cause its the same exact car as the eclipse. |
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New member Username: Zooescapee93Post Number: 1 Registered: Mar-09 | as i have seen above, it is said that caps are pretty much useless. i've heard that they are a buffer to take the strain off of the alt and battery from the bass hitting really hard. my question is would a cap really help take the strain off if i have a total of 4400 watts? or would i even need a cap? i drive a 2003 chevy malibu but i don't know what kind of alt is in it. i have a deep cycle dry cell battery. would this suffice or would a cap add any protection to the rest of the components? |
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Silver Member Username: CadillacdbHouston , TX Post Number: 984 Registered: Aug-05 | Will, that really depends on whether or not your using amps that actually do meet there advertised watts and whether or not by watts you mean rms but I doubt you mean rms bcause I dont know of any stock alts that can handle the demands of 4400rms but even if your rolling with half of your watts in rms which would be 2200rms then you malibu's stock 105 amp alternator isnt capable of supporting it and thats with out even taking into account the power the automobile itself needs |
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New member Username: Zooescapee93Post Number: 2 Registered: Mar-09 | that was fast. thanks for your help. i have 2 lanzar amps, 1 is 2000w and the other 2400w. 4400 is the max power. would a cap help with the alternator or would it be best to buy a new one and how much would that cost? |
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Bronze Member Username: ChristopherrmPost Number: 25 Registered: Nov-05 | most of the time when people are looking at caps it is because of the classic headlights dimming sign the charging system isn't producing enough current to feed the electronics in it. if this is the case for anyone considering a cap over anything else understand that a cap in that situation is never a good decision. the reason for this is that the headlights dimming is caused by voltage drops in the charging system voltage. if the car headlights go dim for a moment during a long bass hit and then return to normal what you are witnessing is the voltage regulator of the amp kicking in to keep the voltage within the normal voltage of a car. sometimes it is slow to react but if the headlights return to normal than the alternator does have the ability to keep up with the car. in most cases however car headlights dimming is indicative of a voltage drop due to excess current pull. in general you could calculate your relative voltage drop in a circuit by taking the resistance x length of circuit x amperes all over circuits cross sectional area. as you can see in that equation as the amperes goes up the voltage drop goes up (meaning the voltage aka electrical pressure in the circuit goes down). a cap retains the voltage of a given system because its voltage is coming from the source voltage. in the case earlier where the head lights dim and then return completely to normal due to a slow voltage regulator then yes a cap could potentially help to prevent tiny (i mean very tiny) drops in voltage in the car due to split second voltage regulation changes. however, with that in mind what a cap can and will not fix is the overall voltage of the system because it still relies on the source voltage. why do they sell caps if they do not have many (or any) practical applications? because they are shiny, they look cool and they can make lots of money off of people by selling them equipment that costs nothing to mass produce and mark up the price to the consumer. no you cant sue them for false advertising because everything said on the box is speculative and in general true towards the nature of a charging system. no where on the box for a cap does it say it will make your alternator magically make more current. in summary putting a cap in is worthless except for aesthetic purposes (even if you want to compensated for sluggish voltage regulation a better solution IMO would be putting in a smaller alternator pulley instead). you needed the justification as to why caps suck and there it is. |
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New member Username: Zooescapee93Post Number: 3 Registered: Mar-09 | i've been doing some research on caps and i found this site. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/capacitor2.htm. it said "The difference between a capacitor and a battery is that a capacitor can dump its entire charge in a tiny fraction of a second, where a battery would take minutes to completely discharge." to me that means the cap would take the hard hits for the battery and alternator wouldn't it? then the battery could charge the cap back up. i don't know, to me it seems like the cap would do some good by protecting the electrical system. |
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Bronze Member Username: ChristopherrmPost Number: 31 Registered: Nov-05 | caps actually often times hurt the electrical system by covering up (to a small degree) the classic signs of an insufficient charging system. also when the car is on the battery does not send current to anything in the car. when the engine is on its a one man show, and you guessed it...its the alternator. with the engine on the alternator supplies all the electronics with current AND recharges the battery. that fraction of a second can only give enough power to the amp to help even out the voltage to your electronics while the voltage regulator turns on and picks the voltage back up (in a healthy charging system). if your system pulls too much current for your alternator then regardless of making up for that tiny fraction of a second the source voltage will still go down because the dip in voltage will last longer than the cap is discharging. caps are one of those things that seem like a good idea and that is why manuf. still sell them today, because it takes a good deal of research and a wee bit of electrical knowledge to see exactly why they don't benefit a high end car audio system optimally. |
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Bronze Member Username: ChristopherrmPost Number: 32 Registered: Nov-05 | btw a better way to understand where the actual "power" comes from is to understand the alternator. a lot of people think it is from a battery because that is how we view batteries from other electronics we may have like television remotes. when the car is on the alternator is what takes the mechanical energy of the car and converts the AC to DC to power everything in the vehicle and make sure the battery is charged so the next time we crank up our cars it will have sufficient power to start the car. |
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New member Username: Zooescapee93Post Number: 4 Registered: Mar-09 | thank you Chris, that makes a lot more sense. i just don't know a lot about alternators. i've done research on the relationship between amps, watts, and volts and it's all over my head. so if i get a better alternator for my car will it be able to push 4400w max (2200rms) with out any problems. also would a cap help with power fluctuation with a new alt or would there even be any? |
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Bronze Member Username: ChristopherrmPost Number: 35 Registered: Nov-05 | believe me i know how you feel. a couple years ago when i started reading up this stuff my head was about to explode. if you get a new alternator you wont have any problems pushing the wattage. high output alternators are designed with those high current requirements in mind. also if the alternator you get has a good voltage regulator in it, you wouldnt ever notice a dip in voltage. if you do however notice that on a big bass hit the lights dim a little bit and then go right back to normal then i would recommend getting a smaller alternator pulley. it is generally a better solution for that as it raises the idle amps your alternator produces and fixes that problem very well. a lot of HO alts i have seen come with an upgraded pulley also with this in mind. |
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