I'm having problems with my car's battery. I was wondering if I could have badly connected my capacitor and it could make my battery to discharge.
1.2 Farad Cap splitted on 2 amps (1 Jensen JXP 680 (680W peaks, 340W RMS), 1 Orion Amp 200W RMS).
All running 8 gauge wire. I got 2 grounds connected at the same place for both amps. They are both running together in a gold plated distribution block which splits into 4 connections. I brought 1 ground connection to the capacitor, 1 to AMP#1, 1 to AMP #2.
I did the same thing with the positive connection with a another 1 connection to 4 distribution block. I was wondering if I was doing this right or if the capacitor must be connected before the ground and power split up? I am a newbie to this.
Now my car keeps discharging all the time. I shut it off, it starts after 1 min. 5 min more and it doesnt. Something is discharging. My cap stays on when I shutdown the car. It slowly discharges. It has a digital reading. It is usually around 12.40. When I stop the car or remove the Cd player Plate, all my system goes down except the cap. I was wondering why this was happening. I also charged/discharged the cap with this little bulb. It is a piece of sh*t 1.2 Legacy Farad.
Please help. Is my battery dead? Is my capacitor badly hooked up?
Anyways I forgot to mention that in fact only the ground connection was shared by both the amps and caps. The capacitor is plugged on the power wire before the distribution block to the amps. I guess my battery died.
run 4ga from the battery and split to 8ga fr each amp. that's 540 watts. 8ga. is a bit too small. if the battery failed, you probabaly need a larger alternator to handle the added current draw of the audio system, along with a better battery like a red top optima or possibly a yellow top.
oh and the cap will stay charged. if it's got a digital display, that won't really draw much current at all. no more than a clock would in the car. the cap will stay charged, or shouold at least, even when the car is off if it's properly connected to the battery and ground.