capacitors

[shrk352]

Capacitor is basically another battery, stores the energy until it's released. And yes it's Battery - Cap - Amp..and no you can't hook it up to your head unit...why would you want too anyways?

It goes: battery - amp - ground
..................... \ cap /

You want the cap to be close to the amp and in parallel.
you could put it near your head unit and it will do the same thing, just not as effective as if its near your amp. The cap adds power to the whole car if the voltage drops below a certain point. Not just to the amp.

 

[Totalimmortal]

Here ya go:

Battery, into the cap, and out to the amp. Ground out of the amp into the cap and then finally ground to the chassis.

 

[steadypimpin]

nice total, I just asked about this in another thread.

 

[steadypimpin]

how do you know what size you need?

 

[ryan s]

its supposed to be 1 farad of capacitance for every 1000 watts produced by the amp. i wouldnt buy anything under 1, while a 5 would be perfect just because you have enough ceiling.

if a cap is going on a tweeter, then its whole different matter.

 

[xluben]

i can't believe people actually actually buy these things.

try posting here, and see what kind of answers you get

http://www.caraudio.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=13

it will not be pretty, get your flame suit ready.

anyways, a capacitor is somewhat of a "band aid", and one that doesn't work very well.

it adds an extra load on the battery (something more to charge). even if you
assume it charges the cap during down time in the bass, the amount of current
it will provide when the bass hits is not enough to help!

if you want more current:

-big three (better than a cap in every way)
-HO alternator (expensive, but the only REAL way to get significantly more current)
-deep cycle battery (arguably you could get this before the alternator, but
then it's just another "band aid" solution, if your alternator provides enough
current you may not even need the deep cycle battery)

to check if you need one of the above:

turn on car, stereo off
measure voltage at the amp (should be ~14v)
start bumping the subs
measure voltage until it stops going down:
-if it drops less than a volt you should be ok, or do the big three
-anything above 12v should be alright with just the big three
-below 12v and you have big problems
-this means the current is being drawn from the battery, which will wear out a
normal battery (not meant to be discharged), and will also strain the alternator.
-you def. need the big three and this is where the deep cycle battery could be
your "band aid" solution (current still being drawn from the battery, but it's
designed to handle it)
-the true solution would be a HO alternator. once this is installed you should
not have as large voltage drops.

if you have a REALLY big system (ie. competition level) just add more deep
cycle batteries and/or alternators.

hope that helps! (btw, these are just "rules of thumb" what you need is
highly dependent on your setup).

EDIT:

I have a yellow top optima...800:1 mono PG Titanium AMP which is a true 800watts..my lights do not dim at all even with everything on. Caps are NOT always needed. Upgrade your charging system correctly and you'll be fine. It's better to invest into an optima battery than a cap.

PG amps are beasts! i had a xenon x600.1 (which benches over 800W RMS), and it was a great amp!

and no dimming with that much power

and deep cycle battery is always better than a cap!

Here ya go:

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c121/everandaday363/answer501.jpg

Battery, into the cap, and out to the amp. Ground out of the amp into the cap and then finally ground to the chassis.

yep, stiffening cap should be wired in parallel with the battery.

if a cap is going on a tweeter, then its whole different matter.

this would be part of a crossover network and not a stiffening cap.

just a cap should provide a first order (3dB per octave slope) high pass filter.

not very good, but unfortunately that's what most coaxials come with these days.

 

[ryan s]

first off, ca.com is the audio equivalent of h-t

cheap coax speakers use inline resistors as well, especially with tweeters.

heres a good read on using caps with tweeters for protection. in any case though, no one has been able to confirm or deny the effectiveness of a cap on the power wire.

 

[xluben]

first off, ca.com is the audio equivalent of h-t

hmmm... noob city, yes.

but do you see many people with serious systems using capacitors? no, not really.

cheap coax speakers use inline resistors as well, especially with tweeters.
heres a good read on using caps with tweeters for protection.

yes, this is true.

been a while since i took EE, but there's lots of ways to setup crossovers,
and first order slopes (like on most cheap speakers) really aren't very good.

i also can't stand when people don't bother crossing their mids over to their subs properly

in any case though, no one has been able to confirm or deny the effectiveness of a cap on the power wire.

i think that is enough evidence for me not to get one.

is an un-noticeable difference worth paying for?

 

[talontsiawd]

I'm no expert but this is what i've been told by alot of people i trust, with various degrees of how much they actually think a cap is worth while. Most agree that a cap is a bandaid for poorly thought out electrical systems. But with new wiring (big three), better battery, better alternator (this is debateable because some are really bad and burn out), a cap can still be worth while. Or it can be somewhat of a necessary bandaid if you are unwilling to upgrade your alternator. That's just what i've been told for a long time. Everyone i know who is really into car stereos would never run one themselves but most see some value in them.

 

[Totalimmortal]

hmmm... noob city, yes.

but do you see many people with serious systems using capacitors? no, not really.

Yes, really. How about 6 Type-R's, 6 Alpine M650's. I don't know how much more serious you can get with consumer level products.

I'll never say a cap is an end all be all fix. If you have serious dimming, a cap will not fix it. I've never had dimming in the first place, my caps are in place to insure I'm feeding my amps as close to 14.4V as possible.