Capacitor or No Capacitor!!!

black_lincoln

black_lincoln

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My ls died the other day and i thought it was my alternator because i have 2 subwoofers and 2 800w amps hooked up, but i checked my battery first and it needed to be charged, and so far its been starting for the past 3 days with no prob (YET). i was gonna buy a capacitor but people kept telling me it makes no sense and they dont really work. i would like to get some opinions on capacitors from you guys. my lights dim slightly when i really have it the system turned up. thanx guys..'

jace.
 
capacitors can help improve bass response and help your dimming lights to a degree when the bass hits but it's NOT going to help keep your battery from dying
 
aight. so i guess it would be something to get just because you can rather than something to extend the lifetime of u`r vehicles charging system. :-S. thanx for the response.

jace..
 
beaups said:
capacitors can help improve bass response and help your dimming lights to a degree when the bass hits but it's NOT going to help keep your battery from dying
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?????? You mean when the car is off it won't keep your battery from dying.

A capacitor will help your battery from draining and should get rid of the dimming lights. It will catch the power surge from the amps hitting peak power as it acts kinda like a battery holding power, which then keeps the immediate draw from your battery. Anyone who told you they don't help hasn't had a big system before. Peak wattage less important than RMS wattage, so its hard to teel how big a capacitor you need. I'm guessing 1 farad should do it.
 
I'm saying it won't help keep his battery from dying. the cap charges off the electrical system just like the battery does.
 
beaups said:
I'm saying it won't help keep his battery from dying. the cap charges off the electrical system just like the battery does.
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Your right. I guess I'm not clear on the drain. Is ths system causing the drain, or does the drain/dead battery have nothing to do with the system?
 
put in a second battery, bigger alternator, and a capacitor that should help out
 
it looks like it was the system that drained the battery because right now its all disconnected and the car is fine. i did get a battery light yesterday though but when i hit the gas it would go away, and it would come back within like 2 mins or so . then i drove it for a bout 30 mins to see if it would charge it a lil bit and that helped. i`m planning on getting a 1 or 2 farad cap just to see if that helps when i hook my system back up.
about the second battery and alternatori probably will end up doing that just to be on the safe side .. thats if i dont buy a g35 coupe first.. :-D. thanx for the replies guys.

jace.
 
Ummmm... if your system is draining your battery while your car is turned off then a cap isn't going to solve your problems. You probably have a short somewhere or your battery is going bad.
 
cap isn't going to help you if the cars on or off when your battery dies. although there are some advantages from a sound standpoint. you need a bigger alternator.
 
dachamp said:
put A flux capacitor In;)
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You can use one, but for some reason the only thing on the radio is Chuck Berry.
 
I don't have a cap on my system and don't have any light flicker. I am very afraid to run the stereo and Xbox 360 when the car is turned of though. I did on my lunch the other day and my volt gauge went from 14 to 10 in under a hour.

Does anyone know how low it can go and still be able to have the car start.
 
We usually use the 'rule-of-thumb' of a half-farad for every 500watts of bass.
 
Quik LS said:
We usually use the 'rule-of-thumb' of a half-farad for every 500watts of bass.
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its a good thing you said that , because i was actually wondering how many farads i would need.

one more question though.. i have 2 800w kenwood amps. would i need to have one capacitor per amp? or just one 3 farad or so should be enough running thru the distribution block that i have already for the 2 amps.
 
just one for both - it's designed to compensate for a quick burst draw on the electrical system - it doesn't matter if it's two small capacitors or one large one.
 
thanks alot for the info. now u can forget about my posts and get back to more important things like that thing with 4 wheels and boost guage in u`r garage. :-D . i appreciate the help.
 
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