0/1 AWG wiring hot at capacitor

[andrewsfm 10+ year member]

So I happened to take a look at my capacitor today, and noticed that a few inches worth of the wires going in and out of the capacitor are VERY hot after playing the system hard on a 10 minute drive home today. The rest of the line is cool like normal.

Didn't check anywhere else today but will tomorrow after running the system.

Any suggestions to why, or what I should look for?

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[murph 10+ year member]

Get rid of it.

 

[andrewsfm 10+ year member]

That's not a why, or what to look for.

You're probably just one of those guys that thinks caps have no place in a stereo system when in reality, they have a purpose, just not as the cure-all many people believe them to be.

Surprisingly, your amps have caps in them. Best be safe and de-solder them all off the board. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

 

[murph 10+ year member]

That's not a why, or what to look for.You're probably just one of those guys that thinks caps have no place in a stereo system when in reality, they have a purpose, just not as the cure-all many people believe them to be.

Surprisingly, your amps have caps in them. Best be safe and de-solder them all off the board. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

They store energy you will actually be using while the car audio capacitor's tend to inhibit more current draw in most cases. They will provide a small bank of power that not even the smallest car audio battery would be comparable to. It helps my sq soooo much my ass.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

Loose or poor connections have increased resistance which causes power dissipation as heat.

 

[andrewsfm 10+ year member]

Loose or poor connections have increased resistance which causes power dissipation as heat.

Yup, and added heat will further increase the resistance in the wire, creating an even greater voltage drop, etc etc.

I pulled on the connections pretty hard, and they seem well in place. They're Streetwires type set screw connectors.

I'll double check tomorrow, but I'm thinking that's not going to be it.

I don't know if it's always been like this temperature wise, or what. I never really checked there for any type of heat build up.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

Surprisingly, your amps have caps in them. Best be safe and de-solder them all off the board. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

And are you using your cap for the same reason an amp uses capacitors? Nah.

It sounds like you have a loose connection or a bad ground somewhere. The cap certainly doesn't have any benefit, and in this case it does seem to be causing problems. Might as well get rid of it. Sell it for something useful.

Also, what amp are you using? Maybe it's pulling too much current?

 

[Sub Woofin 10+ year member]

So I happened to take a look at my capacitor today, and noticed that a few inches worth of the wires going in and out of the capacitor are VERY hot after playing the system hard on a 10 minute drive home today. The rest of the line is cool like normal.
Didn't check anywhere else today but will tomorrow after running the system.

Any suggestions to why, or what I should look for?

is the cap next to the amp? maybe the amp is heating the wire.

 

[andrewsfm 10+ year member]

The sub amp is a MTX TA9200. It's about 3 ft of wire away from the capacitor, and the heat is only within 4 inches of the capacitor or so.

I have 0/1 AWG from the battery positive to the amp and another 0/1 AWG from the amp to the battery negative, so it can't be a chassis ground issue.

Maybe the cap has run its course, and is leaking internally...? I'll have to open it after checking the connections.

Let's not turn this into another Richard Clark debate about its usefulness...

 

[kramer_212 10+ year member]

maybe you need to check your grounds to make sure there clean and solid.

 

[TheUnderFighter 10+ year member]

The sub amp is a MTX TA9200. It's about 3 ft of wire away from the capacitor, and the heat is only within 4 inches of the capacitor or so.I have 0/1 AWG from the battery positive to the amp and another 0/1 AWG from the amp to the battery negative, so it can't be a chassis ground issue.

Maybe the cap has run its course, and is leaking internally...? I'll have to open it after checking the connections.

Let's not turn this into another Richard Clark debate about its usefulness...

Well there just isn't a use for it unless you're using it for filtering noise, and you actually have noise to filter. But, just for kicks, why not pull the cap and hook up the amp direct? Just to confirm if the issue is the cap.

 

[keep_hope_alive Premium Member]

for the record: caps lose their usefulness after about 6" of wire. there has been a lot of testing and documentation on the subject. i have a 0.5F cap on my sub amp (just for kicks) and it has about 1" of wire. note they (stiffening caps) only supply a small fraction of their storage capacity since they only discharge for a small fraction of their steady state voltage. then they have to be discharged. so they are as much of a load as they are a source.

the caps in the amplifier are not at 12V but at the rail voltage. they are useful and required. Richard Clark was a salesman, and a darn good one apparently.

it's not about the wire being snug, it's about there being an air gap inside the connector between connector walls and strands you want low resistance, that means every strand is in as much contact as possible with the connector. this is why soldered ring terminals are some of the best connections you can have. the interlok connectors are designed to maximize contact area but are sensitive to the actual installation. set screw connections are some of the weakest connections.

 

[andrewsfm 10+ year member]

Just for information sake, the capacitor I have is an 18 farad Tsunami model.

note they (stiffening caps) only supply a small fraction of their storage capacity since they only discharge for a small fraction of their steady state voltage. then they have to be "recharged". so they are as much of a load as they are a source.

I agree. They only slightly smooth out peaks and drops in voltage along the wires. They are no replacement for a high output alternator, I know... Like I said, I'm not here to debate their usefulness.

for the record: caps lose their usefulness after about 6" of wire. there has been a lot of testing and documentation on the subject. i have a 0.5F cap on my sub amp (just for kicks) and it has about 1" of wire.

But I'm going to have to say I don't agree with this, because regardless of where they are in the circuit, it should have the same effect as stated above with regards to smoothing out the voltage peaks/sags "slightly".

the caps in the amplifier are not at 12V but at the rail voltage. they are useful and required.

That I didn't know.

it's not about the wire being snug, it's about there being an air gap inside the connector between connector walls and strands you want low resistance, that means every strand is in as much contact as possible with the connector. this is why soldered ring terminals are some of the best connections you can have. the interlok connectors are designed to maximize contact area but are sensitive to the actual installation. set screw connections are some of the weakest connections.

My setup uses all set screw connections, and I don't believe it's been an issue, but I will run the system full tilt tomorrow and check each connection point from battery to amp, and see if any others are hot.

 

[andrewsfm 10+ year member]

Well there just isn't a use for it unless you're using it for filtering noise, and you actually have noise to filter. But, just for kicks, why not pull the cap and hook up the amp direct? Just to confirm if the issue is the cap.

Will find out tomorrow I guess. Just need to find my connectors to bypass the cap.

 

[Imtjnotu 5,000+ posts]

Another thread about worthless caps //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif