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<blockquote data-quote="spoonraker" data-source="post: 3378177" data-attributes="member: 570956"><p>let me field this one...</p><p></p><p>A capacitor is not a battery, not even close. They store electricity, they do not create it. And they can't even store that much. The highest discharge time I've ever seen for a capacitor was 8 seconds at 300amps, which I'll admit, is impressive, however that figure is the equivalent of an amplifiers max power rating, meaning it doesn't matter, because it is never utilized. Heres why :</p><p></p><p>Basic electrical theory tells us that electricity always flows from the highest electrical potential to the lowest i.e. highest voltage to lowest. In a car you have the alternator and the battery as the power sources. In a normal audio system an amplifier is powered completely by the alternator until it draws more power than the alternator can give out, at which point the alternator drops sharply in voltage and when it drops below 12V (battery voltage) the load begins to be drawn from the battery.</p><p></p><p>The reason people call capacitors band-aids is because they do benefit your system, but only for a fraction of a second, and ultimately end up doing nothing.</p><p></p><p>A capacitor will charge to the alternator's voltage, and once again when the bass hits, the alternator will drop volts sharply, however with a capacitor in place, instead of the load immediately jumping to the battery, it jumps to the capacitor since it has the highest voltage at this point. This is when that discharge time comes into place. Even with the super-cap 8 second discharge time, you have to keep in mind the electrical laws we discussed earlier. Once the capacitor drops below 12v it is useless since the load will be drawn from the battery. So with our 8 second complete discharge time super cap, we are only utilizing approximately 15% of that discharge time, meaning that our cap keeps the load off of the battery for a measly 1.2 seconds. Most realistic capacitors have a discharge time considerably less than that and when you factor in how little of that is being used, you realize that if you blink you will miss your capacitor doing anything.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="spoonraker, post: 3378177, member: 570956"] let me field this one... A capacitor is not a battery, not even close. They store electricity, they do not create it. And they can't even store that much. The highest discharge time I've ever seen for a capacitor was 8 seconds at 300amps, which I'll admit, is impressive, however that figure is the equivalent of an amplifiers max power rating, meaning it doesn't matter, because it is never utilized. Heres why : Basic electrical theory tells us that electricity always flows from the highest electrical potential to the lowest i.e. highest voltage to lowest. In a car you have the alternator and the battery as the power sources. In a normal audio system an amplifier is powered completely by the alternator until it draws more power than the alternator can give out, at which point the alternator drops sharply in voltage and when it drops below 12V (battery voltage) the load begins to be drawn from the battery. The reason people call capacitors band-aids is because they do benefit your system, but only for a fraction of a second, and ultimately end up doing nothing. A capacitor will charge to the alternator's voltage, and once again when the bass hits, the alternator will drop volts sharply, however with a capacitor in place, instead of the load immediately jumping to the battery, it jumps to the capacitor since it has the highest voltage at this point. This is when that discharge time comes into place. Even with the super-cap 8 second discharge time, you have to keep in mind the electrical laws we discussed earlier. Once the capacitor drops below 12v it is useless since the load will be drawn from the battery. So with our 8 second complete discharge time super cap, we are only utilizing approximately 15% of that discharge time, meaning that our cap keeps the load off of the battery for a measly 1.2 seconds. Most realistic capacitors have a discharge time considerably less than that and when you factor in how little of that is being used, you realize that if you blink you will miss your capacitor doing anything. [/QUOTE]
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