Are Caps Really Worthless?!?

[hrtbrk1 5,000+ posts]

both is good...add the big three and u got urself an electrical boner

 

[knukonceptz 10+ year member]

Caps are useful to a point, when you get a really large amount of amplifier power, way beyond what your alternator can handle, that's the point at which a cap is not going to help.

If say you have a 100A alternator and you have a 100A draw on the system from the amp, a cap would then at that point help reduce voltage spikes caused by the amps draw. Every amplifer has several smaller caps on board right next to the power supply. This is to help maintain a consistant voltage to the amps power supply. An outboard cap will do the same thing, but if the demand is far beyond the systems ability to supply the cap, they then become ineffective.

Some say they cause a strain on a system, but that is not true because they contain only a small amount of resistance within a cap, it does not hurt, but why have it if its not helping either. At that point its only a strain on your wallet.

 

[memphisman 10+ year member]

The saying about caps are useless is retarded thats a sales gimmick to get you to spend more money for wiring and batteries. However for 3k build i would go ahead and run atleast 1 or even better 2 deep cycles and go ahead and upgrade the electircal. Capacitors are only good for about 500 to 1500 watt amps at the most.

 

[808skindiver 10+ year member]

2500-3000 Sony Xplode watts FTW

lmfao

 

[kovemaster559 5,000+ posts]

Caps are useful to a point, when you get a really large amount of amplifier power, way beyond what your alternator can handle, that's the point at which a cap is not going to help.
If say you have a 100A alternator and you have a 100A draw on the system from the amp, a cap would then at that point help reduce voltage spikes caused by the amps draw. Every amplifer has several smaller caps on board right next to the power supply. This is to help maintain a consistant voltage to the amps power supply. An outboard cap will do the same thing, but if the demand is far beyond the systems ability to supply the cap, they then become ineffective.

Some say they cause a strain on a system, but that is not true because they contain only a small amount of resistance within a cap, it does not hurt, but why have it if its not helping either. At that point its only a strain on your wallet.

that would ****

 

[HellsRise 10+ year member]

The saying about caps are useless is retarded thats a sales gimmick to get you to spend more money for wiring and batteries.

Go ahead and point out which one of us sells batteries.

What's wrong? Can't find them? That's because none of us is that person. We're just trying to help people save money. A second battery, even non-deep cycle, is going to be cheaper and more effective than a cap, and it has a longer lifespan.

As for wiring, you're going to need it whether you go with a cap or a battery, so how does that even fit into this equation?

 

[memphisman 10+ year member]

Go ahead and point out which one of us sells batteries.
What's wrong? Can't find them? That's because none of us is that person. We're just trying to help people save money. A second battery, even non-deep cycle, is going to be cheaper and more effective than a cap, and it has a longer lifespan.

As for wiring, you're going to need it whether you go with a cap or a battery, so how does that even fit into this equation?

A local dealer is the first one that told me caos are useless and i asked him why would they make them if they are useless?

 

[jrwalte 10+ year member]

Caps can have their place. The alternator is reactive to power needs (it only produces as much power as required as it is needed by means of the regulator). You can have all the power in the world in your alt, and at the beginning of an extremely high power hit your alt will still not provide the needed power for a very short duration (until its regulator detects the voltage drop and throws in more electricity to the magnetic field of the alternator, which outputs more power - this happens in milliseconds). During this time your amp draws power from the battery.

Adding more batteries also resolves this issue, as their reserve capacity can handle the short duration the alt isn't providing the power, but the advantage with the cap is it provides that power for the short duration at the voltage of the alt (around 14) instead of around 12, which helps prevents dimming of the lights better.

But if you don't have an alternator that can provide the power to handle your amp (after the regulator kicks up the output) then a cap will do nothing for you, as it may not even provide the power for you amp for even a second. You need more batteries. A cap can actually improve the life of your battery, since it isn't constantly getting hit by those constant high power demands before the alt provides the power.

I currently have this issue in my car. I have 180 amp alt, more than plenty to provide power for a 1900RMS system. But my lights will still slightly dim for a fraction of a second on hits from the drum line when volume is really loud, but my voltage never drops below the high 13s on a meter. I could add another battery, which would help prevent the dimming by giving more reserve capacity and help prevent the momentary high drop in voltage, but a cap does that job better - and I'm not wearing my batteries down with constant usage.

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

The battery floats at the same voltage as the alt and will begin to contribute current as soon as the voltage starts to dip. The difference is that a good battery or bank of batteries will keep the voltage higher longer than a cap will. The instant you begin to draw from a cap the voltage drops dramatically. A cap can't hold enough charge to help out a good sized system even a little and having one does nothing to help the battery or the alt. The only thing a cap does well is make profit for the companies making/selling them.

With really dynamic music, even a high output alt is of little use since the transient is over before the alt can catch up. All the alt is doing at that point is replacing the charge drained from the battery during the transient. It's entirely possible to run a really big system on a stock alt without problem depending on listening habits and type of music played. Planning on 2100 nominally in my new truck and have no plans to upgrade the alt. I will add a battery though.

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

A local dealer is the first one that told me caos are useless and i asked him why would they make them if they are useless?

And did he look at you like you were a retard? 'Cause I sure would have.

Honestly, that has to be the dumbest argument I have ever heard.

 

[memphisman 10+ year member]

And did he look at you like you were a retard? 'Cause I sure would have.
Honestly, that has to be the dumbest argument I have ever heard.

Monkey ****er my argument is for a small system a capacitor is better

For a large system obviously multiple batteries are better

But many places will tell you batteries are better just to get money out of you

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

Your argument, as you stated, was:

why would they make them if they are useless?

I can completely understand if you now reailze how silly that question was. However, if you no longer want to advocate that argument, then quit repeating it.

 

[memphisman 10+ year member]

yes why would somebody make a product if its useless? that makes no sense its like buying a big system.

woot you spent 2500 oin something ****ing retarded that you will never get your money back out of

 

[WhoSayWho? 5,000+ posts]

yes why would somebody make a product if its useless?

You are going to get ripped off a lot during your life if you continue to apply that rationale.

 

[memphisman 10+ year member]

Ive yet to ripped off ...( konock on wood aka my boner )

Im trying to say my capacitor is good for my system but not for all systems

i know some products are useless but not capacitors (if you have a small amp!!)