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<blockquote data-quote="helotaxi" data-source="post: 402369" data-attributes="member: 550915">A cap will not fix an overtaxxed, inadequate charging system.&nbsp; It will not fix light dimming.&nbsp; It will not make your bass hit harder except maybe for the first note.&nbsp; It merely stores a charge given to it.&nbsp; It will charge to the voltage of the primary source of current (alternator with the car running and battery with it off) and will discharge down to the voltage of the secondary source of current when the primary is tapped out.&nbsp; It is this discharge that makes people think that their lights aren&#039;t dimming anymore.&nbsp; They still are, but it is a more gradual dimming rather than the flicker that is evident without the cap and is not readily perceived by the human eye.Although I generally agree with the conclusion of Clark&#039;s &quot;test,&quot; the test was BS.&nbsp; It was designed to give the desired results.&nbsp; A 2000W amp and a poor little 80A alt?!?&nbsp; Sounds like a wickedly overtaxed charging system to me.&nbsp; Cranking it for minutes at max power?!?&nbsp; I don&#039;t see how that is a realistic look at a real life situation.&nbsp; I would like to see a person that can stand having 2000W played at them in a car for just a few seconds much less a few minutes.&nbsp; I&#039;m sorry that&#039;s just not realistic.&nbsp; Clark then used flawed logic to say that since the cap didn&#039;t stabilze the voltage in this case, then it couldn&#039;t in any other case either.&nbsp; If the charging system can cover the demands of the system, the cap would likely keep the voltage stable during transients until the alt can up the current to match demand (it happens quick but not as quick as the cap can discharge) but the difference would be inaudible.&nbsp; About the only real difference might be your amp running a smidge cooler or you might pull an extra .1 dB.Richard Clark is very respected in the car audio world (based on what, I&#039;m not totally sure), but I have a problem with his &quot;scientific method&quot; or rather lack there of.&nbsp; Most every demonstration or test he has conducted has been fundamentally flawed.&nbsp; I covered a few of the flaws in his cap test above.&nbsp; His extra battery demo is not even worth reading it&#039;s so bad.&nbsp; A person on a bicycle is used to drive an alternator which is then used to charge a battery and run a bunch of lights.&nbsp; The alt is not enough to run the lights alone so the battery is discharging.&nbsp; He adds another battery which is now also discharging and claims that since that the person on the bike (he&#039;s tired by now and the RPM is dropping off pretty quickly, but somehow he is still a valid representation of your car engine) can&#039;t charge both batteries, then the extra battery is always just more drain on the charging system.&nbsp; Again he proves nothing because there is nothing scientific about his approach.&nbsp; Bad science is worse than no science IMHO.&nbsp; Based on crap like the above, I have serious problems with accepting anything Clark trys to pass off as proven by him as fact at face value.All that being said, in no case is a cap needed and in fews cases will there be a real benefit to adding one.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="helotaxi, post: 402369, member: 550915"] A cap will not fix an overtaxxed, inadequate charging system. It will not fix light dimming. It will not make your bass hit harder except maybe for the first note. It merely stores a charge given to it. It will charge to the voltage of the primary source of current (alternator with the car running and battery with it off) and will discharge down to the voltage of the secondary source of current when the primary is tapped out. It is this discharge that makes people think that their lights aren't dimming anymore. They still are, but it is a more gradual dimming rather than the flicker that is evident without the cap and is not readily perceived by the human eye. Although I generally agree with the conclusion of Clark's "test," the test was BS. It was designed to give the desired results. A 2000W amp and a poor little 80A alt?!? Sounds like a wickedly overtaxed charging system to me. Cranking it for minutes at max power?!? I don't see how that is a realistic look at a real life situation. I would like to see a person that can stand having 2000W played at them in a car for just a few seconds much less a few minutes. I'm sorry that's just not realistic. Clark then used flawed logic to say that since the cap didn't stabilze the voltage in this case, then it couldn't in any other case either. If the charging system can cover the demands of the system, the cap would likely keep the voltage stable during transients until the alt can up the current to match demand (it happens quick but not as quick as the cap can discharge) but the difference would be inaudible. About the only real difference might be your amp running a smidge cooler or you might pull an extra .1 dB. Richard Clark is very respected in the car audio world (based on what, I'm not totally sure), but I have a problem with his "scientific method" or rather lack there of. Most every demonstration or test he has conducted has been fundamentally flawed. I covered a few of the flaws in his cap test above. His extra battery demo is not even worth reading it's so bad. A person on a bicycle is used to drive an alternator which is then used to charge a battery and run a bunch of lights. The alt is not enough to run the lights alone so the battery is discharging. He adds another battery which is now also discharging and claims that since that the person on the bike (he's tired by now and the RPM is dropping off pretty quickly, but somehow he is still a valid representation of your car engine) can't charge both batteries, then the extra battery is always just more drain on the charging system. Again he proves nothing because there is nothing scientific about his approach. Bad science is worse than no science IMHO. Based on crap like the above, I have serious problems with accepting anything Clark trys to pass off as proven by him as fact at face value. All that being said, in no case is a cap needed and in fews cases will there be a real benefit to adding one. [/QUOTE]

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