Capacitors .... Do they work ?? Time to stir something up REAL bad :-)

[blue 10+ year member]

He he he .... I just loooove to stir things up from time to time //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/up2something.gif.dd110ecf3ae4b76050d87598f2f8de7c.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif

The debate over whether caps really work or not , is ALWAYS hotly debated. I'm not posting to open up a technical discussion , but rather tell of my experience this past week , and let YOU decipher what you want from it.

One of our fellow forum members hired me to fly to his home and install a competition level system in his new car, as well as provide the equipment. He purchased a great 1500 amp Odyssey Dry Cell battery, but his stock alternator is only rated at 80 amps !!! He's using three amplifiers in his system. One is bridged in to 2 ohms at 1400 watts on a sub. One provides 270 w/ch to his 6.5" drivers , and one is 170 w/ch for his tweeters ... That's a total peak output of 2280 watts .....

With his head unit's high 8 volt output , the gains on his amps are set at almost dead minimum , and yet the system will still play louder than a person really wants to listen to for long. Point is : His gains are set properly ....

He's using 1/0 power and ground wire , and the Big 3 were also done.

He went for a test drive and had VERY , VERY bad pulsating headlight dimming. WAY too much to be acceptable.

Now ... I reccomended a high output alternator , but he didn't like that idea at all at first. So after speaking with me about car charging systems , he decided to buy a Stinger Hybrid 10 farad Cap .....

After the Cap was installed , he has NO MORE DIMMING HEADLIGHTS !!!

Simply put again : You be the judge , but in this case YES .... A cap worked.

As a last note , he ended up finally deciding to go ahead with my suggestion and also buy a high output alternator that he should have in a couple of weeks .....

Cheers , and let the debating begin //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif :laugh: //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

Click to read more...

 

[adam007 10+ year member]

have never used one...getting a 5 fared sunday just to try it. I was soo pissed when i seen the title but now its ok i read lol.

 

[tuck05 10+ year member]

I installed a 5 farad PA cap on a 1600 watt hifonics and it didn't do anything. Lights dimmed with it and w/o it. Same amount of dimming.....

I would buy a second battery before I ever bought a cap.

 

[AJ²06 5,000+ posts]

ehhh

Im yet to expirament/ try this theory

 

[James Bang 5,000+ posts]

if it works. it works... i've heard many stories of them working and many where they don't do anything.

there's only on way to find out if they'll work for you: try it.

 

[yacob.naif 10+ year member]

How many hours, literally hours, has it been since the "please dont kill me for saying capacitor" thread was created?

And how exactly was this story so earth moving, so life changing, so perspective shattering, that you needed to create an entire new thread to tell it?

And an even better question, is what exactly about your capacitor "revelation" did you feel needed to be disclosed to all of us so urgently that you couldnt take the 30 seconds to realize that there was already an active capacitor thread?

Nobody ever said a capacitor doesnt have a purpose, or that they dont work for their intended purpose.

Now allow me to stretch the outermost limits of your mind by suggesting that its a very real possibility that the system in question never actually exceeded the electrical capabilities of the cars alternator in the first place, especially since his gains are set at pretty much dead minimum, and 8v or not, headunits dont reach their peak preamplifier output voltage until 0db, if ever. Suppose instead that the amplifiers in question actually just ****, and lack any sort of power supply regulation, or internal capacitance, and the quickly changing ampere demands of the amplifiers, no matter how minute, were causing slight voltage fluctuations in the car. Now imagine an external capacitor of some sort, say a 10 farad cap, was installed in the system to absorb these fluctuations. No more voltage dips.........

Let us know when you have another mind-blowing story, mr. domestic-exotic

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

read this http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/newmain/battcapalt/

 

[davesexplorer 10+ year member]

How many hours, literally hours, has it been since the "please dont kill me for saying capacitor" thread was created?
And how exactly was this story so earth moving, so life changing, so perspective shattering, that you needed to create an entire new thread to tell it?

And an even better question, is what exactly about your capacitor "revelation" did you feel needed to be disclosed to all of us so urgently that you couldnt take the 30 seconds to realize that there was already an active capacitor thread?

Nobody ever said a capacitor doesnt have a purpose, or that they dont work for their intended purpose.

Now allow me to stretch the outermost limits of your mind by suggesting that its a very real possibility that the system in question never actually exceeded the electrical capabilities of the cars alternator in the first place, especially since his gains are set at pretty much dead minimum, and 8v or not, headunits dont reach their peak preamplifier output voltage until 0db, if ever. Suppose instead that the amplifiers in question actually just ****, and lack any sort of power supply regulation, or internal capacitance, and the quickly changing ampere demands of the amplifiers, no matter how minute, were causing slight voltage fluctuations in the car. Now imagine an external capacitor of some sort, say a 10 farad cap, was installed in the system to absorb these fluctuations. No more voltage dips.........

Let us know when you have another mind-blowing story, mr. domestic-exotic

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eek.gif.771b7a90cf45cabdc554ff1121c21c4a.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif

 

[bballrrt06 10+ year member]

so that leads the question. what was the equipment?

 

[blue 10+ year member]

How many hours, literally hours, has it been since the "please dont kill me for saying capacitor" thread was created?
And how exactly was this story so earth moving, so life changing, so perspective shattering, that you needed to create an entire new thread to tell it?

And an even better question, is what exactly about your capacitor "revelation" did you feel needed to be disclosed to all of us so urgently that you couldnt take the 30 seconds to realize that there was already an active capacitor thread?

Nobody ever said a capacitor doesnt have a purpose, or that they dont work for their intended purpose.

Now allow me to stretch the outermost limits of your mind by suggesting that its a very real possibility that the system in question never actually exceeded the electrical capabilities of the cars alternator in the first place, especially since his gains are set at pretty much dead minimum, and 8v or not, headunits dont reach their peak preamplifier output voltage until 0db, if ever. Suppose instead that the amplifiers in question actually just ****, and lack any sort of power supply regulation, or internal capacitance, and the quickly changing ampere demands of the amplifiers, no matter how minute, were causing slight voltage fluctuations in the car. Now imagine an external capacitor of some sort, say a 10 farad cap, was installed in the system to absorb these fluctuations. No more voltage dips.........

Let us know when you have another mind-blowing story, mr. domestic-exotic

Well hey there .... You PERFECT IDIOT //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/rolleyes.gif.c1fef805e9d1464d377451cd5bc18bfb.gif Allow me to answer your questions.

First : I wouldn't KNOW about an hours old capacitors thread , because I just flew in from ouit of state and haven't had time to read through the 7 days worth of forum posts I've missed , you IDIOT.

Second : I can start ANY thread I choose to, on ANY subject, you IDIOT.

Third : Since the head unit IS a DRZ-9255 , it IS putting out a true 8 volts without clipping, as it has non-clipping outputs , you IDIOT.

Lastly : Since you have NO IDEA what kind of amps were used , you can't really make an intelligent arguement about the amps being a problem , you IDIOT.

Get a life , get up earlier , do something , because as it stands , you are an IDIOT !!! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif :laugh: //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[blue 10+ year member]

so that leads the question. what was the equipment?

There was no experiment , only a point : The capacitor worked to stop the dimming headlights in his system.

 

[blue 10+ year member]

read this http://www.betteraudio.com/geolemon/newmain/battcapalt/

Good read , but I highly disagree with his statements about the carbon type , hybrid caps. The most current offerings , think Batcap and Stinger , have VERY , VERY low ESR issues, and recharge/discharge at just as high of a rate as the electrolytic caps do.

 

[iceteebone 5,000+ posts]

::shakes head::

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[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

I admit I use a cap.......but just for the voltmeter on it //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[azbass 5,000+ posts]

caps work in the right conditions. people around here run to much power, etc, to make use of a cap. imo.