Capacitors

[M@nJo 10+ year member]

Audiobahn 1 farad, Lighting Audio bolt 1 farad, Power Acoustik digital 1.8 farad, and Monster .5 cap.

2 12" w6 and later Type-R's, BXI1606d + later a BXI2006d.

Bought it to reduce dimming lights on my Honda's weak 70A OEM alt. Lights still dimmed lightly after the cap install but drastically helped that issue. Noticed no performance gain IMO. I tend to use a cap because my electrical system is pretty sensitive. Better off spending the money on a deep cycle battery

 

[TurdFergueson2 5,000+ posts]

No no no.
I know you have a brain. Use it.

Without the cap, at full tilt, my voltage was dropping to 10.5v.

Add the cap, voltage dropped no lower than about 13.5.

That gave me 3 additional volts to feed my amp.

Whatever works for you. Would have been cool to get pics before you made the thread for concrete proof. Anybody can say anything. I had one and I still had voltage drops and dimming. Brand new Red Top, 130 amp alt too. No big 3.

 

[slumpinhonda 10+ year member]

Dunno. Maybe that PR1.1000 was a current hog?
It is what it is and I had 3 out of 3 good experiences w/ them.

that is a Memphis amp correct? and i dont kno of a single 1000watt amp that is that power hungry.....What kind of battery do you have??? Id seriously be looking into WHY you voltage is that bad....before something goes poof...and if thats a memphis ampmy teammate has experience with memphis amps that drop below 10.5 and go poof

 

[bigaudiofanati2 10+ year member]

Caps work I had a 1.2farad cap lightning audio with a infinity 6 channel amp and than added a alpine 500 watt amp to the mix the cap worked great my bass was more solid and the head lights stopped dimming.

My friends system is 2 hifonic amps one is brutus and i dont know the other i know one is 100 by 4 and the other is running 2 kicker l5's and also a rear tc and ps2. He is also running the same cap and no dimming of the head lights. I am going o out a cap in my next system to.

 

[Slim_Shady]

Whatever works for you. Would have been cool to get pics before you made the thread for concrete proof. Anybody can say anything. I had one and I still had voltage drops and dimming. Brand new Red Top, 130 amp alt too. No big 3.

Yeah. I've been seriously thinking about buying one for use with my D6 1500.1, which was benched by a 3rd party at over 1800 watts@ 14.2v

If I do end up getting it, I will get some video. I may even do a comparison w/ an extra battery from wal mart if I can return it afterwards.

that is a Memphis amp correct? and i dont kno of a single 1000watt amp that is that power hungry.....What kind of battery do you have??? Id seriously be looking into WHY you voltage is that bad....before something goes poof...and if thats a memphis ampmy teammate has experience with memphis amps that drop below 10.5 and go poof

To be 100% honest with you, it may have been 11.5v, because what you're saying makes sense and you have me wondering, really think it was 10.5 tho.....

but either way I promise you that the audible difference was very noticeable to me. And still a 2v increase is a pretty big deal (talkin over 100 watts continuous I'm sure).

 

[Slim_Shady]

That wasn't exactly my point //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
I wouldn't use a 1-2 farad capacitor in a "stiffening" application, either.

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif Gotcha

If my wife doesn't ***** too much I'll go buy a 2 farad, hook it up to my Diamond 1500.1 and do some testing. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Krazed4Bass 10+ year member]

You are corect. That 1st cap is only rated to 2.5volts. You need around 20-30v to be safe.

Lets say your average car battery is 12 by 10 by 8, thats 960 cubic inches. This capacitor is probably not going to work, but this one:

http://www.mouser.com/Search/ProductDetail.aspx?qs=wuXwK9wHm9uLiI8cHCuFgQ%3d%3d

which is 5.77 cubic inches would possibly work. You would need to add 80 of these 5 Farad supercapacitors in parallel to get 400 Farad at 12 volt. That would take approximately 500 cubic inches after a setup is made, probably more (I could see it fitting in a battery sized space, if my guess for a average car battery size is close).

 

[Krazed4Bass 10+ year member]

This whole "capacitors don't work" thing needs to die, it's confusing too many people and letting this myth continue.
The point is about whether or not a small capacitor used for "power stiffening" purposes in a 12V electrical system is worthwhile or not. Let's be very specific about that. Anyone saying "capacitors don't work" is electrically clueless. Capacitor banks suitable for industrial or research use have been around for a while, and will continue to be...applications such as magnetizers or plasma generators require a lot of capacitance.

The reason you see the price differences is simple, it's the market where they're targeted - I can go to a surplus electronics swap meet and pick up a 1F electrolytic for ten bucks, but Rockford Fosgate is out to make a profit off these things, so they get packaged in a more presentable wrap and marked up.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

I should add, not all situations need capacitors; but sometimes it is worthwhile.

 

[Krazed4Bass 10+ year member]

I think the biggest problem with capacitors is, most people don't know how to use them in certain circumstances that one might help.

Personally, I have not used a capacitor in car audio, but I wouldn't mind trying; even with all of the crap I hear from people telling me to throw it out.

You should add an option to vote for, "I have not used a capacitor, and I wouldn't care if I did."