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<blockquote data-quote="ahole-ic" data-source="post: 7359377" data-attributes="member: 619324"><p>There's a lot of bs that floats around on this forum about capacitors. The most common misconception is by newbs thinking they magically store huge reserves of power and will fix voltage drop (dimming). Capacitors sit in parallel and do nothing except filter AC. If pure DC is in the circuit the capacitor will charge to the circuit voltage (a battery will not) and it will hold there. Once the voltage dips, the capacitor becomes the highest source of potential in the circuit and discharges until it reaches the circuit voltage again. Once it reaches the circuit voltage, assuming the heavy current draw is sustained and the voltage is still low, the capacitor does nothing. It does not charge nor discharge.</p><p></p><p>(If you disagree on this point, look up why current flows. It is basic electronics. It takes a difference of potential "voltage" for current to flow. Current ONLY flows from the highest source of potential in a parallel circuit. Everything else is drawing current off of that source.)</p><p></p><p>Once the source voltage comes back up, the capacitor instantly recharges with it and therefore has the same potential as the source until it is discharged again.</p><p></p><p>For this reason, we can see that capacitors do not charge while the voltage continues to dip thus adding more strain on the electrical system. They simply dump their tiny reserve and stay right at the circuit voltage, until the circuit voltage rises again. THEN they recharge.</p><p></p><p>So, do caps fix things? No. They usually do not have enough reserve or too high of ESR to actually help much. Do caps hurt anything? No, the capacitor will not hurt anything either. It has a very very small potential to help. It has almost no potential to hurt, unless it goes bad.</p><p></p><p>If you choose to disagree, please provide some substance in your disagreement. Please do not create a flame war. I am attempting to educate you. Please understand that. I am an expert in this field and have several degrees in it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ahole-ic, post: 7359377, member: 619324"] There's a lot of bs that floats around on this forum about capacitors. The most common misconception is by newbs thinking they magically store huge reserves of power and will fix voltage drop (dimming). Capacitors sit in parallel and do nothing except filter AC. If pure DC is in the circuit the capacitor will charge to the circuit voltage (a battery will not) and it will hold there. Once the voltage dips, the capacitor becomes the highest source of potential in the circuit and discharges until it reaches the circuit voltage again. Once it reaches the circuit voltage, assuming the heavy current draw is sustained and the voltage is still low, the capacitor does nothing. It does not charge nor discharge. (If you disagree on this point, look up why current flows. It is basic electronics. It takes a difference of potential "voltage" for current to flow. Current ONLY flows from the highest source of potential in a parallel circuit. Everything else is drawing current off of that source.) Once the source voltage comes back up, the capacitor instantly recharges with it and therefore has the same potential as the source until it is discharged again. For this reason, we can see that capacitors do not charge while the voltage continues to dip thus adding more strain on the electrical system. They simply dump their tiny reserve and stay right at the circuit voltage, until the circuit voltage rises again. THEN they recharge. So, do caps fix things? No. They usually do not have enough reserve or too high of ESR to actually help much. Do caps hurt anything? No, the capacitor will not hurt anything either. It has a very very small potential to help. It has almost no potential to hurt, unless it goes bad. If you choose to disagree, please provide some substance in your disagreement. Please do not create a flame war. I am attempting to educate you. Please understand that. I am an expert in this field and have several degrees in it. [/QUOTE]
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