link to thread about capacitor being worthless

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

Wow. I already told you my charging system was NOT insufficient. I said it was fine and I had NO issues. And where in this thread did I recommend them to ANYONE??
And I never said running the proper wire under the hood as over building. I said what I've done in the trunk was OVER building. You're taking my words out of context.

So to recap. I don't recommend caps. I just said I use them. I don't have an over built charging system, its just adequate.

If Ive misunderstood you, I apologize. Here's the comments I was basing my reasoning of your point on...

...I always thought they helped personally.

Actually that is an understatement. I use caps but I wouldn't use one to FIX anything. They're supposed to be there for quick storage and release of power when needed by the amplifier. Even a good electrical system can benefit from a cap.

Respectfully disagreed.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

So maybe now you see where my confusion is coming from. Clearly in this thread about the worth of external caps in car audio, you keep popping up with comments that seem to suggest you do in fact believe caps help, even "a good electrical system". I fail to understand how you cannot see these comments as recommending the use of external caps to people who read those comments.

I don't have an over built charging system, its just adequate.

Again, sorry if I misunderstood this comment...

...So using external capacitance is my way of over building.

Maybe the problem isn't my comprehensions skills, but rather was your decision to post in a thread debating the use of external caps, when you do not seem to present or have a solid argument for or against them. Not meaning to slam you here, you just seem to be 'on the fence' about the topic still... which makes me wonder why your name pops up with answers so often in this thread.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

For anyone who thinks that audio caps can't explode, they are sadly mistaken. One of the local install shops has aftermath photos of a one farad cap that exploded when shorted out. Basically, they went behind a guy's self-install and self-installer hadn't secured the power wire properly resulting in a direct short across the caps positive and negative inputs. That produced a nice pretty black arc in the dude's trunk! The installer was so thankful that the cap exploded away from his face instead of towards it. Had it gone the other way, he would be blind or dead!
I am just pointing this out because I read an article that recommended caps stating they were safe and rarely, if ever, exploded. After all, what happens to the caps in an amp or computer when they smoke? They sometimes violently blow.

While most times a 'blown' cap is merely a non-violent rupture and subsequent leakage, and my comments were based only on fire from the actual short, I agree that danger does exist and should be mentioned. Nice catch.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

i believe - to the OP - the fellas that had lots of research on caps is richard clark and David Navone. they have a challenge - something about $10,000 and capacitors or something. i cant remember off the top of my brain.

website was autosound2k.com or something. *shrug*

 

[Haunz 10+ year member]

amps are full of capacitors //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

His point is your amplifier(s) already has built-in caps in its input stage. So why is it assumed the engineers under-designed the input stage and external capacitance is required? Maybe this thread should be about needing a cap if your amp sucks? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

The caps found in the powersupply stage of an amplifier are there to filter AC ripple, and have no significant storage capacity beyond that.

The ONLY exception is the new amps RF is comming out with which have large storage caps placed on the rails. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsupwink.gif.129404938effda6ad9cca39e7f4b58a3.gif

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

The caps found in the powersupply stage of an amplifier are there to filter AC ripple, and have no significant storage capacity beyond that.

And that's exactly what an external cap is good for, filtering AC ripple. Or, are you suggesting an amplifier requires external capacitance to output wattage as designed?
The discussion has come around to Richard Clark. Even RC, the first guy to ever put external caps in a car audio system, says he did it for filtering, not power supply stiffening.

 

[gunz4me 10+ year member]

I like this writeup a little better: http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/4/452834.html

ETA: most of the links in the writeup are dead because it is just a copy of another individual's writeup. Regardless, I still get a laugh every time I read the 6 things that a capacitor is good for!

 

[adam71 5,000+ posts]

If Ive misunderstood you, I apologize. Here's the comments I was basing my reasoning of your point on...
So maybe now you see where my confusion is coming from. Clearly in this thread about the worth of external caps in car audio, you keep popping up with comments that seem to suggest you do in fact believe caps help, even "a good electrical system". I fail to understand how you cannot see these comments as recommending the use of external caps to people who read those comments.

Yes, I can see how you might have assumed that. The whole "respectfully disagreed" comment was more of a shot at the one who posted it. He gave a 2 word response and gave no explanation. So I gave him one back. Banter, if you will.

Again, sorry if I misunderstood this comment...Maybe the problem isn't my comprehensions skills, but rather was your decision to post in a thread debating the use of external caps, when you do not seem to present or have a solid argument for or against them. Not meaning to slam you here, you just seem to be 'on the fence' about the topic still... which makes me wonder why your name pops up with answers so often in this thread.

I'm not a tech wiz. Hence, I'm not going to ACT like I am. I have no doubt you have a more knowledge in this discussion than I do. I know enough to get by and am fine with only knowing that much. I know how to install safely and neatly without ANY problems. So if I seem like I'm on the fence then maybe I am. Like I said in an earlier post........I had (2) 1 farad caps in my basement and I decided I wanted to use them. I figured it wasn't going to hurt anything and low and behold it has NOT. I'm not going to take the trunk apart and disconnect them just to do an A/B comparison either. They're in there now and I'm leaving them. I plan on maybe upgrading to a HO alt next year and if I do I'm putting a couple Kinetic batteries in the spare tire well and if I do that I'm removing the caps then. But again that depends if I decide to upgrade.

 

[audioholic 5,000+ posts]

If they are the cylindrical 1-farad type caps, no they aren't hurting anything. They have a low enough ESR to not really cause any of the resistance problems some of the other large multi-farad caps do. If you already owned them, I dont blame you for putting them in. A power storage device near your amp(s) is a good thing, less line loss between the two during peak power demands this way. I would rather have a nince low ESR batt sitting there next to the amps than a cap, but like I said, if you already had them, Im sure they help in that regard.