Should I get a Capistor

[bhsdriller 10+ year member]

this dudes a ***

 

[Plutoman 10+ year member]

Why bother? Let him get a cap. Those who got batteries will know how much more superior their system is.

Caps only hide problems - they don't fix them.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

I do

BS, prove it.

 

[atsaubrey 10+ year member]

What is my cap hiding?

 

[wasted ink 10+ year member]

What is my cap hiding?

Messicans //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

What is my cap hiding?

A $hitty install.

 

[atsaubrey 10+ year member]

BS, prove it.

Ok here.

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[shaneb 10+ year member]

Ok here.

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Picture with your name and date on it please.

 

[atsaubrey 10+ year member]

yeah right, grow up.

 

[shaneb 10+ year member]

yeah right, grow up.

Lawl...

 

[loopkiller 10+ year member]

Look this is really a simple thing to discuss here. Capacitors are important in the car audio industry. They are a necessary component inside your amplifier. They do have a function on a much smaller scale than you might guess. They do help provide more stable power, but you are talking about much smaller fluctuations than tenths of volts.

Here is one good example of why a cap is not going to help in a modern subwoofer based system. Look at the specs on the RFC10HB 10F cap from Rockford Fosgate MANUAL LINK. See page 8 where it says "Constant Current Discharge (5A) 15.0v–>3.0v". That means that this thing is only able to give you 5A of constant current. Now I am not some type of genius by any means, but the last time I looked, any sub amp is going to be pulling much more than 5A. Just to give you an idea, that 5A of current translated directly into about 75W of power, not adjusting for amp efficiency. Let's assume your amp is 90% efficient. That would give you about 68W of output from your amp. Tell me that you think your alt is not keeping up and this 68W of power makes the slightest difference. This is not a crap cap. It is from one of the better brands. It is a large cap as well at 10 Farads. Try to make your case now.

 

[jrmedia 10+ year member]

well with all the other things your car is running the alt does a hella lot why make it doe that extra 68w all the time when it can do less to keep the cap charged and minimize the strain on the rest of your electrical system

 

[Plutoman 10+ year member]

well with all the other things your car is running the alt does a hella lot why make it doe that extra 68w all the time when it can do less to keep the cap charged and minimize the strain on the rest of your electrical system

No. Wrong.

A cap hides the fact that a system can't keep up with the power.

What the capacitor does is get charged up once - it releases it's power when the battery can't keep up for a moment, and then what happens?

The alternator now has to charge TWO things at once. Which are wired together. It has to put out more amps, and it puts more strain on the alternator. With the additional strain, for the same effect on boosting the system, you can get a second battery. Which does many times more, as it's wired in a manner to lower the ohm load on the alt, allowing it to provide more power with less work.

 

[Donks 10+ year member]

capistor...omg n i taught i kiant spelle.

 

[stuckinok 5,000+ posts]

Caps are for cool people and they made my system so much louder.... Well at least thats what the guy at best buy and the installer from circuit city told me....I took out my back seat just to fit in as many caps as I could.

All you SPL competitors out there are wrong and should stop buying Kinetik and Powermaster. All your money should be diverted into 1 Farad compacitors.