what is a cap?

[Jordantyler 10+ year member]

what are caps.. like for instance a RF digi cap

what do they do i know what they look like i have seen em i just dont understand do they help anything or make anything louder?

sorry for the stupid ?

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[kombat96 10+ year member]

Here we go again.

 

[Jordantyler 10+ year member]

waht do u mean by that?

 

[skadude016 5,000+ posts]

stores up power and lets out the power for parts where there is alot of power being pushed out. It is quite pointless. Just go with the big 3. Or upgrade the alt and batt.

 

[Jordantyler 10+ year member]

ahh okay thanks!

 

[Ignatowski 5,000+ posts]

Jimmy Cap for her pleasure:

 

[revrider1 5,000+ posts]

stores up power and lets out the power for parts where there is alot of power being pushed out. It is quite pointless. Just go with the big 3. Or upgrade the alt and batt.

x2

 

[redswingline 10+ year member]

A cap (power capacitor) stores up power to release when your system is pulling a heavy amount of current from the battery. They are measured in farads. 1 farad is equivelant to roughly 1000 watts. So a 6 farad capacitor is capable of 6000 watts of storage. Your car runs off of a 12 volt system and everything else electric inside of your car is pulling current off the battery. When you add amplifiers to your car it pulls more from the battery then the battery can supply. That is when the cap gives off some of its powere, instead of the battery overworking and eventually dieing as a result. Everytime the cap is used it continuously recharges itself.Sometimes you can turn your car off after a long drive and the cap will stay on until it is recharged fully. It does not drain your battery in any way, however a common fallacy is that they will help stop your lights from dimming when you system is turned up really loud. They dont. Only changing the big 3 will help that. If you are trying to buy a cap, add up how many total watts of power your system contains and round up to the next farad.

 

[OldOneEye 10+ year member]

I love water analogies. You know that feeling you get when you take a shower and then someone flushes the toilet somewhere else in the house and you lose pressure and get scalded? Now imagine that you put a small tank of cold water right by your showerhead that kicks in if the pressure drops, preventing you from getting burned.

Supposedly the small tank near your shower head is like a cap. Even though there is tons of water flowing around, even a small drop in pressure causes problems.

How big of a deal they make is something else really (as mentioned here).

Juan

 

[audiolife 5,000+ posts]

caps are used as voltage stabilizers. people tend to think they can do alot more than they actually do. thing is on a full discharge it isnt even a seconds worth of power. do they do anything drastic as far as performance? i doubt you really hear it as to really get the full effect of them the electrical system needs to be up to par anyway. imo from what i have messed with adding a small low esr 12v battery gives a more noticeable effect for a little more than the retail cost of a 2 farad digi cap.

 

[Fission 10+ year member]

A cap (power capacitor) stores up power to release when your system is pulling a heavy amount of current from the battery. They are measured in farads. 1 farad is equivelant to roughly 1000 watts. So a 6 farad capacitor is capable of 6000 watts of storage. Your car runs off of a 12 volt system and everything else electric inside of your car is pulling current off the battery. When you add amplifiers to your car it pulls more from the battery then the battery can supply. That is when the cap gives off some of its powere, instead of the battery overworking and eventually dieing as a result. Everytime the cap is used it continuously recharges itself.Sometimes you can turn your car off after a long drive and the cap will stay on until it is recharged fully. It does not drain your battery in any way, however a common fallacy is that they will help stop your lights from dimming when you system is turned up really loud. They dont. Only changing the big 3 will help that. If you are trying to buy a cap, add up how many total watts of power your system contains and round up to the next farad.

As far as I'm concerned a capacitor can not charge itself. It has to get power from somewhere and that place is the car battery/alternator. Do not waste time with a capacitor when you could upgrade wires under the hood (big 3, you can search in the electrical/wiring section and get tons of results) and get another battery (perhaps a yellow top) in the trunk/rear that will store an incredible amount more than the capacitor. The ultimate solution would be a high output alternator. With that you may not need an extra battery, but often times with higher output system keeping an extra battery wouldn't hurt.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[zachzchw 5,000+ posts]

http://forums.caraudio.com/vb/search.php?searchid=953967

Lots of debate.

 

[skierxx5556 10+ year member]

http://www.bcae1.com/

this place helps explain alot...

 

[OldManTod 10+ year member]

Yep, what they said and the SE-Arch line is the best made...

- T

 

[killahbean 10+ year member]

A cap stores the power for when needed especially when full bass hits....As all the current are being drawn from the amp(s) The cap will provide that extra needed juice and will help it run more efficient....