Yet another capacitor thread

[energumeno]

Yes, I know, I know. You all should be sick of hearing newbies asking about capacitors.

However PLEASE READ THIS THREAD BEFORE DISCARDING IT.

I have been reading about capacitors all day today and have already decided which capacitor i will buy an have good reasons (at least for me) to buy it so i will not ask the regular questions (shall i buy a capacitor or a battery? Will a capacitor help me out with my current setup? etc.)

I have read several opinions on how to wire the capacitors and haven't found consensus on this topic, not even on the capacitor manufacturer’s web sites.

My questions for you power experts are the following.

1. Is it possible to place the capacitor before a fused distribution block? (Some manufacturers say yes, some others say never put a fuse between the capacitor and the amp.)

2. Should I wire the ground of the capacitor to the same grounding point of the amps or should i ground it to a different point in my car's chassis? (Again some manufacturers say to ground at a different point, some others suggest at the same point to avoid grounding loops.)

What do you think?

By the way, these are two of the manufacturer’s websites that I was consulting,

http://www.lanzar.com/manuals/LQ12CAP.pdf

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/tech_department/Sting%20Cap%20Own.pdf

http://www.rockfordfosgate.com/scripts/rightnow.cfg/php.exe/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=9z1v2eoi&p_lva=&p_faqid=50&p_created=952039877&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9ncmlkc29ydD0mcF9yb3dfY250PT ExJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9MyZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMT0yMiZwX3Byb2RfbHZsMj0zOSZwX2NhdF9sdmwxPX5hbnl_JnBfc29ydF9ieT1kZmx0JnBfcGFnZT0x&p_li=

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[pboulos 10+ year member]

what you should do is buy my kole audio c2.5sd 4 farad cap for a whopping 40 dollars including priority shipping

 

[Prowler573 5,000+ posts]

1) I do not personally know that it should make much difference placing it either before or after a fused distro...

unless ~

The usage of the capacitor is meant for only one of your amps as opposed to all of them. If this is the case placing the cap before the distro will cause everything after the distro to draw energy from it and I do not know if this is your intent from the limited info you've provided to this point.

2) Every piece of aftermarket electrical gear I currently have in my trunk (two amps, three neon lightbars, and a couple of other things) are all grounded to the same location as they are all fed by my ground distro block which, obviously, is only grounded to a single location. No adverse affects thus far (over three years on the same basic install) so I'll wager there isn't going to be.

In other cases the results may vary so bear in mind I am speaking only from personal experience rather than an attempt to pass along info that is merely "accepted wisdom" on the subject.

 

[energumeno]

Thanks!

My idea is to use the cap to feed two amps, thats why I was thinking in placing it before the fused distribution block.

However i came across the information regarding that one should not place a fuse between the cap and the amp.

I really can't think of any good reason to advise not to put a fuse between the capacitor and amp, the only thing that come to my mind is that maybe the fuse increase the resistance in the feed between amp and cap and this may reduce the efficency of the setup...

About the grounds, i really wouldn't like to install a ground dist. block on my system unless there is a good reason to do it. It is already nicely wired and I am too lasy to redo everything again. Thats why I was asking if the cap needs to be grounded to the same ground as the amp or it can be grounded to a nearby chasis ground point (seatbelts)