What is your RMSWattage

[tidus10]

1000W RMS



139.5db

2 farad CAP i can control my headlight intensity by the volume of my car

[aveosummit]

1000W RMS



139.5db

2 farad CAP i can control my headlight intensity by the volume of my car

What meter did you use for the dB reading, what amplifier are you using?

[AveoRob]

300 RMS (75x4) for the amp, fronts and sub, and 44 RMS(22x2) for the rears off the HU.

If you guys are drawing that much current with your amps, a cap can actually hurt your performance. You need a HO alternator. The cap only stores a charge as a backup for a big power draw, but once depleted, it must recharge, robbing your system of amps, so during continuous big draws, the cap never fully recharges, and competes with the amp for power. Maybe Aveosummit can weigh in on this, I am not an audio expert, but I know how electronics work, and OHM's law.

[lowaveo17]

I hope you have a capacitor too? Either way if you go 1200watts rms youll need a good battery, e.g. optima red top, and probably a new alternator...

according to the head department of circuit city installer.. he said capacitors dont save the altenator or whatever; it's more for looks.. hell the damn thing blew my amp

[aveosummit]

I know that many times we talk about the max wattage we can get out of our systems, I just want to know what kind of RMS Wattage people are running.

What is the RMS Wattage of your current setup?

550WRMS here--will be completed soon and pics will be posted

With the capacity to run up to 4k+RMS.

My system also includes a 200amp HO alternator, 800CCA Batcap 800, 600CCA+35Farad Capacitor Batcap Powerpack

300 RMS (75x4) for the amp, fronts and sub, and 44 RMS(22x2) for the rears off the HU.

If you guys are drawing that much current with your amps, a cap can actually hurt your performance. You need a HO alternator. The cap only stores a charge as a backup for a big power draw, but once depleted, it must recharge, robbing your system of amps, so during continuous big draws, the cap never fully recharges, and competes with the amp for power. Maybe Aveosummit can weigh in on this, I am not an audio expert, but I know how electronics work, and OHM's law.

Capacitors become a drain on your electrical system, after they lose their charge the first time as now your alternator now has to charge both your battery and your capacitor thus making less power available for your amp.

[deniswhite1]

I know that many times we talk about the max wattage we can get out of our systems, I just want to know what kind of RMS Wattage people are running.

What is the RMS Wattage of your current setup?

550WRMS here--will be completed soon and pics will be posted

With the capacity to run up to 4k+RMS.

My system also includes a 200amp HO alternator, 800CCA Batcap 800, 600CCA+35Farad Capacitor Batcap Powerpack

300 RMS (75x4) for the amp, fronts and sub, and 44 RMS(22x2) for the rears off the HU.

If you guys are drawing that much current with your amps, a cap can actually hurt your performance. You need a HO alternator. The cap only stores a charge as a backup for a big power draw, but once depleted, it must recharge, robbing your system of amps, so during continuous big draws, the cap never fully recharges, and competes with the amp for power. Maybe Aveosummit can weigh in on this, I am not an audio expert, but I know how electronics work, and OHM's law.

Capacitors become a drain on your electrical system, after they lose their charge the first time as now you alternator now has to charge both your battery and your capacitor thus making less power available for your amp.

it takes 100th of a second to charge a cap if there is no resistance in the system, so as soon as there is a sprit second when your music stops, your cap is alrady recharged.

[aveosummit]

it takes 100th of a second to charge a cap if there is no resistance in the system, so as soon as there is a split second when your music stops, your cap is already recharged.

You are absolutely correct in your statement but in reality there is resistance so the recharge time is directly dependent on the quality of the charging system within the car.

Additional a capacitor is only good for momentary bursts of power, as that is what it is a small reserve of energy. One good thing about them is they can release this power extremely quickly (but still only for a split second). If this is your motivation, get a Batcap, even one of the smaller ones will likely do you much better than any capacitor.

A battery stores a much larger reserve of energy, and can continue to produce this energy even after significant amounts of it have been depleted.

A small bat-cap or battery will yield much better results, in terms of electrical, and will cost about the same. However, some people claim that Caps filter the "Ripple", and make the output clearer by leveling out the peaks, and filling in the valleys. However, even if it does, it's not audible enough for the human ear to pick up.

The real issue is performance an extra battery will outperform a capacitor all day, both will put a strain on the alternator but a small bat-cap or battery will yield much better results, in terms of electrical, and will cost about the same.

Let's speak in terms of numbers...

To hold an average AA battery in a capacitor, you'd need roughly 10,080 farads.
Need I explain more?

[AveoRob]

A cap is used to provide clean power, not supply more amps to a system. You need to do simple calculations to determine your amp draw. That would be for all of your amps, headlights, and other electronics, then compare to the output of the altenator. If your are pushing the limit or exceeding it, a cap will do nothing but compete with your electronics. If you install a HO alt., you would also want to add a cap to smooth out the output, like spikes and valleys. If the amp suddenly draws a lot of amps, the cap will quickly provide that, when the alt kicks in and spikes the cap will absorb that. That is the purpose of a cap. in electronics, it does not generate any extra amps in a system. and btw 1/100 of a second is 10 miliseconds, which is a real long time in electronics....

[aveosummit]

A cap is used to provide clean power, not supply more amps to a system...That is the purpose of a cap. in electronics, it does not generate any extra amps in a system. and btw 1/100 of a second is 10 miliseconds, which is a real long time in electronics....

I understand what you are saying but I think that you are unclear in what I was saying. The use of a cap, h/o alt, extra battery is to provide your amplifier with more amperage(power), you pick the term. The fact is that the device is added to the charging system to give your amplifier a way to pull amperage when the amperage draw increases higher then what the charging system is currently providing. So I have to say that the statement "That is the purpose of a cap. in electronics, it does not generate any extra amps in a system." is false.

Also why would you want to add a cap when you add a h/o alternator when you can get better performance out of an aftermarket battery. Basic comparison cap (0AH), small after market battery (20AH), both drain the system.

Let's speak in terms of numbers...

To get 20AH in a 12.5V capacitor, you'd need roughly 921.6 farads. How much do you think that would cost?
35F Capacitor=$275.00, to get 921.6F/35F=26, 26*$275=$7,150.00

A cap can not compare to an after market battery in $/amperage.

[AveoRob]

Yeah, I guess you are right. It is not used to smooth, or supply consistant voltage in a circuit. what was I thinking...
here is a link

http://www.bcae1.com/capacitr.htm


Large capacitors are used as a sort of electrical shock absorber. As voltage starts to rise, the capacitor will absorb energy which will tend to keep the voltage from rising as quickly as it otherwise would. If the voltage starts to fall, the capacitor's stored energy will flow out of the capacitor to try to keep the voltage up. A capacitor's ability to absorb/release energy from/to external circuits depends on the capacitor's specs (capacitance, ESR, ESL...), the output impedance of the power source (alternator and power wire in this case) and the circuit's input impedance (into the amplifier's power supply).

Capacitor and DC voltage:
When a DC voltage source is applied to a capacitor there is an initial surge of current, when the voltage across the terminals of the capacitor is equal to the applied voltage, the current flow stops. When the current stops flowing from the power supply to the capacitor, the capacitor is 'charged'. If the DC source is removed from the capacitor, the capacitor will retain a voltage across its terminals (it will remain charged). The capacitor can be discharged by touching the capacitor's external leads together. When using very large capacitors (1/2 farad or more) in your car, the capacitor partially discharges into the amplifier's power supply when the voltage from the alternator or battery starts to fall. Keep in mind that the discharge is only for a fraction of a second. The capacitor can not act like a battery. It only serves to fill in what would otherwise be very small dips in the supply voltage.