Dukk

Absolutely true. Totally different things though. This is at the very core of why people don't understand capacitors - they believe they are the same thing as a battery.

A battery is an energy source.

A capacitor is an energy storage device.

RomanticMoments

Bingo. Caps are used to store and discharge energy very quickly, that's it. Why there is so much ignorance and negativity towards caps I will never know. In competition there is a limited need for caps, that I will agree. But I won't make the statement that they are utterly useless and junk... Especially when caps are what allow the amplifiers we use to produce high power in short bursts.... Kinda like how music demands... The better question is why isn't a cap needed (comps aside boys and girls) ?

fresh1

iTrader: (2)

What about rechargeable batteries? Ok now I'm just being a jerk, but I mean, if you wire up a second battery, does that second battery become storage or a source?

It does the job of a cap (better or worse I'm not sure) and it charges and discharges in much the same fashion as a cap, I would just guess at a slower pace.

Furthermore, I'm not saying caps are complete junk, I just found it wasn't helping me that much. I have been meaning to try and put it back in to see if it helps with my new set up, but I doubt it would be as effective want it to be. Maybe a larger one or just multiple 1F caps would do the trick. I'm not one to say they're good or bad, but based on my personal experience it didn't out THAT much. It helped, but I'm sure there are other more effective ways to help your stereo out. Might be wrong, might be right, but I'm certainly not left.

DeadlySones

iTrader: (4)

.....a source &/of storage, lol

ryan135

i have a question i am just asking can you hook up a capacitor in series?? or will it dbl the voltage??

d4rin

First thing I would do is upgrade the battery. If you use a high-output alternator on a stock battery it will heat the battery way to much and burn it out really fast.

Forget about caps, they just look nice.

kevmurray

Yes you can. It will double the maximum voltage you can charge them to but will drop the capacitance in half. Wiring in parallel doubles the capacitance while the voltage limit remains the same. There is no advantage to a series scheme in car audio unless you are running higher than normal voltage (competition stuff).

kevmurray

Please explain.
For the most part I agree. They do help out with large transients but the effective gain is small. Better money would be spent modifying the amps, but I concede this is not for everyone.

d4rin

a high-output alternator isn't matched for stock batteries in a car. It will push the battery much harder than it's suppose to and would drain the battery much faster.

ChristianM

iTrader: (3)

:! seeing as how i JUST installed a h/o alternator, does it matter if i run both batteries through a battery isolator(front battery is a crappy tire and second is a kinetik HC1200) i have always heard that caps were not as effective as a h/o alt and battery so thats where i invested my money, i think its worth the cost over the cap