flashing stinger capacitor
0 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 10
just so everyone knows caps are not useless they help your alternator now if you don't upgrade your alt then a cap will only kill your alt faster but if u upgrade your alt a cap is great the way a cap work basically is
your amp requires power so the power has to come from your alt (because when your car is running the alt is what runs the electrical system not the batt) so that power will never be instantaneous so what a cap does is supply the power because its right beside your amp so by the time the power comes from your alt its already been used by the cap thus it recharged the cap and the cycle begins again. and if you have a big enough alt then your lights wont dim because its not placing a strain on your electrical system big notes means big power its gota drain it from somewhere so if you don't have a good enough power source your lights will dim. now thats just a basic way of how a cap works do some research if you wanna know more all you people sayin there useless there not they have a reason for being in car audio now if you have that big of a system that you need to upgrade your alt and need a big cap go the best way and put a batt in your trunk but make sure you have enough power coming from your alt to recharge it or then again your gonna blow your alt from to much power
your amp requires power so the power has to come from your alt (because when your car is running the alt is what runs the electrical system not the batt) so that power will never be instantaneous so what a cap does is supply the power because its right beside your amp so by the time the power comes from your alt its already been used by the cap thus it recharged the cap and the cycle begins again. and if you have a big enough alt then your lights wont dim because its not placing a strain on your electrical system big notes means big power its gota drain it from somewhere so if you don't have a good enough power source your lights will dim. now thats just a basic way of how a cap works do some research if you wanna know more all you people sayin there useless there not they have a reason for being in car audio now if you have that big of a system that you need to upgrade your alt and need a big cap go the best way and put a batt in your trunk but make sure you have enough power coming from your alt to recharge it or then again your gonna blow your alt from to much power
y would it be instantanious. the alt lets say its running 130amps steady on highway. and your system drains 100amps total with engine and all. y couldnt your amp still have the power they need when its available... again you have some spots wrong.. your stupply from the cap is when a bass note comes and your alt doesnt have the power... WELL thats because your drawing more amps than your alt can supply.. so again its just a bandaid bud... if you have the alt power and produces more than what your total system sucks up you shouldnt have any dims.. thats if all the power wire are oversized too cause a smaller wire does create more resistance witch drops power...
ITS USELESS its a bandaid and nothing else... its not a huge hydro plant here its a car. wire runs are not 300miles long they are at the most 17ft... and even if the cap works its only for .0001sec and then its just a drain on the system to charge itself again soo more amps are sucked up by some useless peace
ITS USELESS its a bandaid and nothing else... its not a huge hydro plant here its a car. wire runs are not 300miles long they are at the most 17ft... and even if the cap works its only for .0001sec and then its just a drain on the system to charge itself again soo more amps are sucked up by some useless peace
Yankee
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,599
just so everyone knows caps are not useless they help your alternator now if you don't upgrade your alt then a cap will only kill your alt faster but if u upgrade your alt a cap is great the way a cap work basically is
your amp requires power so the power has to come from your alt (because when your car is running the alt is what runs the electrical system not the batt) so that power will never be instantaneous so what a cap does is supply the power because its right beside your amp so by the time the power comes from your alt its already been used by the cap thus it recharged the cap and the cycle begins again. and if you have a big enough alt then your lights wont dim because its not placing a strain on your electrical system big notes means big power its gota drain it from somewhere so if you don't have a good enough power source your lights will dim. now thats just a basic way of how a cap works do some research if you wanna know more all you people sayin there useless there not they have a reason for being in car audio now if you have that big of a system that you need to upgrade your alt and need a big cap go the best way and put a batt in your trunk but make sure you have enough power coming from your alt to recharge it or then again your gonna blow your alt from to much power
your amp requires power so the power has to come from your alt (because when your car is running the alt is what runs the electrical system not the batt) so that power will never be instantaneous so what a cap does is supply the power because its right beside your amp so by the time the power comes from your alt its already been used by the cap thus it recharged the cap and the cycle begins again. and if you have a big enough alt then your lights wont dim because its not placing a strain on your electrical system big notes means big power its gota drain it from somewhere so if you don't have a good enough power source your lights will dim. now thats just a basic way of how a cap works do some research if you wanna know more all you people sayin there useless there not they have a reason for being in car audio now if you have that big of a system that you need to upgrade your alt and need a big cap go the best way and put a batt in your trunk but make sure you have enough power coming from your alt to recharge it or then again your gonna blow your alt from to much power
I think there is some truth in what you are trying to say but the way you have said it is fairly bogus technically and truly butchers the english language (that's my job).
Allow me to agree with you in different words...
A cap can have value but it is more of an exception than a rule, it really is a band-aid. You know, when you have a boo boo sometimes you need a band-aid. A cap is also NO EXCUSE for an inadequate electrical design you need 1-powerful alternator, 2-large properly connected wiring, and 3-enough battery power to provide power until the alternator can respond to the electrical demand. Sometimes cars have lousy voltage regulation, and building a powerful stereo makes it worse, and voltage regulation is what a cap tries to do.
0 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 10
sorry my English is not perfect. from my experience installing many systems they always have always benefited from a cap. now its your choice if you use a cap, i'v always found a benefit from them. i don't have a bat in my trunk so a cap works well for me. my alt is definitely big enough to handle the load at 220 amps. now after market alts don't reach peak until higher rpm's, so at idle my car definitely uses my cap. this is another reason why i use them in most of my applications. but if you choose to say there crap that's your opinion and maybe in your application and your experience it is not necessary to have a cap, but again i only use them because in my experience they do work even if its only for .0001 of a second.
Last edited by Reaper; Oct 5, 2009 at 02:12 PM.
Thread Starter
50 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 158
how did we get talking about this all i asked was does anybody know about the flashing light on the cap. That has already been answered lol, so anyways we've come to the conclusion that some people think the're useless, some think the're great, some don't care. Realistically it doesn't matter, it's your system put what ever you want in it and make it your own. What are you running reaper, your not to far from me i'm in blind...
The words "band aid" get dropped a lot when talking about caps. I'm not sure if that changes their value or not, but i have seen first hand that they can do what they're expected to. If being a band aid solves the problem, typically dimming lights, then it's served it's purpose. Is it the best option from a price/performance stand point...maybe, maybe not, but it may be from an install, weight, and size approach. I can tell you that they're usually many times cheaper than a h.o. Alternator and much lighter, easier to install, and take up a lot less space than a battery.
0 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Oct 2009
Posts: 10
right know im running an orion hcca10.2 with a hifonics txi 1508d amp. running at 1 ohm allwired with 4 ga soon to be 1 ga gota purchase another 3feet for ground. some boss 6x9's and comps, got 2 1.2 farad caps on the way yellow top on the way and 220 amp alt installed. pioneer 5900 deck which im switching out for a new pionneer avic-u310bt when i get the cash, and looking to get another hcca 10.2 and switching out the hifonics amp for a new hifonics xxv goliath.
Thread Starter
50 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 158
sounds pretty sick, wouldn't mind checking it out sometime.
Sooooo the story continues on this lemon of a cap...hooked it up anyways with the flashing light still flashing...and it destroyed my battery kept sucking it dry i guess kinda sucks...
Sooooo the story continues on this lemon of a cap...hooked it up anyways with the flashing light still flashing...and it destroyed my battery kept sucking it dry i guess kinda sucks...
