SQ Civic

iTrader: (3)

nothing else to say to that....

Mark

tjknight

I'm about to ask a really dumb question and I apologize if it has been stated a million times in other postings but....why does a better battery help...other than the fact that you can maybe listen to the stereo without having to run the car (which would be very nice....I have had to get a boost far to many times now)

Thanks

veeman

iTrader: (3)

^^you know you can avoid the boosts if you start your car now and then if you're listening for long periods.

Blaine Korte

iTrader: (1)

What? Where the hell are you getting your info from?

hershey

If you got a strong charging system- a capacitor can help at loud bass notes.

GPGT1

how can you say that a cap wont help? Even though theres no replacment for a good charging system a cap is just a component that can only help your power supply. Lots of amps, not just specifacly car audio but in general have large banks of capacitors to regulate the supply. I cant believe how many people regard the cap as the devil. The real idiots are people with 10 farads of capacitance and a 12awg wire grounding there batt. to the frame and a 0awg ground in the trunk. Then they wonder why their lights are still dimming!

scroudt111

exactly

Brad-S.A.

iTrader: (35)

Like you said, nothing replaces a second battery and good charging system. However a cap is basically a electronic battery vs. a normal battery which is chemical be it acid or gel. A cap charges close to 100+ times faster then the average chemical type battery. When the amp is in full swing and is requesting power the cap can quickly discharge into the amp and provide a cushion for the battery to recharge but providing the amp with the current it is requiring to produce the power. All of which takes place in a tenth of a second if not faster. No you may not hear the difference but your amp will run more efficiently and run cooler. This topic has been argued for ages.

slow/n\low

Yes Caps can make a difference, but unfortunatly about 2% of people actually install them and use them correctly to help there systems.

1. Caps are not a replacement for a charging system, but many think they are!

2. 3F or larger caps are a waste of time. It would be better to buy (3) 1F caps than 1 Large 3F.

Rrrrolla

iTrader: (3)

Caps are bandaids for poor electrical systems. If your lights are dimming, that's a pretty good indication you need to either upgrade wiring, your alternator, or install a cap. Adding a battery will NOT help keep your voltage at 14V, it will actually place more of a load on your alternator and actually make your lights dim worse. Extra batteries are great for times when the car is off, but when it's on, they are a hinderance because they present a load to the alternator as well. A capacitor will help regulate your alternator voltage to 14V. I guess it depends on what the problem is whether or not a cap will actually help. If the problem is that wiring to your amp is not good enough and voltage is being dropped across your wire, then you need to upgrade your wiring first. You can check this by watching the voltage at your amp dip and watching it at your alternator to see if it's dipping there too. If it's solid at your alternator, you need to upgrade your wiring cause somewhere there is too much resistance between the alternator and the amp. A capacitor will help mask this by reducing current draw spikes through your wiring, effectively flattening out current draw over a longer period of time. Now, if you measure the voltage at your alternator, and it is dipping there too, you really need to either replace your alternator with a higher current alternator (one that can source high current even at low RPM's, these fella's are big and wil most definitly require modifications to your engine bay), OR you can use a cap at the amp side to also help "smoothe out" the current spikes that would otherwise be required of your weak alternator. This will extend the life of your alternator, keep your lights from dimming, and allow your amp to have a more consistant 14V (which of course will increase the amps power capabilities). Why everyone wants to add more batteries is beyond me. If you want a nice solid 12V, and don't care if your voltage fluctuates between 12 and 14V everytime a bass note hits, then add batteries till your hearts content. You'll be replacing alternators every three months though.

Best way to look at it, batteries start your car, alternator provies current to your amp, cap help regulate to 14V from alternator. Turn car off, and it's all batteries, caps won't do much of anything cause a battery has a huge current capability anyways. Crapy thing is though, when the car's off, you only have 12V, which means in an unregulated amp, less voltage at the rails and less power capability, and in a regulated amp, more current draw, and the risk of exceeding current limitations of the amps internal power supply. These concepts only apply to a car playing music with lots of transients like rock or hip hop, not bass race cars playing spl oriented "music"... ie. test tones at full volume render caps uselss.

Hmmm... that's all I got. It's pretty simple really once you understand the theory. I'm an electronics tech, and this same kinda transient supply voltage problem is resolved all the time with big caps in many differnt electronic applications.

Rrrrolla