building a 2 fared capacitor

[audiobahnkid592]

im trying to build around a 2 fared capacitor out of numerous small ones. could someone give me a direction on what kind and how many would be best? im trying to have it around 1-1.5" tall thats the only thing that matters.

[richie00boy]

One has to ask why, when power caps are actually not good for your system. All they do is put strain on the alternator.

[I Am An Idiot]

Basically you will need to find some capacitors that meet your size requirements, rated at 16 volts or above. Then you will need to purchase 2 million microfarads worth of them. If you use 4700 mic caps, you will need 425 of them. Using 10,000 mic caps you will need 200. Using 50,000 mic caps would require 40 of those.

[theAnonymous1]

Sure, paralleling 72 of these 27,000uF 25V capacitors will give you 1.944 Farads.

http://search.digikey.com/scripts/Dk...?name=P6897-ND

That's $267.72 worth of capacitors with a layout of roughly 11" x 12.4" x 1.38"

Or, you could just buy a 2F cap marketed for car audio for around $20 and find somewhere else to put it.

[Flyin11]

Originally posted by richie00boy
One has to ask why, when power caps are actually not good for your system. All they do is put strain on the alternator.

It all depends...It works for some and for others it might not work for them...All I know is that it's helped out my system a whole lot to have one as I haven't had any issues for the past year since I put my first one in...It's matter of choice I guess....

[richie00boy]

Originally posted by theAnonymous1
That's $267.72 worth of capacitors with a layout of roughly 11" x 12.4" x 1.38"

Or, you could just buy a 2F cap marketed for car audio for around $20 and find somewhere else to put it.

Which serves to highlight just how much useless junk these car audio power caps are. You simply cannot make a decent cap of that capacity anything like that cheaply.

You are better off upgrading your earth wiring. "The big 3"

[1moreamp]

Try Bat-Stat Caps instead, there smallest unit is 80 farad equivalent and its a bunch cheaper then any of the electrolytic caps your looking at.
They stack these in Kinetik car battery's. They are fast charge battery's that don't normally vent or leak, and rarely if ever explode like regular electrolytic caps can... Remember to fuse the connections such things no matter which you chose to install....

[amc32]

Capacitors are a gift and the curse.Depending on the system you are designing,this will generally indicate the usefullness of a cap-bank.

#1 If you are a bass-head or part-time bass-head or a SPL Freak.
Capacitors are not for you.Just as you get a spark(if done the wrong way)from the initial charging of any cap (name brand and design doesnt matter).This spark is because the cap is depleted and electrically rendered a dead short.And now needs a ton of current to charged.The more capacitance 1,2,3,4,5,6,,7,8,9,10 Farrads the more charge to replinish once stored charged is deplinished.And this can continue as your playing your stereo.If the audio demand on the amplifiers calls for extra current guess where it comes from the caps first.If the demand depletes them they are recharged at some what the same rate.And all this occurs in real-time,no sparks just huge loads of current being transferred from battery(and alternator if car is running)to capacitor to amplifier to what-ever speakers. Now thats a mental Transducer
And so large low freq.notes played for extended periods (short crest factor)Renders caps almost useless.And even a hinderance if your into the spl thing.Because the flow of current is now hindered from reaching the amplifiers because of caps trying to recharge themselves to a state of replentishment.

#2 If your a general audiofile or part-time audiofile or you just like your stereo easy like sunday mornings.Then cap might be a option for you.Car audio amps operate by pulsing power from the source ie. battery or Alternator if car is running.This can be problematic at times.And since no one here has fiqured out the Class A debate.PWM is what were stuck with.This pulling of power is in direct proportion with the audio signal.It is how well your electrical system can manage this tug-of-war that will prove or disprove the use of caps.
As long as your listening to music with sensible crest factors and you are not exceeding certain factors.Capacitors will add a certain sense of headroom operation for the ampifiers.Since theres no current-voltage drop.Transferr of Pulsed current has now better regulation(for lack of a better term).

#3 Just be honest with yourself.If you are a in the closet bass-head wanna-be.Only sometimes with my friends,weekends,Forth of July,Cinco De Mayo,Octoberfest,Final Exams,whenever there are fireworks and barbeque,or on Baby Jesus birthday then you need to concentrate on up-grading your cars electrically power-supply not caps.Capacitors don't generate power

[audiobahnkid592]

i just had the idea to aid in the quick spikes of voltage. as i have read now if i do get one ill just buy one and not waste my time trying to build one. thanks for the different opinions.

[jol50]

Amc32 about covers what I have found. Some say it is better to add caps to the rails in the amp, yet others say a good amp will have enough. I bought a used 1f for $15 shipped, I still never mounted it even after I found some copper pipe clamps that should work. I listen to lots of different music, I like low bass but not pure basshead music so I figured it might help a little. Beyond that I was thinking a jumper pack or just the battery out of it may help more....especially since I have one sitting here and it is small and sealed, and I don't plan on alternator mods or additional car batteries.

I should add I was putting the cap in more to help my alternator live than help the amps.