Do Capacitors help?

[icecoolwas]

Some people say they dont help, others do.. I have came to my own conclusion which is..

Well if the capacitor is big enough, then yes it should help, but its if its much bigger then the required amount and the fact it can be charged quick enough, it will help greatly in your system. People say they dont work usually because they try to use not large enough capacitors (2F or less) With systems going over 2000 watt rms with a stock battery, also since music can have really long notes, the capacitor itself will be drained and put as a strain on the eletrical, thus In my opinion you should have a large capacitor (such as, 4F+) on systems around 2000 watt rms when all the eletrical is just stock. by doing this it will take longer to drain, and by the time the note is over, the cap will charge up again for the next note.

Would you say my conclusion is correct?

[luka]

They do, but do you have $$ for one that is big as hell? it is way better to buy very good battery, probably will cost the same or even less compared to capacitor

to have any big impact on your voltage drop you would need cap sized 25F+, I would even say 50F+.But for this money you get one of the best powercell out there..

[jol50]

Also note if the stereo draw exceeds the alternator, you got nothing it will not recharge the capacitor(s). It can actually drag the voltage down longer as it charges and the stereo is still drawing. It will only work if draw exceeds alternator output for a moment. If you play a bass tone and your voltage drops and stays down, it will not help in that situation. The issue is then it can draw your stock battery down under 12v too. If you have a battery instead sure it will drop from ~14v to 12v, but then the high output or second battery will issue current to keep it from dropping more. A cap only holds a small amount of energy unlike a battery.

If you only listen to music that is not bass tracks, then sure it will work better but you still can get to the same issue when you are talking about say a small car with <100A alternator and 2Kw of amps or more.

[dynosaur]

I highly recommend caps !!! however, in a starved electrical system they compound the problem. Solution = big alternator, big batteries, and of course a big cap. I am currently using 200amp alt, with 600 cca (honda group 51) for starter, with 2 - Kinetik 1400's and a 50 farad cap !!!

[MOER]

These capacitors do nothing for the amplifiers which we design and build due to the fact that they have fully regulated power supplies.

The power supply does not "care" if the battery voltage is 11 or 14v, it maintains the internal rail supplies at the same voltage regardless of battery voltage or load condition. Of course the load should not be lower than that recommended for that particular amplifier.

Stephen Mantz
Zed Audio Corporation

[luka]

well yours.... how about some 10kw amp? I think not, to say so, most don't have regulation of rails

[dynosaur]

As said " they compound the problem in a starved electrical system "
SO FEED THOSE STARVING AMPLIFIERS !!!!! lol

[jol50]

Regulated PS amp will play the same to its lowest voltage, either way you still need to feed the amps. Once you overload the alternator you run on batteries and voltage will keep on dropping. More batteries will sustain it longer at ~12v, but you still lose.

Friend of mine way back had a truck alternator on his car largest at the time but still <100A, running three old school 300rms amps and four smaller amps. He had to put two huge batteries in the trunk, then it would play for about ten minutes at full tilt and the voltage would drop way low. He would drive around for a while until it charged back up and do it again. With one extra battery it would only crank for just over one song. Brand new diehards at the time. But with those old amps if he would have put a larger or second alternator on, it would have put out more at 14v instead of on the batteries.