Thread: help choosing a capacitor for my system?

Caps are a band aid, when what is usually needed is major surgery. They do a good job of masking the real problem, but the real problem still exists and will bite you in the *** at some point.

Oh, and yes, I do actually have a cap in my setup, it looks pretty cool, and has neat lights and a voltmeter. Thats about all it does, though.

Dave

heh - seems like most in here have already said it..caps are useless, UNLESS they are in the 3 farad + range

else, it's nothing more than bling factor, at which point, those who know audio, look at it and feel sorry that you waisted your money



spend your money upgrading the big 3 first.

if you STILL want to go with a cap (at least you're looking in the right size range for one, unlike most posurs), the 5 farad cap should be enough, but if it's only a few $$ more, 20 won't hurt at all.

one problem with caps is that sure, they provide power when needed, but then they have to recharge, granted it's lightning fast, but you're still down none-the-less

for a 20 farad cap to fully discharge, you have to be doing some heavy lifting, and that MA amp isn't going to come close.

So red, in your sistem, do you have any caps whatsoever?

Im re thinking my set up....

Originally Posted by Sidewalksalvage

So red, in your sistem, do you have any caps whatsoever?

Im re thinking my set up....

none

in a properly built system (short of extreme situations - meaning 5000watts RMS or more) they aren't really necessary.

beef up your power and ground wires to alternator, starter, and battery, beef up your alternator, and get a batter battery - will all do more, WAY more, than a cap

Originally Posted by zzachattack2

Sorry if im "hijacking" this thread, but how does a 20F cap go for just a little more $$$ than 1F caps? Is it all just hype? (I know that 20F is better than 2F, but i mean in this context is the extra capacitance necessary?)

One reason i suspect that is because from what I've seen, the higher quality companies don't manufacture huge zillion farad caps and stick to 1 or 2.

there are only a few manufacturers of caps in the world. Last I knew, only 3.

and of course there's benefit to the extra capacatance, WAYYYYYY more benefit than 2 farad onone, which is pretty much worthless.

you also need to remember that it's eBay, and there's a crap load of markup in car audio products.

great decision!

it's something you need to do anyways, if you still have issues afterwards, THEN consider a cap.

Let us know how it turns out!