A cap - is a cap- is a cap ~~ yes/no??!

okay - i've heard from Nick(sparq) that all caps are tha same- cadence/alumapro/moster/lighting/PG -- all tha same right.. so those caps u can get @ partsexpress.com - same thing just cheaper-- & no name.. well ookay

what about BOSS - yeah we all know there amps suk... But i found they make a 10farad cap & i can get it for $389 -- so im thinkin ill pik that thing up-- good idea!?

ANy1 ever had one?- know some1 that used one?- Heard anything about them?

hit me back asap!!

from what i heard...not all caps are the same. they basically work the same but have different characteristics. some caps gives off more surge voltage than others. also, the lower the ESR number, the better it is.

what application are you using? don't you think 15 farad is an overkill? for the price of that cap...u should save the money and invest in a bigger alternator and maybe a 1 farad cap or two. :)

rebuilt alternator is the way to go.. listen up..
when your voltage drops with a cap. the cap supplies the needed voltage. so when the juice leaves the cap... the alt needs to re juice the cap .. and juice the amp at the same time... thus at certain hits.. its powering the cap and amp causing a stronger drain than usual.. alt is the way to go.

Originally posted by GSteg
from what i heard...not all caps are the same. they basically work the same but have different characteristics. some caps gives off more surge voltage than others. also, the lower the ESR number, the better it is.

what application are you using? don't you think 15 farad is an overkill? for the price of that cap...u should save the money and invest in a bigger alternator and maybe a 1 farad cap or two. :) Yeahm well when I was talking about all caps being the same I was talking about comparing apples to apples... obviously a digital cap and a standard cap are not the same, nor are caps that have a 20 volt surge vs. a 24 volt surge vs. a 30folt surge...

But when comparing similar products that are of the same type you are usually just paying for the name... for example, lanzar 10 farad capacitor I could shoot to you for $429 shipped.. Just to give you an idea

Originally posted by sparq
But when comparing similar products that are of the same type you are usually just paying for the name...

some companies make the caps for other companies.. so basically its a name you pay for

Originally posted by igo4bmx
some companies make the caps for other companies.. so basically its a name you pay for Hmmm didnt I just say that? :finger:

Just like MA Audio, Audiobahn, Visonik... take your pic, same stuff differant name. :devil:

Originally posted by sparq
Hmmm didnt I just say that? :finger:

Just like MA Audio, Audiobahn, Visonik... take your pic, same stuff differant name. :devil:

you know what I think sparq? Visionik MAAudio and audiobahn all have the same caps with different names labeled on them

(i'm fudging with ya)

ookay-- so what your telling me- is MOST caps are made by tha same peeps-- just w/ diff names... hehehahah thanks!

I knwo about tha alt...-- but if my system will be hitting 4160w peak.. then tha extra 5,840farads-- are just incase.... So im goin to sell my 1farad cap & get tha 10farad BOSS cap.. thanks alot u guys!

Peace!!

Originally posted by igo4bmx
you know what I think sparq? Visionik MAAudio and audiobahn all have the same caps with different names labeled on them

(i'm fudging with ya) You know what I think BMX? :finger4:

Oh, and be carefull when fudgin with caps cause you could end up :shocked:

Originally posted by sparq
You know what I think BMX? :finger4:

Oh, and be carefull when fudgin with caps cause you could end up :shocked:

i like to poke people with fully charged caps.. they don't like it

Originally posted by igo4bmx
i like to poke people with fully charged caps.. they don't like it Cattle prodding with electric devices is illegal in like 40 something states and excludes texas and obvious "cow towns" ~ but oddly enough Alabama its legal... I guess that explains alot about the people that come outta Alabama now dont it. Now we know why they are so fudged up :bloated: :finger:

Originally posted by sparq
Cattle prodding with electric devices is illegal in like 40 something states and excludes texas and obvious "cow towns" ~ but oddly enough Alabama its legal... I guess that explains alot about the people that come outta Alabama now dont it. Now we know why they are so fudged up :bloated: :finger:

i'm from alabaaama. I met my girlfriend there who is also my sister and my aunt. good stuff.:D

:rolleyes: -- okay well thanks for all that extra crap...

whats up people... i just have a quick question bout digital caps... i have 2 digital caps hooked up in my trunk.... i have a 4 gauge wire running from my battery to a ditribution block and i got 2 8 gauge wires comin out of that one to each cap. the question is... when i turn my car off... one of the caps turns off.. but the other one sumtimes stays on. could it be that i wired sumthing wrong?? or is this normal?? last night i was watchin it and eventually the other one turned off... but if it does stay on.. could this kill my battery?? it was reading 12 sumthin on the meter but i dunno... can n e one help me?? thanks

jeff tripz,

How do you have them wired? Caps do store voltage in them but you shouldn't be getting a reading that high.

...heh, 2 yr old thread, dude.

...heh, 2 yr old thread, dude.
:icon16:
Whoops, didn't realize how old this was. lmao

*slaps forehead* newb

*slaps forehead* newb

:rolleyes: Definately not a n00b in car audio nor forums just didn't look at how old the thread was. sheez!

the only characteristic you need to look at is ESR ...... if it's much above 2 mOhms (.002 ohms), it will be pretty much useless. That puts all the ones with voltmeters on the top in that category. Sometimes a cap will help because of the way an amp draws power out of the battery, most of the time it won't help.

THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART ........ it will NOT help a bassboomer system, it's only helpful when playing "real" music.

I would get a capacitor for one reason. Basically as a power conditioner. Alternators are not perfect. They mainly give off alternating current and have to be converted to direct current with diodes. Sometimes, the diodes can leak a little bit of alternating current in the system, which can cause a little bit of noise in your stereo system. A capacitor can often help clean up a dirty electrical system and help everything run smoothly. So if I was to get a 1 farad capacitor, I'd be getting to to help everything work better. Not just my stereo system.

I was bustin your balls dude :lol2:

I was bustin your balls dude :lol2:

all good! :smokin:

Quick question about caps.
Since I got my 2nd amp my light dim, so i have too much power draw by the amps right? It's not too bad, but I would rather have a cap, then drive around knowing my power is overloaded.
So wanted to ask what is a realtively cheap 1-1.5 farad cap?

Quick question about caps.
Since I got my 2nd amp my light dim, so i have too much power draw by the amps right? It's not too bad, but I would rather have a cap, then drive around knowing my power is overloaded.
So wanted to ask what is a realtively cheap 1-1.5 farad cap?

I would da a big 3 upgrade first, before spending money on a cap.

I have no idea what that is. Whould you please explain?
I think I should start a new thread.

1) Battery negative to chassis
2) Alternator to battery positive
3) Chassis to engine

I've only done 1 and 3 so far and it made a big improvement. #1 was just replacing the stock negative wire with a beefier one from Napa. Then #3 went from the Chassis to one of the mounting bolts of the alternator and from that to the intake manifold. I have 4 gauge wiring to do the alternator positive to the battery positive, but need to get an inline fuse first.

I would get a capacitor for one reason. Basically as a power conditioner. Alternators are not perfect. They mainly give off alternating current and have to be converted to direct current with diodes. Sometimes, the diodes can leak a little bit of alternating current in the system, which can cause a little bit of noise in your stereo system. A capacitor can often help clean up a dirty electrical system and help everything run smoothly. So if I was to get a 1 farad capacitor, I'd be getting to to help everything work better. Not just my stereo system.

An alternator produces only AC, generators produce DC . Caps smooth voltage peaks, nothing more, nothing less.

hey jsut wanted to add in numeral 1 power caps are the body jewelry of car audio unless you are getting down with a 10 farad cap then it starts making a difference but then you really need to make sure youre charging system can handle the output of that cap with out sustaing a loss of key compents of youre ride. as well people wondering about having 2 caps an 1 shutting down sounds like its wired in sieries in stead of parallel the cap should never turn off if it does it needs to be decharged an rechanrged or its not gunna work properly itll be a volt meter as well i always go with a battery , it will do so much more than a cap ever will check out kenetic they have a battery line called kap killer its super small prob the size of a battery in a kids 4 wheeler an the out put is astronmical its a low input hi output acid free battery an i do believe retail on them is under 200 bucks !!

An alternator produces only AC, generators produce DC . Caps smooth voltage peaks, nothing more, nothing less.

an alternator creats ac an thru a process called rectification its converted into dc

The formula for how much energy a capacitor can store is; (½* C*V^2). Which reads ½ times the capacitance (in Farads) times the voltage squared. As an example let’s find out how much energy is stored in a 1 Farad capacitor that is connected to the +12V system. (½ * 1 Farad * 12 * 12) = 72 Joules or 72 Watt seconds an most of the time a second battery will spare you much headache hope that helps

wow, this thread got ressurected once again ......

I guess you're numbers are right (didn't look over them too hard), problem is - the only "power" available is when the volts are between 14.4 and a little over 12, so actually only like 20% of the number you calculated.

The other thing is, those big, square caps are USELESS .... if you scroll up about 10 posts, you will see why. Their ESR is so high, they will never be allowed to dump any of their power back into the system.

most defnt agree with yea there man they are useless an i counted on 14.4v

ive got to unsubscribe from this thread.. its like every couple of yrs some1 stumbles on this.. & i get a email... heh