capacitor?

[blat51788]

i just got a capacitor for my 99 cavalier because my system was killin my batery and i thought that is would be simple to install just cut the wire and splice one end into the one end of the capactior and same with the other and i got in in the mail today and im looking at the directons and im lost if anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated

[Cavalier2000]

what brand and what do you have. they are completey easy to install but you might have a complicated one

[my99cavy]

does this help at all??

There is often a lot of confusion on how to wire a car audio capacitor (a.k.a. power capacitor or stiffening capacitor). There are two terminals on a car audio capacitor. A positive and a negative. The negative terminal is connected to ground. The positive terminal is connected "in-line" with the car audio amplifier +12 volts terminal. See the diagram below.

Ideally the power capacitor should be as close as possible to the amplifier. Within a couple of feet is acceptable.

[blat51788]

its a power acoustik 2 farad capacitor model number PCNC-1.2F its got 2 postives and 2 negatives heres a pic

[Cavalier2000]

how many amps do you have and how many watts. seems like you over did it. I am pushing three amps which is pushing 2 6x9's 2 5x7's 2 5 1/4 comps and 2 10 inch subs and i have a 1 farad cap. but it's good you have teh volt guage thingy on there, comes in handy

[blat51788]

i got 1 500 watt amp but i went through like 3 batteries and the guy i needed a capacitor but i got it for $20 off ebay brand new idk i could over do it

[my99cavy]

Originally Posted by blat51788

i got 1 500 watt amp but i went through like 3 batteries and the guy i needed a capacitor but i got it for $20 off ebay brand new idk i could over do it

well you must be buying some shitty batteries. cuz I was running 2 15''s with 2 1500 watt amps on my battery and it was fine. I wouldnt say your over doing it.

[Cavalier2000]

the bad part is you might have a little lapse as the battery charges the caps, make sure your alt is good, are you still want to know how to wire it

[my99cavy]

I asked the guys over in the audio section and the mod there told me this about hooking up the cap,

Originally Posted by PaulD

it's very straight forward. You cut positive power wire and splice them back together using the + terminal on the cap. The minus side of the cap can be grounded anywhere you want, just run a wire from the - side of the cap to a peice of metal just like you would the black ground wire from the amp.

The bad news is, this is NOT going to help your overwhelmed electrical system. In fact, it will just be another small load. And the worst part is, the caps with the digital displays do absolutely nothing because of the high ESR.

[blat51788]

what is ESR? so r u saying its not going to work?

[Cavalier2000]

the main idea of a cap is when your sub pounds it will pull from teh cap before your battery, but you alt and battery has to keep the cap powered up, i dunno what he means about the digital display, I love mine

[my99cavy]

here is the thread I started in the audio section about you cap. so any other questions about it you might want to just ask them in there. http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbul...07#post4273907