I was wondering what you guys think about capacitors is this a waste of moneyh or do they really work??? I want to improve my voltage but i dont wanna upgrade the alternator , maybe extra batt but if caps will work why not???

 

capacitators only stabilize voltage by providing a high initial spark transfer if needed. If your system is not outputting enough juice, they will do nothing, they are not batteries.

 

99% of the time they're used it's for the wrong reason. Go check out CarAudioForum and do a few searches on caps.

 

how many watts is your system? adding an extra battery or capacitor adds extra stress to your alternator. think of your alternator as an amplifier. think of the battery or cap as a speaker. when you add an extra battery or capacitor, you are putting them in parallel with the rest of the electrical system. just like when you add subs to an amp in parallel, it reduces the impedance (resistance that the amp sees) in the system, making the amp work harder, increasing the power output. increasing the power output puts additional stress on the system. try other things first before adding a cap or battery. run your amp ground all the way back to the battery. upgrade the grounds around the engine bay. on my stock bose system, i noticed a vast improvement with my system, just by upgrading the engine grounds.

 

um crap. does that mean i bought a cap for nothing?

im running 2 10w6v2 and 2 500/1 amps all JL AUDIO... just bought a 8.0 fraud KOLE cap..... please tell me i didnt just waste 125 bucks.......

 

did you measure the volume on your enclosure's for those subs?
thats a great setup you have any pixs of the amp mounted or you finished the sub boxes

 

I believe capacitors are worth it but you probably wont need one unless you're running 1000watts rms+ in my opinion. It can save your amp from frying if the voltage drops too low! Car Audio Industry recommends is 1farad per 1000watts rms.

 

if the voltage drops, the capacitor is only going to charge to the available voltage in your system. when the voltage in the cap reaches the voltage of your system, voltage stops flowing through your cap.

when you purchase a basic cap, it usually comes with a resistor or light bulb for the purpose of charging the cap. when you hook up the cap, you connect the 12 volt side, then you touch one lead of the bulb (or resistor, but the bulb is better) to the negative on the cap, and the other lead to your ground wire. as the cap charges, the light bulb will slowly dim, showing that voltage is dropping across the bulb. once the cap is fully charged, the bulb will be out, meaning that the voltage in the cap and the voltage in your system has equalized.

 

not necessarily benny, i cap can help with keeping the voltage stabilized in your audio system, but i always recommend other options first, such as making sure you have a really good ground (ie, run all the way back to the battery), upgrade the alternator (really the correct and first addition you should make, after making sure the ground is good)

 

kel, i saw pics of your setup in another thread, very nice. did you do that all yourself?

 

kel did do it himself, hes quiet talented and looks like he will be progressing very well with his builds...

if this is to me, yes i did a rought estimate of my boxes should be close to .75-.8 cubic feet as JL required

ill get pics up tomorrow since my computer is gay and requires me to restart it everytime..
one box just needs to be clear coated, washed and for me to screw in the terminal then its done...

amp mounted... well i was gonna have a shop do it then i though i'd give it a try first lol so whole system is on delay... planning on working on it tomorrow.. ill update with progress

ps thanks a lot lurch for all your help, what would be a good recomandation for an upgraded altinator? est cost?

 

yes sir thankyou for the compliment
coming from someone that posts great audio information here makes me feel great.
lurch what is a good alternator upgrade, I have also seen 2 alternators installed ?
as of now I have no dimming and no amp power problems but curious to see what options we have if I ever go even louder or require more power.

 

a good one would be an ohio generator alternator. http://www.ohiogen.com/

they can get quite pricey, up to about 750 for an alternator. i do not know what one for the 8 would cost, as they do not list prices on their website.

i would recommend upgrading the engine grounds first. i custom built mine in about 2 hours of work and less than 100 in parts, and it has more ground points than is included in this kit

https://www.rx8club.com/series-i-do-yourself-forum-73/diy-lineage-grounding-wire-install-34997/

i also ran a ground from the point under the air pump up to the intake manifold, and from there over to the alternator. also instead of running 2 grounds to the battery, i ran the 2 to the ground point ground just below the battery, then up to the battery itself. then i also ran one from one fender to the other under the cowl, and added one last short (when i say short, there was no insulation on the wire) connection on the passenger fender.

noticed vast improvement in the stock bose system. also, i am not sure if its from the aem, or the ground wires, but my tailpipes seem to be staying much cleaner. i can actually still see chrome even after 3 days of driving the car :D

 

see reply to benny on the alternator ?

on big trucks, i have seen kits for up to 3 alternators for the aftermarket. i have seen 2 alternators on some fords, right from the factory. i know of a honda civic (either 91 or 92 body style) that had twenty 10" mtx subs, 10 mtx amps, that had 4 alternators installed. one in the stock position, on mounted on the frame, and 2 sticking up through the hood, just so they would have enough juice when they went through the spl lanes, and they had to spray a 75 shot of nitrous when they burbed (cranked it up to involuntary bowel movement levels) the system in the lanes just to keep the engine running, or else the engine would stall from the load.

 

wow funny thing is I might of seen this civic hatch at a car show even in raceway park a few years ago
it had all plexi windows and shut tight so no air can ever escape.

 

yup, red civic hatch. was at one of our car shows a few years back. cant say it was as loud as the ppi bronco which was at our shop back in 97 or 98, that was a beast.

 

Which for $125.00, I would take back and spend on upgraded wiring. You should be using 0 gauge power and ground in that car for your system.

 

I currently have about a 1000 Watt system in my car and neither a capacitor, new battery*, or alternator was needed.

I have a JL e6450 and a JL 300/2 - each having a seperate 6 gauge power line to the stock battery.

At very high volume I have no apparent voltage drop. I can tell this by watching my high beams (not the xenon low-beams) during heavy bass passages. the light don't visibly dim so I know I have a solid voltage going to my amps. (A quick response voltmeter or oscilloscope would be a more robust test)

In the case of the RX-8, if you own an '04 manual transmission vehicle, I would consider upgrading the battery before anything; it is unbelievably wimpy (*I have not done this yet but plan to)

Other versions of the RX-8 have nicer batteries. So with those vehicles, if your high-beams headlights do dim on bass notes, then I would go the capacitor route. A 1 Farad should be plenty for every 1000 Watts. If your system is over 2000 Watts and you jam heavy and often then I would change out everything from the alternator, battery and add caps. (with the super big system you also have to pray you don't get other electrical problems and you should probably wear earplugs at all times)

Good luck. A capacitor can be helpful but is often a band-aid that covers up some other deficiency in your install. A medium power system (<1000 Watts) that has good wiring and quality amplifiers shouldn't need a capacitor.

-Mr. Wigggles

 

Capacitors are worth it--I have a .5 farad cap for my modest system--I ran a similar setup my Millenia S without a cap--not good--lights dimming, battery falling dead--they are so cheap why not.

 

If you have some mild light dimming when the bass hits, a capacitor should help alleviate that. If your electrical system is just plain underpar it won't fix that. A battery acts like a cap too, so upgrading your battery will have the same effect as far as the car sees. Generally a cap can help your audio system sound better, but in your case since you said you have jlaudio amps, they have regulated power supplies so a cap will do nothing to help them sound better. All it will do is help stop the light dimming.

 

Some high power amps benefit, if you see your lights dim while your music hits lows it will benefit you, otherwise it's a waste of money. allot of the better amps have caps built into them, of course they aren't as big as dedicated cap.

 

a battery acts like a cap, only insofar as they both store electrical energy. a battery can store large amounts of energy in a chemical form, and is somewhat slow to discharge. thats why, when your bass hits and you dont have enough current coming off of your alternator, your lights dim, because it takes time for the battery to convert its chemical energy to electrical energy.

a cap, on the other hand, stores the electrical energy as a charge, and can only store a limited amount of energy. but the cap can discharge this energy very quickly, as it is already in electrical form.

this is why a cap can "help" when your lights dim, but when the cap runs out of juice, the battery has to take over anyway. then you still have dimming lights.

again, the correct thing to do is make sure you have as good a ground as possible. next should be to upgrade the alternator.

that is all