I'm still not understanding why exactly a cap is a total waste it just seems like it does what its made to do...put less strain on your bat and feed a consistent source of power for your amps and close to them making it much more efficient.. does it just not work like its supposed to? I'm curious because i have 2 amps and 4 12's im not using a TON of power thought it seems as my headlights barly even dim but i am not using a power wire that is thick enough to feed the charge i believe is needed..it seems like when i first turn my radio on after getting in the first few hits of base are much harder than the rest of the song and i would gather to guess its a power thing.. it seems like a cap would be what i need as an easy (cheaper) fix or at least so i dont have to run a new power wire..thats the kind of thing i just get annoyed by lol.. Just curious
Caps are Crap. That is all. Why would you buy a cap instead of upgrading the power wire to a bigger gauge? Wire is cheaper.
Did you know that every amp made has a bank of capacitors to help maintain an even power supply? If caps were crap, amp manufactures would not put alot of them in there amps. But we also need to remember that a cap is not a substitute for a properly installed system. For example, if your amp needs a four gauge wire, a cap and an eight gauge is not gonna work. A cap can solve minor problems. The key word here is minor.
Caps serve many purposes in the electronics field. I think What ranger was trying to explain to you is that amps have caps in them. The amps are designed with caps in the power supply and the output section. Those capacitors store and release energy at a rate which is suitible for the amp to perform as it should. The addition of an external cap to the power wire is NOT a band-aide for an improperly designed system. Additionally, the investment of your hard earned money should go to suitible power wire...this will yield better results than a cap by far. Go read the sticky on caps...
I dont need any explaining. I know how amps work. I know what components are in amps....got a book all about it. Like I said earlier, better to get the proper power wire instead of a cap. (And no im not acting like I know it all)
well i didnt know that amps had some built in which is nice. but i agree i need to upgrade my power supply but i feel im torturing my bat and alt just trying to find a cheap way to resolve this.
And I agree with you 100%. There is no substitute for a properly installed system. A cap should not be used as a fix for a badly installed system. I use caps, my Mercury has a small amp, 200-watts RMS, it has a four gauge wire run to the circuit breaker. About a foot and a half is 8 gauge from there to the amp. This small amp would have been fine with 8-gauge all the way. No power problem here and yet I still choose to use a cap. The cap has its purpose.
I've used caps before and they have worked in my situation of dimming headlights, although i am only running 360watts rms. Like said before they are good for smaller systems and minor problems but yeah i think youd be better off upgrading the wire first and then the cap.
thanks. and yeah i would like to but even then wouldnt it just make my headlight situation worse? i mean wouldnt i be drawing even more power? i mean i dont know if my system would need a separate battery though i mean with my amps togetther are only like 8-900 rms (not nearly enough for my speakers just in no hurry to upgrade amps as well my car is way too loud as it is hurts my ears)
No, the capacitor does not draw more power, it will not make your situation worse. But it also may not be a fix. If your headlights are dimming, I would check your amp install first. Do you have the right size power wire going to your amp? Has the ground wire from the battery to the chassis ground been upgraded? In other words the Big 3.
