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I heard from another installer, that you can buy cheep generic capacitors from places like home depot, that work same as a proper cap ...is this true? anyone done it?
ecstasyracer
02-05-2003, 04:53 PM
I don't know about home depot, but there are few electronic supply stores that MAY carry something that large. All you need is a 1 pharad capacitor.
CanadaCivicSIR
02-05-2003, 06:49 PM
Most cap are similair, but you need one rated for DC Voltage and has surge of up to 20 volts.
I don't recommend buying generic caps, because you can buy a specific car audio cap for under $200 bucks.
The general rule of thumb for every 1000 watts your system is running to have a 1 farad cap.
THREE40SEVEN
02-05-2003, 07:04 PM
Originally posted by CanadaCivicSIR
Most cap are similair, but you need one rated for DC Voltage and has surge of up to 20 volts.
I don't recommend buying generic caps, because you can buy a specific car audio cap for under $200 bucks.
The general rule of thumb for every 1000 watts your system is running to have a 1 farad cap.
2 v12 amps and a zapco amp running off a quarter farad cap and a shitty 75 amp alternator does me fine.
But yeah, thats the rule..
hkcivic2k2
02-26-2003, 10:24 PM
Yeah, one of my buddies is running to 1/2 F industrial caps... bough em both for 50 of the bargain finder.
Running good so far
I'm running over 2000 watts and have only one of the amps on a 1 farad cap, stock alternator and I have no problems.
Integra Type R
02-26-2003, 11:05 PM
I have a 1000 watt amp, 1 farad cap and my cars lights blink like crazy from the bass drops!!
kaput
02-26-2003, 11:29 PM
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Originally posted by kaput
Make your own capacitor.
Oh yeah? how?
Madspinner
02-27-2003, 06:41 PM
I have one for sale if anyone wants one.
kaput
02-27-2003, 06:44 PM
.
Canadian 2.5RS
02-27-2003, 09:25 PM
Originally posted by Integra Type R
I have a 1000 watt amp, 1 farad cap and my cars lights blink like crazy from the bass drops!!
either you have a really bad alternator or your amp is pulling big current. is it a class D?
by the way, about 80% of caps are made by a single company and re-packaged and sold under different names.
hkcivic2k2
03-01-2003, 08:31 PM
didnt want to start up a new thread for this..
im having problems installin my cap.
when its connected. the amp lights up but i dont get any sound .. which give me the idea there is nto enough power coming through....
any thoughts/?
I remember making Capacitor in Physics 30, cept we used a vandergraph machine and a Garbage can lined with Tin foil, instead of the generic styrofoam cup. Charged her up for about 3 minutes and found some poor bastard in the hall, knocked him out for a good 20 seconds.
KoukiS14
03-01-2003, 08:50 PM
Originally posted by hkcivic2k2
didnt want to start up a new thread for this..
im having problems installin my cap.
when its connected. the amp lights up but i dont get any sound .. which give me the idea there is nto enough power coming through....
any thoughts/?
Did you charge it first??
Are your signal cables hooked up too? Stupid question but just checkin.
kaput
03-01-2003, 11:23 PM
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Originally posted by kaput
Ahh hahaha we once used the van de graff to charge up the lockers. We hooked it up and let it run for a few minutes charging them up all along the line, and then disconnected it and hid. Some poor shit got the shock of his life when he went to open his locker at the other end. :rofl:
HOLY FCUK!!! THATS HILARIOUS!!! We were in the middle of attempting that when we got busted by the Band teacher. Our physics teacher ended up bailing us out by saying it was a "Legitimate Scientfic Experiment"
hkcivic2k2
03-02-2003, 02:49 AM
Originally posted by NismoS14
Did you charge it first??
Are your signal cables hooked up too? Stupid question but just checkin.
yeah charged it up with a battery charger for about an hour... then i have my power wire running into the cap and then to the amp...'
is the setup ok?
tegdream
03-02-2003, 02:00 PM
no
jdmakkord
03-02-2003, 10:55 PM
Did you follow the instructions that came with the cap??? You dont need a battery charger to get it up and running. Charging the cap takes like 10-20 seconds at the most. Chances are that you may have fryed the cap, or its not hooked up right!!!
tegdream
03-02-2003, 11:10 PM
Originally posted by jdmakkord
Did you follow the instructions that came with the cap??? You dont need a battery charger to get it up and running. Charging the cap takes like 10-20 seconds at the most. Chances are that you may have fryed the cap, or its not hooked up right!!!
hahah hk u idiot
even if the cap wasn't hooked up right, or fried, his amp should still turn on as long as the power cable to the batt and to the amp are connected to the cap
jdmakkord
03-03-2003, 12:18 AM
If your cap isn't charged right, or fried, your amp wont get enough voltage to turn it on. All of that voltage will go and try to get the cap up to proper operating voltage. Hence no power.
and i suppose the fact that the power wires both touch each other directly wouldn't matter now would it?
jdmakkord
03-03-2003, 12:27 AM
the cap still draws all of the current trying to charge it up. 12V isn't much, and it will draw almost all of it, and try and charge it up. Just like an almost dead battery. Doesn't hold a charge, and keeps dying.
12v doesn't mean shit man.
theres a hundred different circuits in a car drawing 12v power.
it's all about amperage.
a cap will take only a couple of seconds to charge if it is not charged properly with a resistor albeit with mass sparking when connecting the terminals :) if it's not charged properly with a resistor/a charge card, you risk damaging the cap.
i'm willing to bet he did something a little more expensive than damaging his cap
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