Are all capacitors basically the same?

[Harryc8786]

I searche dthe forums and didnt find my answer. I talked to a guy @ a shop and i think he was just tying to sell me stinger and Planet audio caps. He said that like rockford and other companies selling caps arn't reliable. He said a guy came in his rockford cap shorted or soemthing and fried his whole system. Im not sure but i have seen cheap caps buy like audiobahn and lightining audio, i woudn't wana over spend but what that guy said makes me not wana jepordize ruining the rest of my system. Just wondering if i should believe him or go with somehting cheaper with same specs

[Ek9Max]

I heard caps are generlly made in the same factory and are labelled and sold.

I worked at soundsaround for 2 years, and that was teh inside "scoop" I heard.

[spike98]

NOPE sorry they aren't.

There are alot of companys that use caps made by the same company.

Since no cap is the same it depends on the QC for each different company.

The old saying goes. You get what you pay for.

For example:

Pheonix Gold

Streetwires

Pyramid

Lets say they all use the same manuf for caps. PG has the highest QC so not many of the caps would meet the standards. But the ones that do have better specs.

Streetwires gets the rest. The ones that make it they re-badge and sell. The ones that dont go on to pyramid.

Things you should look for in a cap are:

Capacitance- Measured in FARADS or f. Rule of thumb is you want 1f for ever 1000w of power you draw.

ESR - Equivalent Series Resistance - It represents the effective resistance resulting from the combination of
wiring, internal connections, plates, and electrolyte (in an electrolytic capacitor). Genrally an ESR value under 20 miliohms is good. Dont go above that or it wont to anything. It could cause a voltage drop defeating the purpose of adding one, thus waisting money.

Peak Voltage - Most are always 20v peak. Although your electrical system is 14.4v (or should be) there are very small voltage spikes. Genrally it isn't more than a volt or two but it doesn't hurt to have a high voltage cap.


Hope all that helps.

[Harryc8786]

Ok could you leme know if any of these sound good?

Kole cap.
24 Volts DC
Lowest E.S.R and less 5% capacity tolerance
Digital display
1.5 Farad $79.99


Rockwood USA
ED Voltage Display with Relay
1.5 Farad Capacitor
Operating Voltage 10V - 24V Max
Operating Temperature 95 C (200 F)
Platinum Finish
Mounting Brackets Included
Gold Plated Terminals
Capacitance Tolerance +/- 5% 84.99

I dont really like those ones

legacy
Capacitance -/+ 5%, 20-24 Volt Surge, 105°

Digital Voltmeter At Lighting To Monitor From Top Side

Red Status LED

Dia. 3.54" x H. 9.65"

Lowest E.S.R. (<0.0016 Ohm)

Strong Finishing For A Better Installation Result

Gold/Chrome Plated Post Kits

1 Pair Of Clear Brackets 56.00

or a Audiobahn
1 FARAD CAPACITOR
1 Farad Capacity
24 Volt Nominal - 30 Volt Surge
Chrome Plated Aluminum Mounting Brackets @ Hardware 70 bucks.

lol oh yeah im gona be running 2 700watt alpine mono class d's. @ 2ohms. Right now its just 1 and its @ 4 ohms but my lights almost neevr dim. Just the gauges inside do. Any opinions on these would be nice. sorry i didnt list the product numbers.

[Hash_man]

I have a Monster Cable cap, and it works awesome.

I heard there was an article put out a while ago which showed that many caps on the market were mostly filled with sand, and had a small amount of actual anything inside of them.

I am not sure if they still have any, but I got my cap from XS cargo, they for some reason had a bunch of them, and it was only about $80.

1 Pair Of Clear Brackets 56.00

Don't bother spending 56$ on brackets, they all come with brackets so just use those/.

[Chadxton]

Here's a good site for some insight on capacitors.

http://www.eatel.net/~amptech/elecdisc/capacitr.htm

Although QC may make a better capacitor, it's functionality will be the same regardless.

Still, I'd spend the time buffing up ground points and the major grounding wires as well as the alternator power wire before investing (throwing away) money on a cap.