(Sparky plz state you answer too) CAPS DO THEY WORK???

Question

OK so in your personal opin, what do CAPS do for your audio system? I know the answer but I gotta prove this guy SOUNDFREQ wrong (THATS RIGHT I'M PUTTING YOU ON BLAST). Now why would you use a CAP in your audio system? Please state you answer and give details on why you think that you should use one. Also can someone please tell this guy what powers EVERYTHING electrical in your car once it is started!!! Please provide specific explanations i.e. "It will help control your voltage drops". Sorry to drag yall into this but some people gotta learn.

Answer 1

yea man caps work there just one downside to caps though. Its a battery and also has to be charged. this make more stress on your alternator because not only does it have to charge you car battery but also the cap. yes a cap stores energy until it is release but so does a car battery. i  mean i aint telling you not to get a cap, but soundstream came out with this new product it is called a cap/cell its a battery but a cap also try looking into get one these.

Answer 2

caps do work....for what they are intended for....if you understand their limitations....like rick said.

however, i am a firm believe that batteries work better....a battery is aprox 100,000farad of constant power....why get a cap that would only supply 1 or 2 farad periodically?

check out http://www.caraudio.com/forum and do a search.

Answer 3

RICK  is correct on this one.

also it is a lot faster for the power to travel from the cap to the amplifier, the battery is far away  

but a cap is not a battery that is going to give extra volts

Answer 4

Capacitors have two major features that make them useful in car audio systems:

1.  Unlike a battery, they can store a charge up to the alternator's output of 14.4 volts.  A battery can't store a charge higher than about 12.8 volts.

2.  A capacitor has a very low internal resistance compared to a battery, so it can (very briefly) deliver high current without losing voltage to internal resistance.  

When the vehicle is running, the alternator is the primary source of power.  An alternator produces higher voltage than a battery, but doesn't have as much current capacity.  Alternators aren't designed for the kind of load a high-powered audio system presents; unlike other vehicle electrical systems, an audio amplifier often needs quick, short bursts of high current.  Alternators can't react quickly enough to provide transient current demands, and as a result the supply voltage might drop briefly.  This can cause the amp to clip and distort on musical peaks.  If there's a capacitor in the system, the current demand can be supplied by the capacitor instead of the alternator.  It doesn't reduce the overall load on the alternator, because the capacitor then has to be recharged; but it can keep the voltage stable enough to reduce the distortion on musical peaks.

Even a large capacitor can only store a relatively small amount of energy.  It can't maintain the voltage for more than a very short burst.  Capacitors are useless for long bass passages that overload the alternator's maximum current capacity.  They're also of little value when the engine isn't running.

A capacitor won't extend the life of an alternator if it's consistently overloaded by the audio system.  It won't make the bass significantly louder in a subwoofer system.  But it can help improve a system's sound quality in some cases.

P.S.  The distance between the battery and amplifier isn't really a timing issue in the way Conjote is saying; power flow through a wire is just about instantaneous.  However, if high current is flowing through a wire, there will be a voltage drop because of the resistance in the wire.  Longer wire has more resistance and causes a greater voltage drop.  Capacitors are located close to the amplifiers to minimize the losses through the wire between the two.

Answer 5

lol,

here i'll explain it in the most laymen term i can.

amps draw current from your car's electrical system.  (the heart of the system being the battery).  it draws it's amps from the battery and increases as amps hit their peak.  the problem is the battery most of the times can't handle the load requirements the amp needs....

one of the reasons why in some vehicles when the bass hits, the lights dim in and outside the vehicle.  vehicle batteries are rated at 12 volts but amps are measured upon ratings of 14.4 volts. guess what, a battery can't do that when the car is not running.

What the capacitor does is act like a mini battery.  it stores enough power so when the amp requires more juice to peak, it draws it from the stored energy from the capacitor instead of from the battery.  that prevents excessive draws from the battery.  your lights stop dimming and the amp gets the power it needs.

hope that helps.

Answer 6

Mario,

    Do caps work? yes.. but not like most people think. the reason i believe so many people feel a cap will solve a voltage issue is because they go to a best buy or cc, and they tell them they need a cap, that's because they do not sell alternators. See alternators are the only thing that produces electricity in a car electrical system everything else including a cap only stores what the alternator has created. yea a cap does work if you want a cleaner power source, but if your looking for more power, a alternator is the only right answer.

and as you know that is exactly what sparky will say, in fact he'll tell you that a cap actually adds to the load a alternator must provide, actually making matters worse.