What kind of capacitor?

Question

I am going to have a MTX Thunder 942 and a MTX 9500. I want to know what is a good and cheap priced capacitor I can get for this.

Answer 1

Buying some 1/0 or 2 gauge wire and doing a "big 3" upgrade and a high output alternator would be a better investment. (Big 3 are the cables from, Alternator to Battery, Battery to Chassis, and Engine to Chassis.) Keep in mind that anything you add to the system, even a cap, will put more of a strain on your charging system.

Answer 2

Tsunami makes caps at a reasonable price that are still decent quality. Like the above poster said a good rule of thumb is 1 farad per 1000 watts. A cap is a decent addition to a cars system and can save a lot of strain on your cars charging system. If you are installing yourself make sure the cap is charged properly when installing it. When you install it remove the positive feed from the battery. install the cap and make sure it has a good ground. Now take a test light and put it in between the battery and the positive feed. The test light will light up and slowly start dimming. When it gets really dim or goes out all together (should be about 15 min or so tops) then the cap is charged and you can put the positive feed back on the battery.

Answer 3

You shouldnt get a cheap cap. You should go with the same set up you have which is MTX and for every 1000 watts you need at least 1 farad... Dont go cheap cause youll end up losing more and more when you should've just bought quality first...

Answer 4

You don't need a cap. Caps are really a waste of money for most people.

Do yourself a favor and invest that money in something else.

Good Luck!!!

Edit: Some more info on caps....

A cap will only help if you already have a sufficient charging system. If you have headlight dimming issues then there is three possibilities to fix it: upgraded alternator, big 3 upgrade (http://www.the12volt.com/installbay/foru... or upgrade to a deep cycle battery. You would also need to make sure you have a thick enough gauge wire running to your amp.

A cap will not prevent headlight dimming or any other power issues. A cap just stores energy. If the cap does not have enough energy to store, from an inediquite charging system, then it will do you no good. Your headlights will continue to dim, although they may dim at a different time which is sometimes why people think caps are working.

IMO spend your money on something else. There are SO many better things to spend your money on then a cap.

m k, caps will not take 15 min to charge. They take a significantly shorter time then that.  Also, you cannot charge a cap without the positive lead on the battery.  When charging a cap you are putting a load (i.e. the test light or resistor) in series with the cap.  When the cap fully charges the test light will get dim.  Then you simply take the load (test light/resistor) out of the circuit.  What you are doing is equilizing the voltage from the power wire (around 12 volts) to the cap which starts at 0 volts but goes to around 12 volts when it is fully charged.

Jmann is right, there are better ways to spend your money other then a cap.