Why You Can't Do Without A Car Audio Capacitor
Posted: Wednesday, September 21, 2005
by Mantius Cazaubon
I've heard the question asked many times before, 'Do I really need a capacitor?' Before answering that question I ask, 'Do you have a high powered system?' 'Does it require sudden power bursts?' 'Is your amplifier being robbed of power?' If the answers to my questions are yes, make every effort to connect a capacitor to your car audio system. A capacitor is a bit similar to your car battery it stores electrical energy. But unlike a battery it doesn't produce its own power, it simply stores it. A car audio capacitor will help you get the most from your amplifier. It will store power for release on demand, delivering it to your amplifier just when it's needed. Your car amplifier requires a lot of power to play loud music, especially when there's lots of heavy bass. Without a capacitor your amplifier will be robbed of power by parts like your lights, engine, and air conditioner. So what happens when your car audio amplifier doesn't receive enough power? A common occurrence is dimming lights. In such a situation the light will follow the beat of the music. The light will dim each time a heavy bass note sounds. If you were to turn off the lights, your car stereo system would suddenly sound louder and the music would be cleaner. Your amplifier is simply trying to use more energy than the electrical system can supply. If a capacitor had been present there would have been enough energy to power your amp. That electrical energy would have already been stored. When you want to reduce headlight dimming, improve bass response, and increase the power of your amp, a stiffening capacitor is a must. Equipped with capacitor and an adequate power supply, your system will get every bit of current it needs. Voltage drops will be a thing of the past. With so many brands available online, it's easy to find a capacitor that meets your needs. You can choose from popular brands like Phoenix-Digital, Blitz-Audio, Kole-Audio, Pyramid, SoundStorm, Lanzar, Power-Acoustik, Pyle, Legacy, Nitro-BMW, SPL, and Volfenhag. No longer will your car amplifier be hungry for power.
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Top-level comments on this article: (5 total)I find this analysis to be rediculous. A 1-farad cap stores 1 amp of power for one second. A large system draws 100+amps per second. Upgrade your alternator, and then your battery. Capacitors are useless bandaids rather than complete fixes. Good dayActually Geoff, if you would've read your theory correctly, you'd know that a 1 farad cap, TAKES 1 amp current over one second to augment it's voltage by 1 volt. and 1 amp a second compared to just about any electric accessory in the car is very small as far as draining goes. So let's do a little math here shall we. When we have the alternator running, the voltage in the car is more or less 14v, so that means that a fully charged 1 farad cap will have 14 amps of juice available when fully charged. Let's take a 1000w amp to see how much power it need at it's very peak output (which will never last more than a few miliseconds, as peak wattage values are not the true all the time consumption for amps). 1000W/14V=71 amps at peak. Now most car alternators nowadays give about 90 amps of output, add the potential 14 amps that the cap stores, which means we have a potential of around 104 amps. So even without the cap so far, it still doesnt draw enough current to cause voltage drops in the system on its own. Even more so when u consider that the RMS value (the real all the time working numbers) is usually more or less half the peak wattage, so also half the amperage needs. So that 1000W peak amp actually needs 35.5 amps in continuous use at full volume, and will only need that much current when the amp blurts out massive bass. And usually the bass takes at least a few milliseconds of breaks inbetween the bursts, not to mention that speakers push and pull to create sound, so when the speaker is it's neutral position between pushing and pulling, it requires no juice, therefore giving a few more milliseconds of rest to the system. Remember that equation at the start?? 1 amp for 1 second to raise 1 volt in the cap ?? Well the battery can give out a few hundred amps, and the alternator as i said has a potential of about 90 amps, and those caps are built to be able to accept more than just 1 amp a second, so take one second and divide it by how many amps you got available in your car and that's pretty much how long it will take the cap to charge. And considering the fact that usually in most cases, when your lights are dimming you're just missing around about 2 amps of juice more or less due to all the electric stuff running in the car, then the 14 amps that are in the cap will do the job more than enough, and will cost a whole lot less than another battery or another alternator and also requires alot less work. So i wouldn't say that caps are a useless bandaid, and if i were you, i'd put that bandaid on my mouth to keep it from blurting out nonsense, cause if your amp draws 100+amps a second, you'd blow the alternator pretty fast and the engine would die cause it would have absolutely no juice available, and the battery would be dead in about 30 seconds. Even most car starters nowadays don't even come close to 100 amps drain in the winter when it's freezing...
I love how, for starters, he lists off mostly bottom of the barrel car audio companies. Just like Geoff said, if your lights are dimming, you're drawing too much current. Do the Big 3 upgrade, upgrade your battery to a sealed deep cycle battery, an
How many fareds would I neeed for a 4000 watt amp pushing 2 12" 3200 watt subs
actually his analysis is right on the money. a battery and alternator were not designed for such power demands, but the capacitors take the strain off the battery and the alternator, because it takes only a millisecond to recharge it, so when it expends what's stored in the capacitor, the instant it drains, it's already recharged. if the capacitor is in between the battery and the amplifier, then you won't have any problems with drawing too much current off your battery and alternator ever again.
-_- ..think about it... Your lights dim because you amps are drawing power from the battery and the lights are getting less current. We are told If we put in a capacitor then it will have stored that power already and provide it to the amps "on demand"... but ... what happens when the cap discharges I wonder? OH that's right in mere milliseconds it recharges itself from..wait for it ... The BATTERY!!! Your lights will still dim. best answer? get over it... how many times do you have to replace light bulbs whose lives were cut short by voltage fluctutations before you justify 200 duckets for a useless hunk of tin to bolt to the side of your box... You'll probably get a new car before then...You need to understand that a capacitor draws at a lower voltage and then discharges high voltages for surges. Since music pulses so does the power demand on a amp. There is no need to upgade battery and alternator just to cover the top of a spike.Actually, usually when you're listening to your sound system, the car is running and you're rolling around, so the cap will recharge itself from... wait for it... THE ALTERNATOR... And no, the lights will not dim when it recharges, since a cap has no real resistance, thus, requiring a very small amount of wattage, compared to the amp which consumes a few hundred or a few thousand watts... And by the way, what do you have in most car alternators to help the battery out with power spikes and drops... wait for it... a CAPACITOR!! So you're saying that all car manufacturers are idiots and use capacitors for the exact purpose we are looking for here just to screw us over and make money... WOW!! People should really learn to keep their mouth shut when they have no clue what they are talking about...
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