Power Cap

  • Thread starter Thread starter Oz.
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Oz.

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Have you guys bothered with one of these or not? I've had it in till yesterday, but my audio guy reckons that the alternator is beefy enough to cope without. I'm running a Genesis Profile Sub amp at 600W RMS.

Cheers
 
Power Cap.

I used to run a 1.0 Farad Power cap.
In my opinion,it didn't seem to do anything which made me go wow,i'm glad i spent 80 quid on that :( .
I know they store power and release it when your using a lot of battery power like turning up your stereo.
I am running a very loud stereo with 2000 watts of amps and am very happy with the sound withoud a cap.
I don't think you'll need one unless your running some serious deafening power :D They look good though :D

Heres the one I bought when they first came out,sold it a couple months ago.
8706.jpg
 
the easiest way to find out if you need a power cap is.... at night.
turn on your headlights, then crank up your sound system.
if your headlights dim down with the bass notes, start your your engine and see what happens. if they still dip then you will wanna think about installing a power cap, if you don`t then there is a good chance of burning out the diodes in your alternater.

i`m sure NAYLOR GTI will give a more in depth guide than this, but this is a quick guide going on my past experiences.
 
IMO they're a waste of cash, I bought one after running a gensis profile sub amp at 2ohms aswell as running a profile 4 bridged, it sucked serious power, and the lights dimmed, with a 1.5 power cap, they still dimmed, a power cap is only another battery, you've got to charge that cap every time the bass drops and sucks the juice out of your car battery,
cap full + bass drop= voltage drop in cap = charge it up again
they're only really worth it if you do spl comps, and can get a better 'burp' with one

just get a better battery, although caps do look nice and I liked the voltage meter I had on top, not really worth the cash for that though
 
boghopper said:
the easiest way to find out if you need a power cap is.... at night.
turn on your headlights, then crank up your sound system.
if your headlights dim down with the bass notes, start your your engine and see what happens. if they still dip then you will wanna think about installing a power cap, if you don`t then there is a good chance of burning out the diodes in your alternater.
Click to expand...

wrong wrong wrong.. (sorry not having a dig)

A power cap is next to useless in a street system and they actualy ADD more stress onto the electrical system resulting in LESS SPL/SQ

They basicaly act as a small battery - VERY small but also quite quick. The idea is to suppy the power for a bass note quickly which the battery cant supply. However this "battery" effect has a draw back - it has to charge itself back up once its drained resulting in an overall drop in voltage which is bad...

In a comp system - systems can be played at full what for a second or so. This still requires a *lot* of caps to be able to gain any decent use out of them. The caps do need to re-charge but a well designed system, this wont cause a problem as they will have done their job.

The best thing you can do in a street car is to:

1. Ensure your battery is in tip top condition
2. You earth has been replaced with a half decent earth strap from engine/chassis to battery
3. Ensure you have a good earth mount from amp to chassis - idealy scratch off the paint from under the mount point
4. Upgrade the cable between the alt and positive on battery
5. Ensure your power cable is able to carry the current to the amps... idealy you want it over spec
 
when i owned my toyota corolla, i done my alternator 3 times in about 12 months or so. the last time that i done it, i was told to install a cap to stop the diodes burning out. i did this and it didn`t burn again for the next 3 years of owning it,
so really just talking from my own experiences.
 
i think thats just a coincidence mixed with some bad advise from somebody who clearly does not understand how they work

my sound system, when i had it in, could draw up to 100amps on full whack... that has been in my SRi for the past, oo - 7 months and i reguarly abused it (untill i stripped it all out lol)
 
I am thinking of getting one (for this new car i got) proboly worth it do not want the Battery or the altenator to be going.
 
Darren198712 said:
I am thinking of getting one (for this new car i got) proboly worth it do not want the Battery or the altenator to be going.
Click to expand...


**smacks head** :roll:

it will put MORE stress on the electical system.

geez - i have a 150dB system with no pwoer cap, standard battery and standard alt - i offten abuse my system and have no problems what so ever wither either

also read the above and do a search for power caps on www.talkaudio.com - this will back up my comments :)
 
Er, was only joking really.

It's a Fusion 1.5 Farad brushed aluminium cap with digital volt display. I paid £140 for it and have barely used it - how does £70+P&P sound?
 
lol no worries i will have to save up i am spending too much money on other stuff lol may be after xmas :) i am still doing my installs in my car atm
 
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