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Which Power Capacitor should I buy??


SSThunder

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Here are a few brands of Power Capacitors I have to choose from. Please let me know what you think will be the best.

 

Cap Brands: Audiopipe, Boss, Power Acoustik, Sound Stream, Sound Storm, SPL or Tsunami?

 

I have a business so I can get these for a pretty good price. What brand/Farad would you suggest for a Kenwood Exceleron Amp pushing 600 watts RMS to 2 10" MTX SVC 8000 Series subs(400 watts RMS each) in a down-fire box(sealed but might be ported soon). :dunno:

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1 to 1.5 Farad will be fine in general terms. IMO, caps are only good for SQ (good at filtering out A/C ripple) and a hinderance for SPL. Caps discharge way too fast for an SPL set-up and actually add resistance to your power line no matter how much capacitance you have. Others will debate this.

 

Remember to charge your cap before flipping the power on to prevent damage to the cap as well as blowing fuses. I would suggest using a 50 Ohm 1/2 watt resistor in the + line until the cap shows 12 volts then let her rip! :cheers: Make sure to remove the resistor ;)

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Caps are mostly for show. If you are getting it for power reasons I suggest getting a bigger alternator.

My amp has volt protection(kick off when volts too low) and that's why I'm adding it. The stored power should help for when the low tones hit hard. Isn't that's what a cap is for? Surely I don't need to add a bigger alternator(amp is only pushing 360 watts rms).

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Caps do a nice job filtering out ripple, I would use it for that purpose and upgrade your battery.

 

 

Anyone know Alma Gates who was the world SPL champ for a few years. She had 75 1 farad caps around the bronco all appearing to be part of the system. They were never wired up....all for show. :sigh:

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Get a better battery and upgrade your "big 3" voltage wires.

 

That Kenwood amp is kicking off because you have no VOLTAGE in the back.  A cap isn't going to correct the problem.

 

Save you $ and buy a nice deep cycle battery.

 

 

I could not have said it better. a Cap should be the LAST thing you do. they do help but they are band aid for something that needs stiches, and as for porting them 2 subs under that seat. please send pics, cause honestly it aint gonna fit. not if it is built to the right size and specs, there just isnt that amount of room under there. at least 1.75 cubic feet per sub. not flaming just letting you know.

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My Cap does really well at keeping things in check, but an Optima Battery is a better thing to get instead of the Cap!!!!!

 

I also want to see this ported design under a seat. I have seen 8 inch subs ported under there but never a 10 or 12.

 

I spent all day putting a stereo into my brothers new SS. Ill get picks up asap for you all..

 

But back to your question, I added a 20 farad cap first, it helped, but the big help came with an optima battery,, then I went the next step and got a huge alternator, This is extream because I can pull over 200 amps of power at any given time but your first move should be the Battery, then the Cap.

 

To answer your question, The Tsunami caps are well done and have good wire connectoins on them!!

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Get a better battery and upgrade your "big 3" voltage wires.

 

That Kenwood amp is kicking off because you have no VOLTAGE in the back.  A cap isn't going to correct the problem.

 

Save you $ and buy a nice deep cycle battery.

 

 

I could not have said it better. a Cap should be the LAST thing you do. they do help but they are band aid for something that needs stiches, and as for porting them 2 subs under that seat. please send pics, cause honestly it aint gonna fit. not if it is built to the right size and specs, there just isnt that amount of room under there. at least 1.75 cubic feet per sub. not flaming just letting you know.

 

What's a good price on a Optima YellowTop PP880-BTY Battery? The guy I bought the box from said the box has 1.25-1.50 space per side. It's a full size box that hold 2 10" speakers and sits under the back seat. The subs call for a 3X16 port, which I would say isn't possible with this box. Could the box guy be way off on the space? I was thinking maybe he was meaning total space is like 1.25-1.5, but he said per side in an email reply today. I'll have to get some pics of the box. It's a nice box though. Amp only kicks off when the bass hits hard for awhile. So will a cap solve me problems for now? I hate to spend $160 for a battery when I can get a cap for $50. Oh yeah the MTX specs say a ported box with 1.25 space works best. Probably should have built my own box, just don't have time. Thanks for the input.

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So will a cap solve me problems for now? I hate to spend $160 for a battery when I can get a cap for $50. Oh yeah the MTX specs say a ported box with 1.25 space works best. Probably should have built my own box, just don't have time. Thanks for the input.

 

 

One more time.....NO... ;) A cap is for short bursts of power. Think ocasional kick drum, not constant bass.

 

I would hate to see you waste your money, just so we could say "I told you so" too. ;)

 

I have a box, that is prefab, and has just over 2.25 total cuft airspace. But to put any sub in half that space, and port it, will not sound great. It will be loud, but not play very low.

 

Take the box, put a single 12" ported in it, and knock out the center divider. Have someone custom port it for you based on your music preference. You will be much happier in the long run.

 

It's not about how many subs you have, but more about how you maximize your space and power.

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I'll pass on the cap and ported box for now. I might try to add some mdf to the inside of the box to reduce the air space. I should have just built my own box, but I just don't have the time. I'm trying to return my kenwood amp and see if they will let me buy a Class D sub amp instead. It's weird the way the amp will kick off, but my lights won't dim or flicker. I'm also planning on upgrading the big 3 wires. I guess I'll go with 0/1 awg. The battery/alternator upgrade will be my last option. I guess I never expected to get the system I did. I just wanted to add some nice bass. I even put in a toggle switch so I can turn if off if I want to(hidden inside the center console). Thanks for the advice. :cheers:

 

 

So will a cap solve me problems for now? I hate to spend $160 for a battery when I can get a cap for $50. Oh yeah the MTX specs say a ported box with 1.25 space works best. Probably should have built my own box, just don't have time. Thanks for the input.

 

 

One more time.....NO... ;) A cap is for short bursts of power. Think ocasional kick drum, not constant bass.

 

I would hate to see you waste your money, just so we could say "I told you so" too. ;)

 

I have a box, that is prefab, and has just over 2.25 total cuft airspace. But to put any sub in half that space, and port it, will not sound great. It will be loud, but not play very low.

 

Take the box, put a single 12" ported in it, and knock out the center divider. Have someone custom port it for you based on your music preference. You will be much happier in the long run.

 

It's not about how many subs you have, but more about how you maximize your space and power.

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Stuff your box with polyfill if it is sealed. The woofers will "see" about 10% more airspace effectively lowering the tuning of your enclosure a few Hz. (lower Qtc)

 

If you want to port your enclosure, it is possible, however getting the enclosure tuning down in the effective range of your subs will be a challenge.

 

If you are good with math, play around with the ported enclosure formula. Don't forget to subtract the woofer basket displacement out of your enclosure's net volume and remember...it is the interior volume not the exterior. Here is the formula:

 

 

.159{sqrt [Av(1.84x10^8 / Vb(Lv + 0.823 sqrt(Av))]} :puke:

 

 

Av is the cross sectional area of the port (in square inches)

Lv is the length of the port in inches

Vb is the enclosures net volume in cubic inches

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I agree with m396; stick with the basics - "right size" your charging system. If you are going to spend the money, first get the correct size alternator for your choice of components, and the best auxilary battery you can afford, and the correct primary cabling. If you want the horses, you have to feed them the hay, so to say...

 

Your Kenwood is simply pulling much more juice than the alternator can supply. The switch to a Class D amp will help in that regard (requires much less power). On my bone-stock SS the headlamps flicker listening to just the Bose, so I am sure the stock alternator is not up to the job of powering an aftermarket system.

 

A capacitor or battery just smooths out the power draw a bit, that's all. Low frequency systems will typically not draw much power until the instant that the beat hits, then the power draw is a killer. With clean signal it is not uncommon for power demands to jump 100-fold, and on SQ installs where the noise floor is much-much lower this jump can be anywhere from 100 to 1000-fold or more.

 

What this means for your alternator is that during musical lows it does not have to work very hard, but then during peak times (bass beat) it is WAY overtaxed and trying to fry itself, but only for a split-second - this is why you do not blow a fuse, it happens too fast. As for the amp, bottom line is that you will see a voltage drop during that split-second peak resulting in momentary transistor overheating; after enough cycles of this the protection circuit trips. Your alternator has no such failsafe, btw, and this is the most popular way to kill one.

 

As a band-aid, you can install capacitors (or upgraded batteries) to help with the situation as these "power resevoirs" do help when demand outstrips the charging system, but the alternator will work harder overall because it has to recharge these resevoirs; plus the more stuff you have in your system, the more resistance and expense.

 

Mr. P. :)

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