Question about Caps?? READ THIS FIRST!
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Gold Member Username: Naledge503Http://www.LowDownForu... Post Number: 3247 Registered: Jun-06 | After studying a little history on large 1 Farad capacitors in car audio, you'd be amazed that they even sell at all. How useful are they? What do they really do? Will a Cap 'improve' my sound quality? Will it Prevent my lights from dimming? Will it audibly affect my audio system in any way? Before you get the truth to any of the above questions, chances are, you've probably spent $100 or more on one of these devices. However, let's study a little history regarding this issue. A long time ago, in a land far away, 2 elves...Ok, Richard Clark & Wayne Harris (Carsound magazine and the inventor of DB Drag, respectively) separately came up with a solution to preventing their lights from dimming. WHO WERE THESE GUYZ? As you may know, Richard Clark is one of the founders of autosound2000 Tech Briefs, Carsound magazine, and a published author of the industry of mobile electronics. In SQ competitions, he posted a record of 1234 1st place finishes, and only ended up NOT 1st in his first event. I've heard that he had minor system problems, but judging by his record, he must have corrected it. (evidently, he needed a Capacitor ) Wayne Harris was previously a leader at Rockford Fosgate in their development. Later, in his free time, he created the organization we call DB DRAG. Wayne was the first SQ World Champion from the organization we know as IASCA (International AutoSound Challenge Association). Both of these gurus are both legends, and considered the leading experts in the field. During their competition days, both guyz came up with a way to assist in the prevention of voltage drops. In SQ competitions, the look of your system is actually more important than the sound, and having your lights NOT dim under high playing levels is a competitive advantage. As you may know, amplifiers are made up a bank of little capacitors, resistors, etc. What has been common engineering knowledge is that capacitors store energy, and more or bigger ones assist in balancing the power supply. Wayne came up with the idea of putting several dozen 'little' (approx 100uF) capacitors on a circuit board to 'extend' the power supplies storage. At about the same time, or shortly afterward, Richard came up with the idea of one huge mondo capacitor (I believe it was 800,000uF or 0.8F) to do the job. Eventually, Richard won. The large cylindrical tubes won over the complicated 48 caps strapped to a circuit board. However, what did this really accomplish? Let's start here: WHAT IS A CAPACITOR? Basically, capacitors are an energy storage device. Large, 1 Farad or more capacitors store energy (electrons) between their plates. Capacitors differ from batteries because batteries store energy in the form of chemical energy--and rely on acid and lead plates, as the place of storage. For a more detailed description of a capacitor, go here: Phoenix Gold's marketing guru had just posted information on how their Powercore (basically the Alumapro CAP15 in a Phoenix shell) had both stabilized their voltage and improved the sound quality. Richard called him on it (all in another post) and the marketing geek was unable to quantify any of the conditions that resulted in the voltage being HELD at 14.2V and the 'improved' sound quality. Please do not read every stinking post as valid. There are a lot of people that have had the efficacy of capacitors inbred to their minds, and were not (and still not) convinced in the futility of a 1 Farad storage device. In a final note, Richard relayed a quote regarding battcaps ( www.battcap.net ) as, "..The audio industry is the only place i know of where you can publish specs that show your product is useless and still be able to sell them------and whats worse is that technically ignorant people will argue against the math!!!!!!!..............RC.." when referring to the product. This also relates to most digital readout capacitors, and I wish my Archie Bunker skills could have said it better myself Also check out Glasswolfs explanation. http://glasswolf.net/caraudio/capacitors.html |
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Platinum Member Username: WingmanaliveA pic is worth 1000 posts!! Post Number: 14114 Registered: Jun-06 | Good read. Now I think I'm going out to buy a cap.  Lol. Problem is that ppl will. |
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Gold Member Username: Naledge503Http://www.LowDownForu... Post Number: 3356 Registered: Jun-06 | bump for anyone with cap questions. |
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Gold Member Username: Naledge503Http://www.LowDownForu... Post Number: 3441 Registered: Jun-06 | ttt |
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Silver Member Username: SkaUSA Post Number: 739 Registered: Jan-08 | wow great research bro!!!! i was thinkin about getting a cap, but thank you VERY much |
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Gold Member Username: Naledge503Http://www.LowDownForu... Post Number: 3444 Registered: Jun-06 | OH SNAP! I thought that I had posted that I didnt write that. I didnt. I cant find the original article to give the author due credit. |
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Gold Member Username: Naledge503Portland, Or Post Number: 3621 Registered: Jun-06 | bump to the top after 2 months READ PEOPLE! |
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