Cap Reads Lo/ 8.8 - New Issue With Year Old System

 

New member
Username: Khaedink

Post Number: 1
Registered: May-11
Hifonics HFi2500D

2 x Kicker 08S15L74 Solo-Baric L7 15-Inch 380mm 4-Ohm DVC Subwoofer

1.5 Farad Raptor Capacitor


I've had this system installed since September of '10. Worked like a dream up until recently. Switching from Aux Input to USB Input caused the amp to go into protect mode. Turn off the radio and turn it back on and it worked fine. A few weeks later running through the USB the subs stop kicking and the capacitor readout says Lo. I turn it off and back on again and it worked fine. Next day the subs do not kick at all however the amp still powers on. While watching the light on the box mounted on my dash it goes red (protect mode) back to green (power mode) just when turned on, then stays green. The capacitor now reads around 8.8 with the system turned on. Turn the system off and the capacitor goes back up to around 14.5 very very slowly instead of instantaneously like it used to until the readout shuts off. Due to lack of funds and time I just didn't run the system at all for about two weeks. Randomly turning it on just to see if it decided to work again. Occasionally it would work great for about 5 minutes then the readout registers 8.8 and the subs stop kicking. The power is 0 ga running from the battery to the cap with a 250A fuse. Then from the cap to the amp with I believe a 4 ga. The ground wire from the cap to the frame is a 0 ga and a 4 ga to the amp. I checked the ground and it seemed tight and free of corrosion. The power wire was 12 kinds of corroded around the battery terminal. Just replaced the battery as well as the connectors on both terminals. The capacitor now just reads 8.8 regardless of if the system is on or not. Could the cap be bad or is this potentially a more expensive problem such as the amp going bad? I've had this system installed for nearly a year and not had any problems with it up until the end of April. This is all installed in an '03 Ford Ranger v6 4.0. Would greatly appreciate some help and preferably some good news (cheap fix). Will gladly supply additional information where possible. I'm slightly new at this kind of thing. Thank you.
 

Silver Member
Username: Kaerfpl

Spencerport, NY USA

Post Number: 960
Registered: Jun-06
I can't say I know a whole lot about caps since I choose not to use them, but from what it sounds like could be one of few things:

1. In all reality, caps are just batteries. Over time, batteries do tend to loose the amount of voltage they can hold. Because of this, caps do have to be recharged from time to time. If you do not know how to do this, I'm sure you can easily find a youtube video on how.

2. Also, anytime new electronic components are added into a vehicle, you are putting more stress on your alternator. It could be possible that your alternator is unable to keep up anymore, and may be dying.
 

New member
Username: Khaedink

Post Number: 2
Registered: May-11
I ended up breaking down and just taking it to an audio shop. The ground connection was severely corroded due to salt on the roads from the winter. The guys that originally installed the system grounded it directly to the frame instead of inside the cab and did not put any kind of protectant on it. When I checked the ground it didn't seem that bad to me but I'm no expert. The ground wire corroding ended up causing the capacitor to break. Luckily it ended up being a fairly cheap fix to replace the ground and buy a new cap. I am back to shaking houses again. I greatly appreciate your input. Take care.
« Previous Thread Next Thread »



Main Forums

Today's Posts

Forum Help

Follow Us