Thread: Capacitors
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Old July 16th 03, 01:04 PM posted to rec.audio.car,uk.rec.audio.car
Sam Carleton
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Posts: 3
Default Capacitors

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 at 09:57 GMT, Kim Inglar wrote:

Why do you use a capacitor? what is it good for? And do you realy
have nead for it if you have large batteries?


Kim,

I am somewhat new to car audio and never used a capacitor myself.
But I do understand the intended purpose of the large caps hooked to
the power line. When the sub amp goes to hit a note really hard,
the amp is going to need a draw a good bit of current. The battery
and/or alterator might not be able to deliever such a large current
exactly when the amp wants it. The first thing that will happen is
the amp gets the power over other things in the car. The capacitor
stores a bunch of electricity. When the amp needs the extra current
to drive the sub it gets it from the capacitor. At a much slower
rate, the capacitor is recharged from either the battery or
alternator.

Do you need one? Don't know. But I do know that if you are driving
down the road listening to your system and the headlights dim each
time a bass note is hit real hard, then a capacitory might just be
the answer.

It is my understanding that you only need a second battery if you
intend to play your system a lot when the car isn't running. If you
are like me and only listen to the system while driving, the second
battery won't do you any good. If the alternator you have and a
capacitor isn't enough to keep your system going, which I think it
should, you will need a bigger alterator.

Sam

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