Capacitor?

Alright, so, is there anyone out there that uses a cap?

Out of all the audio thnigs I have learned i still cant figure it out!

My problem is, I took the cap off the capacitor to look at the circuit board and whatnot. Now, I don't remember what way it went back on. The cap will go on both ways, and the cap has a +, - on it which tell you which way it gets hooked up! I have tried to ask the person I bought it from, but I'm not important I guess.

In the description it says it has Polarity protection. I have tried to look this up and see what it means. Does anyoen know?

I tried to take it to Car Toys once to see if they could find out the polairty on it for me, but no good.

I want to use my cap, but if I screw up the polairty, the cap is toast!

Caps play a VERY small part with sound. I ran one, and it did NOTHING but tell me voltage.


Positive to the battery + and amp +.

Negative...just ground it.

Do the "Big 3" upgrade?
1. 4g wire from alt + to Batt. +
2. 4g wire from Batt. - to engine block.
3. 4g wire from Batt. - to body.

And YES, this works like you just got a better alt and battery. Cleans the signal and all that. The 4g can be larger, but I wouldnt go smaller.

Actually, I have a HO alt. that puts out 210 amps at high rpm. 170 at about idle.

I have a BIG 3 upgrade and wrote the techie on it here! Which is in 0ga.!

Even with this and my optima yellowtop, my lights still freakin' dim on big beats. Last night, I was commuting home I could notice that it dims alot on hard beats.

I have a 4farad cap and only 2000 watts I'm punching out. its more than enough, and its the last upgrade I have for my sound system.

i just need to know that if I hook up my cap. wrong will it get toasted? If I have pol. protection on it, does that mean if I hook it up wrong, will it just not work and I still have a chance totry it the other way? Heck, I might be screwed now too. I have'nt even charged it and how would I be able to do that if I dunno which one the + terminal is?

A cap wont help. HO alts, and big 3, with deep cycle battery....dont put a cap in. No need for it. on a big beat.....caps are good for a 'burst' then they are recharging. So, sell the cap, and live with the dim lights. Get a voltage regulator and try that, put larger wires on the amp. At 2k, I'd assume ur running 0g or bigger. If not, you should be.

Use a volt meter and put the Positive lead on one post and the Negative lead on the other. If it shows a negative symbol then you have the leads backwards. If not then you have them correct and mark the posts.

My HO alt. has an internal voltage regulator. As for as wire size, I run 4ga. to my dist. block. from the battery. 4 ga. off the block to my 2 amps that run for each sub. The 3rd amp is only 200 RMS. This one runs 8 ga. I believe, from the dist. block.

With only the 2 amps running that is only 1600 watts peak. The amps together have a fuse rating of 100 amps. I highly doubt my alt. is defective in any way because I still have a good battery and my truck still runs, after all this time. The alt. does not whine either...

I can't figure out why it dims... lol. My HU has a volt display, and it is between 14-15 volts when running. 12-12.5 when truck is off. When it hits a beat it will go down to 11-13 and jump back into 14's after the beat.

Hey sierraX, thank you for giving me that tip!

my experience a cap is a waste of money, i used to compete in spl, and the only thing a capacitor ever did was show me #'s then gradually wear out......

i got rid of my dimming lights by running a 210 amp max alternator, three batteries.... two yellow tops underneath a false floor and a basic interstate 850cca

and this was running more than 4000 watts rms.

I have used myself in my own rigs and sold all kind of caps and they really don't help much. In my girlfriens car with 2 JL 15 inch W3's, Roccford BD1000, 0 gauge wire, Optima red top, high output alternator,with 4 1 farad caps didn't help a bit with dimming lights. I took out the caps and installed a Kinetic HC 1400 cap/power cell in the trunk no more dimming lights. I think it cost me around $320. Heres a link.

Battery to dist. block is 4g?
Dist Block to 2-4g cables to 2 amps?
Dist Block to 1-8g for 1 amp?

4g to 4g,4g,8g.....NOT good. Your amps are starving for power. Whether you have 2 4gs comin from the block to each amp, OR 1 4g from the block to 2 amps. Its not enough. Just for my 2100 HCCA and 225 HCCA I ran 0g for 2100, and 4g for 225. And trust me, my lights barely dimmed. I dont think its the alt or cap. I think ur starving ur amps for the power they need. This could lead to them clipping, they MAY be already....go get a run of 0g or a lil bigger, run that from the battery to the dist. block. You'll prolly notice a difference right away.

I have a stinger 1 faird and it seems to help with my light dimming. I have a 800 watt. pioneer amp and 1 10" rockford it works great for me my dimming problems is gone.