Capacitor Wiring Question.

[Wagon_Wheel]

Hey guys, just a quick question, I got some new stuff for my sterio for free so im re wiring it all with 4 guage, capacitor, distro block etc.

On the capacitor, it has 2 holes for + and 2 holes for -, the first + i used as 12V in, and then the other goes off to the amp. I read that on the stinger site, Now for the earthing, i have a stinger T block thing, can i link both amps earths to that then run that to the earth of the capacitor, and then use the other hole on the capacitor to run to the earth on the chassis?

Im hookin it up now, so any help is much appreciated.
Thanks, Geoff

[semi]

Before i say this please note im not 100% sure.

But i think that the capacitor needs to be wired in parallel to the amp. So- that means connect one of the + to the battery and the other to the + on the amp. On the -ve, connect one - to earth and the other to the -ve on the amp

[Wagon_Wheel]

Hmmmm...... I know there is several ways to hook them up. I was going by what my mate told me and these diagrams i found on the stinger website.

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/we...tech_brief.asp

Thats the site, I was going by Fig. 1 and i just wanna know if i can hook my earths from my amps to the cap - as it goes straight to the earth on the chassis then

[Wagon_Wheel]

Well, I spoke to a mate and he said yeah should be fine so I went ahead with it carefully, and it worked fine, sterio packs a lot more punch, subs hit harder, and put out more punch at lower levels. Very happy with the upgrade that cost me $2.99. lol

[garfa]

Well, I spoke to a mate and he said yeah should be fine so I went ahead with it carefully, and it worked fine, sterio packs a lot more punch, subs hit harder, and put out more punch at lower levels. Very happy with the upgrade that cost me $2.99. lol

if your couple of farad cap made your subs noticebly louder then something was and still is with your system.
i think the placebo effect is happening here.

[Tasmaniak]

i
the placebo effect is happening here.

thats my line.

[Wagon_Wheel]

The cap wasnt the only upgrade, I would say the 4 guage made the most difference, as the wiring in my setup was done very cheap and now i have set it up really well and trust me it did make a noticable difference.

[boomnvn]

Hmmmm...... I know there is several ways to hook them up. I was going by what my mate told me and these diagrams i found on the stinger website.

http://www.stingerelectronics.com/we...tech_brief.asp

Thats the site, I was going by Fig. 1 and i just wanna know if i can hook my earths from my amps to the cap - as it goes straight to the earth on the chassis then

I wouldn't be running the earth from the amp back thru the cap, as the cap only supplies power to the 12v + side of the amp. it also states in the instructions do not earth the cap to the same point as for the amp.
QUOTE FROM STINGER WEBSITE:1. Interrupt the main positive power wire to your amplifier as close to the amp as possible. Install a ring terminal on both ends of the interrupted power wire and bolt them both to the positive terminal on the capacitor. Reconnect battery power. Charge the cap as described on pg4. Connect the ground cable from the negative terminal on the cap to a solid clean chassis ground. See Fig.1.

Note: Do not ground to the amplifier’s ground.

[Ocean]

Agree, I think you are MAD if you ground the amp to the Capacitor...

The AMPs and Cap should have there own GROUNDS.

Did you charge the Cap before installing it, otherwise you could have a very good light show... and maybe a fire.


Capacitors must be charged prior to installation. If not, you’ll see lots of pretty sparks and the screw terminals will be damaged from your temporary ‘arc welding’.

[garfa]

i think we would have heard about it if the bloke forgot to charge the cap.
this is how a cap works http://www.howstuffworks.com/capacitor.htm
so if you have read that you will know that we just need the car stereos car to store energy as its primary role (it will also work to filter the power-eg remove alternator whine, which is really just ac current.) so to "hold" the positive charge in the cap a negative charge is used as you read about. so really it does not matter where the negative terminal is connected to.
just as a side note it would be a good idea to have a common ground point for the cap and amp to aviod a ground loop.