Capacitor Problems.... help?

[Deception]

Okay... my brother went to jail like a few days ago, so he let me have all his stereo stuff...

I got sum 6x9's and 4x6's and subs, and all that good stuff...
definately upgraded my system...
but he had a capacitor.. and ive never used one before... so i hooked it up and it lit up n all so i was like alright it works... Ill just hook it up to the amp...

So i hooked it up to the amp and my system worked for about 3 seconds then the capacitor just shut off...
and it beeped... like constantly long beep till the battery ran out so it beeped for like 5-10 minutes
and i checked the fuse in my power wire and it was burnt...
I was just wondering if I broke the capacitor or not...
cause if I did ill have to buy him a new one... lol
that will suck
but yea... like I don't think it's lighting up, I dunno if I have to wait awhile till I hook it up again or what...
just wondering if I could find sum help or advice here...
k thx

[Tasmaniak]

What brand and capacity capacitor was it? and how did you wire it all up? When you initally hooked it up did you get a huge arse spark from the wire as you put it on the terminal?

[Deception]

I dunno the size or w.e that stuff is..

But i hooked my power wire to the positive and attatched an additional power wire to the negative side and ran it to my amp...
it acually lit up again.... i went out there and messed with it...
it lit up and stuff, but no bass... but the high's still worked i split the rca jacks so i could have 2 amps for my highs and lo's...
but when I de-attatched the capacitor and hooked my main power wire to my amp for the lo's my whole system worked...
two 10's and one 12" subs
and 1 tweeter 2 6x9's and one 5x7 on the other amp
I think i need a capacitor to run two 12's and 2 10's...

[Tasmaniak]

Positive from the battery and positive to the amp go on the same terminal. The negative terminal on the capacitor goes to the body of the car and also the amplifier.

Now, given the fact that I don't know what type of capacitor it is, I'm going to strongly suggest that you charge the cap before completly connecting. Many caps don't require it but some do....the ones that do need it will scare the crap out of you and possibly cause burns if you do not! Take a small light bulb and attach it to the positive terminal and then hold it against the positive wire from the battery BEFORE you connect the power wire to the cap. The bulb will then light up, when it goes out completly (can take a couple of minutes) the capacitor is charged and can safely be connected.

[1991_Vn2nV]

As above. But wtf with the 1 5x7 and 1 tweeter??

[Deception]

As above. But wtf with the 1 5x7 and 1 tweeter??

lol, I don't know...
my system isn't fully done yet... I'm just messing around with what I got For Now... lol
Thanks For the info...

I'll try that, and if it doesn't work Ill try to get a hold of my friend... he knows alot about car stereo systems

[Phreddy]

Don't underestimate the damage a capacitor can do. When these things are charged they hold a fair bit of energy, but the scary part is how quickly they can release that energy. They're nothing like a battery as far as out-and-out capacity goes, but the current surge which a cap can provide can be harmful or even lethal if your ticker isn't 100%.

(a favourite trick of mine was to charge a 1000uF cap to 12V - which is 0.001 Farad - and toss it at an apprentice and shout "CATCH!". Gave them a little belt, not unlike a static zap from a car door. Think about it though - most car audio caps are at least 1 Farad, or 1000 times the capacity of the ones I had my fun with - and often are over 2 Farad. Definitely NOT for practical jokes, those ones....)

Seriously though Deception, if you're not sure of what you're doing I strongly suggest getting your mate to do this for you. Alternatively, leave the cap out altogether!! I've found that they make very little difference - if any at all - in the average system as long as it's installed properly.

All the best, Cheerz!

[Tasmaniak]

heh..Phreddy. Remember the old noise suppressors you put on the coil of the dizzy? I used to love charging those back up and putting them into the packaging again for my unsuspecting techs.

One was convinced they came pre-charged!

[StoneX]

(a favourite trick of mine was to charge a 1000uF cap to 12V - which is 0.001 Farad - and toss it at an apprentice and shout "CATCH!". Gave them a little belt, not unlike a static zap from a car door. Think about it though - most car audio caps are at least 1 Farad, or 1000 times the capacity of the ones I had my fun with - and often are over 2 Farad. Definitely NOT for practical jokes, those ones....)

12vDC can't penetrate dry skin... You can touch the terminals of a car capacitor with no problems. I've done it many times and never been zapped. Whereas the caps in a DVD power supply that are charged to 240V or so will discharge into you and hurt quite a bit

[Tasmaniak]

Although what Stone is pretty much true. The initial flash from a cap not being charged and just being connected can leave you with a pretty nasty burn. I can vouch for that one. I made the mistake when we swapped suppliers of caps and I didn't read the manual. Took it for granted that it was like the last one and didn't need charging. WRONG




I may have also created the elusive Brown note when that happened

[Deception]

All this talk about bout burning yourself or getting zapped and having fun with electricity I must admit is scarin me a lil, lol
Yea, I'll just have my buddy kyle look at the stuff for me... I know I like car audio systems, I just don't know much about them... lol
But yea I looked on the capacitor for like a sticker or something but couldn't find anything...
Here is some pics of it... Don't mind the date, my camera is messed up, I jsut took them like 10 minutes ago

Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

Image - TinyPic - Free Image Hosting, Photo Sharing & Video Hosting

[Phreddy]

12vDC can't penetrate dry skin... You can touch the terminals of a car capacitor with no problems.

True Stone, but skin resistance really depends on the individual's physiology - and certainly if the skin is perfectly dry there's little chance of feeling anything - but how many folks have perfectly dry palms? Some do, sure - but I for one don't.

I take your point about smitchmode power supply caps though - they charge to around 360V when mains is applied (don't forget that the "240V" refers to the RMS voltage, and the caps in a power supply charge to the PEAK voltage - 1.4 times the RMS....) I have copped a hit from one of those - from a computer monitor (crappy Samsung I think...) - it was powered off, but there was no bleed resistor across the main cap, so it stayed nicely charged!

Hah - reminds me of a time I hung myself across an old black and white TV picture tube MANY years ago - the set was powered off, but a CRT makes an almost PERFECT capacitor. A black and white tube typically runs an acceleration anode votage of about 13KV, and at the time I was a young bloke and didn't realise. Left hand on the TV chassis, and when I reached to unplug the terminal with my right hand, ZAP!!! A nice fat blue spark about half inch long jumped to my finger, throwing me back across the room. I laugh about it now, but it hurt like hell!! I couldn't work on a CRT for a long time after that, but have no problems now.

Electricity can be good for a giggle, but on the other side of the coin it should never be taken for granted....

[StoneX]

I work with 12vDC all day every day and have touched the alligator clips on my power supply with dry, sweaty, and wet hands and never even felt a tingle. I must be special