Boot Install +Stinger Capacitor???

[ruso]

Hey I'm in the middle of a boot install. I got a 4ch Kicker Amp and a Kicker Monoblock. I bought a 1 farad Stinger cap, and I'm abit iffy bout the installation. I've read all the other posts already but not too certain.

I've got 4g wire from the battery to a fuse then to my cap in the boot. From their i've got 4g wire going off the cap to a distr. block and to my 2 amps. All earths are seperate.

When I charge the cap should I remove the fuse near the battery?
And once its charged how do i go about connecting it to the amps? (Should I disconnect the negative on the battery, to prevent any shorts. And then install the positive from the battery and the 12V going to the amp back on the cap. Follwed by putting the negative terminal back on the battery?

[SMIT]

Please correct me if i am wrong.

If you remove the fuse at the battery how is the cap going to get power?

Sounds like you have the right idea, when installing a new cap or a discharged one you need to "trickle charge" the cap. To do this have the main power cable coming from the battery that is going into the cap and place a circuit tester/test light in between the cap and power cable (make sire you use a normal globe type, not an LED or circuit safe tester) I'm not 100% on how long you should leave it there but until the light on the cap come on should be sufficient enough.

[Tasmaniak]

Yes, remove the fuse. The cap actually needs charging? strange, they usually don't anymore, but ok, once you have your system in place and your ready to charge the cap, get your little light bulb and place it across the fuse holder and wait for it....

[rcnugget]

the stinger caps all come with a light bulb you use to trickle charge the cap

[Tasmaniak]

really? Haven't seen that in years... lol

[ruso]

thanks for the replies.
Yeh the stinger cap. came with a light bulb. What I'm still uncertain about is, once I've charged the cap how do i go about connecting it up to the system? (Also do you charge it at the battery or in the boot?)

Correct me if I'm wrong but once i've charged the cap, wouldn't I have to disconnect the negative terminal at the battery, as you would to prevent any shorts. And then connect the 12V coming from my battery (back through the fuse) to my cap, and also connect the 12V going from my cap to my amps. Once thats done I then re-connect the negative back onto the battery and its done.

Sorry bout all the questions, just don't want this thing to blow!!!!!!!

[2LOUD2OLD]

why not just save the effort and take it back to the store and get your money back. capacitors do nothing for an audio system they are a waste of money. in fact they have been shown to have a negative effect on a system. so long as you have adequate size power cables and good earths you will be fine.

[Tasmaniak]

erm, whilst I agree they don't do much if anything at all...never seen one have an adverse affect on a system. Care to explain that one please? Pretty keen to know how it could happen.

[cartoonwally]

Hey mate, you should have had your amp connected up in the first place to the capacitor, the capacitor would charge before providing power to the amplifier, this would save you the trouble of worrying about shorts later on in the piece (now). But now the cap is charged, the best way would be to do as you said, disconnect the ground, connect everything up (put the fuse back in) and once all done connect ground back up.

why not just save the effort and take it back to the store and get your money back. capacitors do nothing for an audio system they are a waste of money. in fact they have been shown to have a negative effect on a system. so long as you have adequate size power cables and good earths you will be fine.

^^ This is a big call... Not sure how they have a negative effect on an audio system, considering when there is a constant supply of required power they just act as a short circuit, so there is nothing different. Yet when more power is needed (bigger bass notes) it provides a bucket load of power to the amp that is required. You actually destroy your speakers if you don't have a capacitor due to distortion, because you don't have enough power, can also destroy other components in the car because all the power is going to the amplifier(s). But i agree you need adequate power cables and good earths Only time i think they are a waste of money is if you have a not-so-powerful amplifier.

[Tasmaniak]

only time they are a waste of money is when you put them in and you haven't done everything else first.

[ruso]

appreciate all the feedback. cartoonwally i havn't charged the cap yet so I think I'll do it like you said, to have my amps '+' connected to the cap first and then charge my cap.....

As for caps having an adverse effect on a system I strongly think they do have benefit to a system with amps that have a high output. I'll soon find out if this is true or not when i connect mine up, at the moment i got it all running without the cap and my lights do dim when those bigger bass notes kick in....so time will tell if these things really have value or not?????

[Tasmaniak]

have you upgraded the battery earth to chassis yet?

[ruso]

?????NO??????

Do i need to?
It's a heavy duty battery.

[Tasmaniak]

upgrade your earth cable, if you follow the negatve terminal you will find one thick wire going to the engine somewhere and another one (possibly a little smaller) going to the body of the car...well, the one that goes to car, upgrade it to the same size as the power cable going to the amp.

This is often forgotten.

In simple terms mate look at like this...you have a positive and a negative right? Think of the positive as your output...and the negative as your input.You have to put it all back in once you've taken all the power out ok? So, if you can only take the power out of the battery as fast at you can put it back in. If you still have a small cable putting it all back into the battery then that big hunk of cable going to your amps is totally bloody useless isn't it? lol did that make sense?

[Luke0011]

Ok a capacitor is a storage device, it stores power so when you get a heavy bass note from your stereo the amps draw a large amount of current, the capacitor supplies some of this current rather than directly off the battery. The advantage of a capacitor is that it prevents some voltage drop. by preventing voltage drop, you get better bass quality and also more bass not only from the woofers but also your speakers as it prevents other amps from dropping voltage as well. Amplifiers run better at higher voltages. People dont seem to understand that when large power is drawn from a supply voltage that is unregulate ie: a car. The voltage drops and the current increases.

You can have all the power connected to your amps and capacitors, just have the main fuse removed. The reason why u charge a capacitor is because if you didnt charge it and connected it to the battery, the split second it is connected the capacitor would draw a large amount of current quickly thus producing a spark and a cracking noise at the point of connection. It will scorch the battery terminal and the terminal on the wire. Almost like a split second arch weld. And also it creates a safety hazard to the fingers you are using to connect the wire. You use a resitor or a light bulb to reduce the voltage to the capacitor thus safely charging without the snap crackle and pop. If using a light bulb you will see the light intensity rise and then slowly go down again. As soon as the light globe starts to reduce it light intensity the capacitor is fully charged.

why not just save the effort and take it back to the store and get your money back. capacitors do nothing for an audio system they are a waste of money. in fact they have been shown to have a negative effect on a system. so long as you have adequate size power cables and good earths you will be fine.

Your comment is really ill informed, Try educating yourself on understanding electrical theory. They cannot have an adverse affect on a car audio system. They are not a waste of money.


It doesnt matter how manny capacitors or alternators u use, you will still get lights dimming with heavy bass notes because you are running your stereo off an unregulated power supply. Adding capacitors and or upgrading alternators will reduce the amount of light dimming.

[Philthy]

Except that with 90% of stereos there isn't enough current draw even with the big bass notes to cause a significant voltage drop.
Any stereo that can be run off 4awg wire isn't likely to be big enough to warrant a cap

[Luke0011]

And what would you call significant voltage drop then, a 4 gauge power wire is rated at 150 amps over a 5 metre length, even if it was drawing a third of that, it would definatly cause a significant voltage drop. A 1 volt drop is significant.

[Tasmaniak]

ok guys, we don't have to bring in Kirchoff to explain this do we?

[ruso]

appreciate all the help guys....will upgrade the earth on my battery this arvo.

[2LOUD2OLD]

ok for all those saying I am ill informed have a read of this

Technical - Capacitors Tried & Tested - Mobile Electronics Australia

this was conducted a few years ago and shows that the capacitor actually resulted in a greater voltage drop than without it.

[danja]

Yeah I'm a capacitor skeptic too, car batteries can provide a huge current, enough for all but the most ridiculous sound system I think you'll find.

The marketing bods at Stinger know their game, they're good at making you think you need this stuff - usually you don't.

Go ahead and hook a multimeter up to your system and measure the voltage drop yourself, if you can drop 1v over a note I'll be mighty impressed.

[Joe Peeps]

ok for all those saying I am ill informed have a read of this

Technical - Capacitors Tried & Tested - Mobile Electronics Australia

this was conducted a few years ago and shows that the capacitor actually resulted in a greater voltage drop than without it.

so? this test shows that when playing tones in SPL applications caps are no good. anyone drive around listening to tones? anyone?

nevertheless, i tend to agree with your sentiments, id rather buy another battery then spend coin on a cap - infact, i cant think of any applications where i would buy one myself.

[Luke0011]

Of course your going to have a voltage drop there because your only using a 1 farad capacitor with 1200 wrms of amp power. Your supposed to use 1 farad of capacitance for every 500 wrms of power. So what happens in that situation is the capacitor is discharging completly in a split second thus there are now two devices (amp and capac itor) drawing and pulling down the voltage. I still say you are ill informed, that test just proves that you need more capacitance. I have added hundreds of capacitors to stereos in the last 10 years to know they make a huge difference. Especially the new hybrid 20 and 40 farad capacitors.

[Joe Peeps]

but the point being made is that the money being spent on sufficient capacitance is better spent elsewhere how much will 40 farads go? $$$

[2LOUD2OLD]

even big sound systems dont need a cap, I have never seen a dedicated SPL car running a cap.
arent caps marketed as being there to provide enough power on big bass notes, what bigger bass notes are you gonna get than when doing SPL burps? and if a cap does nothing in an SPL application why on earth would it add anything in a daily application. ok enough of this i think i have said my piece.