Boot Install +Stinger Capacitor???

[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.

 

[danja]

How are you evaluating that they make a difference?

40 farads?!? Are you powering the P&O Fairstar?

 

[cartoonwally]

You provide a good case 2loud2old, however there are a few problems with those results. The biggest problem is that he has used a DMM to measure the voltage at the input of the amplifier, sampling times on these things are too slow to be able to show the real result of putting a capacitor in. If he had have put the oscilloscope on the input to the amplifier instead and looked at the graph then it would have been a completely different story. Basically the idea behind this is:

The tone he is playing is @ 51hz, we'll assume this is purely sinusoidal for the sake of the analysis, which means for him to get the measurement on the DMM he would have had to be updating at 0.019s to get the peak amplitude... highly unlikely for DMM. So basically what he is really measuring is the time when the capacitor is being recharged which is when the amplifier doesn't need the power anyway. I'm not sure why he didn't use the oscilloscope even though he used it for finding the frequencies :| haha.

Danja -> again as above, multimeter won't show the result of these things... I'd also be more than happy to analyse this and come up with results for people if you have a powerful enough system for me to have a look at... I open the floor to rebuttals

 

[Luke0011]

NO because they are exactly that, dedicated SPL vehicle, which have multiple batteries, alternaters that sit right next to the amps. Adding a cap when the battery is five or six metres away in a daily application is cheaper than adding a second battery, isolator etc. So yes you saying a capacitor is a waste of money is incorrect and you are relying on informatiom that is inconclusive to justify your opinion.

 

[holdenboy]

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.

I have done, and with one battery (stock location) and only 300wrms the voltage dropped down to 12.5v (from 14.2v).

I too beleive capacitors dont provide any REAL advantage, especially if your going to spend a hundred or two on a 20+ farad cap. This money could be spent on a second battery and isolator and WILL make a difference to voltage and therefore power output of the amp especially when playing music.
Just my opinion anyway.

If someone who has access to a Termlab, a 20+farad cap and 2+kw please do a test as comprehensive as BlackIce has done. Seeing as its the only capacitor test done, we have nothing else to go off.

 

[Luke0011]

I could get all of those things and provide a nice graph of how well a capacitor works, but i can tell from experience that they do make a difference. The bass notes hit harder, the system works better. Everyone has their own opinion i suppose and this thread is getting tiring. The battle of the keyboard warriors...