Hi Guys, great forum by the way, it was recomended by the company that sold me my Power Capacitor !
I have a 1 Farrad capacitor that is wired through an inline fuse from the positive of the car battery, is it okay to have the ground connected to the negative termination of my amplifier as the amplifier negative cable goes directly back to the negative of the battery.?
Also on my power capacitor there is an LED battery indication showing the volts, now I know the current is tiny for the display but is this okay as its on all the time ?
Thanks
Strange that big capacitor sellers would recommend us seeing as we usually tell people what a waste of time they are, but maybe they recognise that we understand how to solve the original problem and when capacitors are then or otherwise appropriate.
If the cap is to reduce dimming, it should be across the lights or battery.
If it's to reduce big amplifier peak SPLs or burp dips the cap should be as close to the amp as possible. They are usually placed across the existing power feeds to the amp.
If it's to reduce peak demand on AGMs and hence prolong their life, across the amp is fine else across the AGM or anywhere in between (ie, the AGM and its peaky load).
I usually recommend people to disconnect their cap voltmeters and instead have a dash voltmeter that reads the main battery voltage. Switching or additional voltmeters can then be added for other monitoring - eg, amp voltage or aux battery voltages. These are usually connected via a (small) relay that is triggered by IGN +12V or other or manual switch circuits.
Typically modern 3-digit LCD & LED voltmeters consume less than 10mA which is small load less than the consumption of (eg) older Bosch alternators (12mA thru their L circuit) or equivalent to a LED or half a LED. By comparison a 5W cabin lamp will consume about 400mA (ie 40 times greater than 10mA) and they should take at least half a day to appreciably flatten a health battery. (10mA should take a couple of weeks or more.)
Now this is what I call a comprehensive answer ! Thanks that is just what I wanted to know !