sparky3489, first off, I took a bit of liberty with your quote. I am assuming you broke auex's question string into individual questions and answered them individually with your numbered responses. This is how I broke it down, and now I would like to respond in kind.
sparky3489 wrote:
auex wrote:
Do you really think that a cap stores voltage? |
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1. Yes, this is measurable. |
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I agree with this response.
sparky3489 wrote:
auex wrote:
I mean do you really think that? |
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2. See #1 |
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See #1
sparky3489 wrote:
auex wrote:
Can you tell me what a cap does store? |
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3. Electricity, typically what is supplied with a bit of current to back it up. |
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I am slightly confused with this answer. What are you saying here? Please elaborate a little bit on this response. I am truly not trying to be smart-assed about this, but I truly want to know what your answer means.
sparky3489 wrote:
auex wrote:
Also, when a cap is "drained" won't the alternator have to replace an equal amount of energy that was drained? |
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4. Since a bass hit is fairly quick and a cap is extremely fast to respond and charge, the alternator has no issues responding as well. |
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Here, I have an issue. The answer to auex's question is a RESOUNDING YES! However, your answer does show that you both understand and DON'T understand, completely.
Energy is drained from a cap in watt-seconds, or work over time. It also CHARGES in watt-seconds. (a watt-second, if you weren't aware, is one watt for one second) If you suddenly pull (let's just say, as an example, to keep the math simple) 100 watt seconds from the cap, but it happens in .1 second (fairly typical, actually), the current burst supplied by that cap is 1000A, for .1 SECOND. (I also want to stress that I am assuming a perfect cap and circuit, with zero resistance) Now, in order for that cap to be ready for the NEXT 1000 watt-second burst (in a bass line, at 4/4 time, what, a 1/2 second, maybe?) the source (the alternator, which we have all agreed MANY TIMES here in this forum is ABSOLUTELY the power SOURCE in a car with a RUNNING engine) must be able to charge that cap OVER AND OVER 2 times a second with 1000A bursts of current. Now, NO ALTERNATOR is capable of doing this, is it? BUT a SLA battery CAN. This is why the battery becomes so important in this circuit. Now, the battery is continually dumping this power to the cap, while at the SAME TIME the alternator is carrying the continuous load of the REST of the system's demands. That is, until the battery voltage drops, the internal resistance lowers, and the alternator's output is now being scabbed off to recharge the battery, while the battery is continuing to recharge the cap, and the alternator is trying to now power the system AND charge the battery... it's a vicious cycle, and the situation only gets worse, the longer and louder the system is played.
sparky3489 wrote:
auex wrote:
How long do you think it takes to recharge? |
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5. Because of a caps "charge time constant" and the fact that only a small percentage of the cap is "drained", it's recharge time is very quick, 0.5 second at the most. |
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See #4. BUT, while it is true that the cap is generally recharged to full capacity fairly quickly, (simply due to the low internal resistance of the SLA) the average recharge CURRENT DEMANDS are astronomical, when viewed strictly on a current scale. Average continuous current demands that simply CAN'T be addressed by an average alternator. All the time, pulling the average system voltage lower, and lower. The cap, because it is there for IMMEDIATE current peak demands, "covers the dimming headlights", (because the PEAK SYSTEM VOLTAGE remains where it is supposed to be, but the AVERAGE system voltage is slowly dropping... slowly enough that the lights DO dim, but not in "pulses" with the beat of the music.) and this is why many people think the cap is helping them.
sparky3489 wrote:
auex wrote:
Do you think that the alternator feels less strain because the cap just magically creates energy out of no where? |
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6. I didn't know alternators "feel" anything. Must be a magic Artificial Intelligent alternator. The trem "stiffening" is an interseting concept, eh? |
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The strain that auex is implying is "felt" by the alternator is the ever increasing current output demanded by the system drawing more from the alternator and battery combination than it was ever designed to produce on a continuous basis, all while the alternator and battery are working in an underhood environment where the temperature ever increases, reducing both of their efficiencies, causing more strain...
It all reminds me of something that Molière once said to Guy de Maupassant at a café in Vienna: "That's nice. You should write it down."