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Thinking About Buying a Cap, Wil It Help?


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Lexx_dog 
Member - Posts: 10
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Joined: November 05, 2003
Posted: November 05, 2003 at 9:17 PM / IP Logged  

I am thinking about buying a cap from my bro. it is a 2 farad cap and he wants $40 for it..Do you have to look for anything special in a cap? i see alot of different brands out there. Will a 2 farad cap help my system out. I am currently running a orion 2100hcca  on 3 audiobahn 12's and a 4channel ppi amp on my mids/highs. i also have a toital of 4 tv's running in my car. I have a lexus ls400 and I really dont want to mess with my alternator. Oh yeah and i have a optima deep cycle battery in the trunk and a duralast gold (800cca,1000ca) under the hood. would this cap help me out? Any ideas guys????

Thanks Michael

Ketel22 
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Posted: November 05, 2003 at 9:26 PM / IP Logged  
the cap would just hurt your system, with all that stuff running off your alt, i would hope that you have already upgraded it, if not you should seriously consider
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Maxst 
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Joined: June 06, 2003
Location: United States
Posted: November 06, 2003 at 11:08 AM / IP Logged  
an alt would be the best way...its really easy to put in and rewire with thicker power line.
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forbidden 
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Joined: November 01, 2003
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Posted: November 06, 2003 at 1:44 PM / IP Logged  
Careful with the suggestions guys, either we need more info or we have enough right now. A cap's job is to charge and discharge quicker than a battery can react, yet it is slower than an alternator. I would use a cap for sure. However there is a more pressing concern that is present. Yes you should upgrade the altenator at all costs, even though the only time your amplifiers draw tons and tons of current is for brief moments in time. The problem I see is the 2 battery scenario, yes two batteries are good but how are you running them. If you just "hooked it up" direct to the other battery, you have started a major problem, that being charging the batteries properly. Electricity will go the path of least resistance, one battery will in a matter of time be burned out, why, bacause of improper use. Picture this, your car was designed to drive you and it's occupants around with no problems, now hook up a 5th wheel and see how the car's engine / transmission will handle the incease in load, see the point. What you have done is just doubled the load or work on the alternator, be ready for a new alternator my friend, you are now working it to death. To properly use two batteries, the alternator need to bea able to constantly monitor the two batteries and provide the proper charge to each of them indipendantly, I hope that you have at the least a battery isolator and at the best a multi battery regulator. Just to shed some light to prevent some future problems. This may be interpreted many differnt ways by many different professionals and for some people it may open up a whole can of worms. Let's get some feedback on this topic and see how people are with it.
Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
speedwayaudio1 
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Joined: March 18, 2003
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Posted: November 06, 2003 at 5:03 PM / IP Logged  

i run 2 batts with no trouble. i have 2 duralast 1000ca. and a 200 amp alt. no other thing to seperate the batts. Big trucks run 2,3,4,5,and 6 batts with no isolators. My buddy has a ud roll back with 3 batts no problems. yes he does need a bigger alt.

Big Dave
Lexx_dog 
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Joined: November 05, 2003
Posted: November 06, 2003 at 5:37 PM / IP Logged  
Ok so what you guys are saying is that I need to put in a bigger alternator in my lexus! i am not running a isolator right now. I do have one but I havent installed it. the cap will hurt me? What if I took out the battery and put a cap in its place?
Ketel22 
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Joined: August 23, 2003
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Posted: November 06, 2003 at 7:12 PM / IP Logged  
i would still reccomend upgrading your alt\. since you have such a variety of things running off your electrical system, with the new alt just leave the 2nd battery
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wrencher_25 
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Joined: March 23, 2003
Location: Canada
Posted: November 06, 2003 at 10:26 PM / IP Logged  

A good way to think of electricity is like water.

Alternator - Water supply

Battery - Where water supply goes for distribution

Now, picture every time you add an accessory on to your vehicle you take a shot gun and put some holes in your barrell. The water supply is now having a harder time filling it up. A cap can be thought of like a glass of water. The higher the farad. The larger the glass of water. But it can never act as a water supply. So it all depends on how many shotgun holes you put in your barrell. A cap is like a temporary fix that keeps your lights from dimming. It's usually never the answer to major problems - it just makes it seem like the problem is going away. New alternator is usually the answer.

Although.......i don't think that Lexx_dog is even having any problems yet, just preventing them from happening. Koodos to ya man (for trying to prevent problems) But a new alt. is always the most sure way of doing things.  

Andrew Weitzel
MECP First Class Installer
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Location: Alberta, Canada
Posted: November 07, 2003 at 1:15 PM / IP Logged  

I agree with wrencher, for the most part. Good for you for trying to prevent a problem, a high output alternator is in your future. Good analogy with the water scenario, the problem I have with it is the assumption that the voltage regulator seems to be stuck wide open, thus causing the altenator to turn and  charge the battery all the time, which in most cases is not happening. So back to the water supply and being a flatlander wrencher you might just have seen this before. You have yourself a farm and on that farm you have cattle (EIEIO) and the cattle must be watered. You have a well  with a pump in it (the alternator). Even though the water trough might be 1000' long or have multiple watering stations on it (the batteries or caps), the pump regulator (voltage / current regulator) only allows the pump to work when there is a need. Or does this pump run all day and all night causing the water to flow all over the place? Now if our friend with the question is drawing so much current that the battery cannot maintain a stable supply (which does not seem to be the problem by his replies), the voltage / current regulator would sense this and turn on the alternator to recharge the system. Chances are that his alternator would already be fried, A byproduct of producing current / power is heat, and an alternator is not designed to dissipate the heat caused by continual operation, thus burning itself out. How's the weather in Kamloops if that's where you r Andrew, I'm from that area myself and go through a couple of times a year. Did my time working for StereoWarehouse, Krazy Eddies and Andre's, all retailers in your town. If your still there the next time I'm through I'll stop by for a bs session. (maybe just show ya some Eclipse as well).

Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.
forbidden 
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Posted: November 07, 2003 at 4:30 PM / IP Logged  

A little more clarification on the alternator / battery. The batteries job is to start the vehicle, the alternators job is to rupply current to to vehicle necessary for vehicle operation, be it lights, air conditioning, computers, whatever, excess current is stored in the battery. So yes the alternator is running basically all the time but it is not overloaded, if you overload the battery, then the regulator sees a need to constantly charge and if the demand is so great then the alternator will work itself to death trying to keep up. A capacitor will also hold a charge like a battery, but is not designed to operate like a battery. A cap can charge and discharge in milliseconds, unlike a battery that takes much more time and need to be kept contually topped up. If this fellow battery voltage and current consumption is so great that the voltage and current supplied by the battery is fluctuating all over the map, he is definitely a candidate for a bigger alternator. Use the cap or caps as they are designed to help out during peak and help smooth the flow of  "water" when necessary. If you still have a problem, then address the alternator, battery isolator issue. It seems you are heading in the right direction and have been given a pile of good information from a lot of educated and informed people, just like wrencher 25.

Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

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