Nuked my capicator?
10-22-2003, 11:53 AM
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Nuked my capicator? Alrighty,
When I was putting my system into my car, I accidentially touched the 2 terminals on my cap. to eachother. There was a big spark when it discharged. Well, once I hooked it up to my system, my sub didn't seem to be hitting nearly as hard as in my old car. Now I know that this is a different car and I have a slightly different size box, but could that discharge of the cap. have damaged the cap. which is now impeeding the flow? Any thoughs would be great!
When I was putting my system into my car, I accidentially touched the 2 terminals on my cap. to eachother. There was a big spark when it discharged. Well, once I hooked it up to my system, my sub didn't seem to be hitting nearly as hard as in my old car. Now I know that this is a different car and I have a slightly different size box, but could that discharge of the cap. have damaged the cap. which is now impeeding the flow? Any thoughs would be great!
10-22-2003, 01:43 PM
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Re: Nuked my capicator? The cap. wasn't connected to the system when this happened. After the discharge, I recharged the cap. per the instructions and then connected it to the system. Could I have damaged the cap.? Could this cause the poor performance of my system? I am going to try running the system without the cap and see if it is any better. Thanks for any help.
10-22-2003, 01:54 PM
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Re: Nuked my capicator? Is there any leakage from the cap or is it swelled up at all? Brax makes a cap tester if you can find one at a local car audio shop. I have one if you happen to be in Florida 
Good luck
Good luck
10-27-2003, 07:42 AM
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Glitch that is not true. You can charge the cap in or out of the car. Have you ever heard of Richard Clark? He is a electronics/audio guru that owns a company called Autosound 2000. Well during capacitor demos he would stick one in the front of his pants and charge and discaharge it. If you install a cap correctly there is no danger at all.
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10-27-2003, 07:20 PM
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Your cap is not hurt. I have touched them together a few times. (Not on purpose) I had two 1 farad caps linked together with a bus bar installed for over a year. One day I hit a big bump in the road and the actual head of the screw that goes into the cap snapped off and allowed the bars to touch. ALL my lights went out for a split second. The fuse under the hood popped. The bars were BADLY damaged. They were almost melted together. After some work I was able to pull them apart. I replace the broken screw, charged em' back up, replaced my fuse under the hood and they have played perfect ever since. I still can not believe the screw snapped in half..... I have hit WAY bigger bumps then that.... 
10-27-2003, 07:24 PM
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Funny store but not unheard of firebirdude. It is well known around deess parts that the mounting bolts in most caps SUCK. I can not count how many have snapped. I stopped using the pretty gold ones and have switched to using stainless steel. But I have never seen one break over a bump lol.
10-30-2003, 12:38 AM
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Glitch that is not true. You can charge the cap in or out of the car.
10-30-2003, 08:43 AM
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just wondering, but since we think the cap problem is out, what is the subs you have now, what was the size of the old box, and what is the size of the new one. also is the box ported or not?? and how much difference is the sound from the old car. was it a louder bass tone, or did you have a more solid hit or punch noise. i am running digital lightning audio cap with my two 1000 RF pro amps, which are powering my two 15" RF Hx2 Powers. touched the two terminals together accidentally, recharged the cap, and still plays the same!
10-30-2003, 11:20 AM
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what are your running that you actually need caps, I have a adire brahma 15
with a revo 1500.1 and am seeing 147db legally and I dont need a cap.....
did you upgrade all you ground and power wires?
with a revo 1500.1 and am seeing 147db legally and I dont need a cap.....
did you upgrade all you ground and power wires?
11-01-2003, 07:57 PM
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Real simple way to find out if your cap is dead. Gonna need a 12volt power source(car or bench 12volt power supply) and a multimeter. Charge it up to about 14 volts and then disconnet the power and ground. Let the cap sit for about 30 minutes if they voltage has dropped significantly like more than 2 volts the cap is shot and you have to buy a new one.
11-02-2003, 12:09 AM
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I am pushing 600W max to my sub and eventually will and an amp for the mains when I have enought $ to put good stuff in there. I have the cap a just cheap insurance. Got a great deal on it, so I figured...why not...couldn't hurt. Anywho, all seems to be working. If it was dead, would it even allow voltage though? Thanks!
11-06-2003, 11:36 PM
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Originally Posted by Koncrete
what are your running that you actually need caps, I have a adire brahma 15
with a revo 1500.1 and am seeing 147db legally and I dont need a cap.....
did you upgrade all you ground and power wires?
with a revo 1500.1 and am seeing 147db legally and I dont need a cap.....
did you upgrade all you ground and power wires?
I say, save your money, buy bigger power wire, buy a bigger alternator or a better amp or speaker for that matter or use the money to take your g/f out to dinner, I dunno, just don't waste it on a cap that isn't going to do anything for your audio system.
If anybody would like the evidence of this just say so and I will post it up. Lets just say if somebody who knows what they are talking about explains the theory behind the marketing that is used to sell caps you'd understand why I say what I say. I can get an electrical engineers perspective on this if need be but I won't unless somebody wants to see it.
Ted
Last edited by Ted J; 11-07-2003 at 10:03 AM.
11-06-2003, 11:57 PM
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Originally Posted by skytower31
Anywho, all seems to be working. If it was dead, would it even allow voltage though? Thanks!
11-07-2003, 07:45 AM
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Ted J.....please post information pertaining to Richard Clark saying caps do not work. I have had personal conversations with the man about them and he said nothing of the sort. I would really like to read any info you might have.