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Capacitor Charging Issue

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Old Jun 8, 2007 | 09:17 PM
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Default Capacitor Charging Issue

I am running two .5 farad capacitors (1 for each amp) with my sub setup and one keeps blowing the amp fuse when I try to connect it...it is charged up and I know that its hooked up right as far as polarity is concerned so what do I need to do to get it hooked up without blowing the amp fuse so I can finally call this project complete!?
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Old Jun 8, 2007 | 09:28 PM
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Do yourself a favor and don't hook it up. A .5 farad cap isn't going to help anything.

joule = 1 watt second. 5 joules = power of 5 watts in 1 second, power of 1 watt for 5 seconds, etc.
Take 1/2 the capacitor value and multiply by voltage squared to get the storage capacity your capacitor. .5/2 x (14x14) = 49 joules. At 11 volts it would store 30.25 joules. At 11 volts an Optima yellow top battery stores 2,574,000 joules. 30 on top of 2.5 million... wow, big help there!

There is MUCH more behind this, but I hope that little bit of information shows how worthless caps are.
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Old Jun 8, 2007 | 09:32 PM
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Originally Posted by 95bat
Do yourself a favor and don't hook it up. A .5 farad cap isn't going to help anything.

joule = 1 watt second. 5 joules = power of 5 watts in 1 second, power of 1 watt for 5 seconds, etc.
Take 1/2 the capacitor value and multiply by voltage squared to get the storage capacity your capacitor. .5/2 x (14x14) = 49 joules. At 11 volts it would store 30.25 joules. At 11 volts an Optima yellow top battery stores 2,574,000 joules. 30 on top of 2.5 million... wow, big help there!

There is MUCH more behind this, but I hope that little bit of information shows how worthless caps are.
i see where youre calculations prove it to be useless and its actually kind of interesting but i paid for the caps and its a little late to return them so i think i will go ahead and at least try to get it hooked up...surely it cant hurt anything
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Old Jun 8, 2007 | 09:51 PM
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haha it might hurt more than you'd think But I'm sure your stereo will survive.

Have you tried disconnecting the battery when you hook up the cap?
When you hook it up, are there pops and sparks? You should be able to disconnect the battery and hook the cap up inline with the power wire. There is an "inlet" and "outlet" to the cap. One side accepts the charge from the battery, the other side you run to the amp.
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Old Jun 8, 2007 | 10:25 PM
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Originally Posted by 95bat
haha it might hurt more than you'd think But I'm sure your stereo will survive.

Have you tried disconnecting the battery when you hook up the cap?
When you hook it up, are there pops and sparks? You should be able to disconnect the battery and hook the cap up inline with the power wire. There is an "inlet" and "outlet" to the cap. One side accepts the charge from the battery, the other side you run to the amp.
well this cap has a positive terminal and a negative...one side of it you ground and the other you power and from each respective side, you run an additional cable to the amp...i havent tried it with the battery disconnected but i do get the sparks/pop when the fuse blows each time. i have one of the two capacitors hooked up and everything works but this side is just enjoying shocking the hell out of me and drawing the process out even longer...thanks for your continued replies
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Old Jun 8, 2007 | 10:44 PM
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Disconnect the battery, then try. If yours only has one positive and one negative terminal then it looks like you know how to hook it up already.

Any time you mess with power wires you should always disconnect the battery though.
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Old Jun 8, 2007 | 10:49 PM
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will that blow the inline fuse for power wire? thats like a $3 fuse
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Old Jun 9, 2007 | 11:21 AM
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with the battery unhooked you shouldn't be blowing fuses.
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Old Jun 10, 2007 | 12:18 AM
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caps are supposed to keep charged once you initially charge it after opening the box. Weird...
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Old Jun 10, 2007 | 01:17 AM
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I always took the negative side to bare (scraped) metal and then used a large resistor to slowly charge the cap.
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Old Jun 10, 2007 | 02:45 PM
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Use a lightbulb in series to initially charge it.
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Old Jun 10, 2007 | 03:51 PM
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Originally Posted by HowellSoccer88
I am running two .5 farad capacitors (1 for each amp) with my sub setup and one keeps blowing the amp fuse when I try to connect it...it is charged up and I know that its hooked up right as far as polarity is concerned so what do I need to do to get it hooked up without blowing the amp fuse so I can finally call this project complete!?
Did you guys read the initial post? It is already charged, he doesn't need to know how to charge it. He is trying to install it without blowing a fuse.
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Old Jun 12, 2007 | 09:26 PM
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It would hardly draw any power if it's already charged.
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