Farad Capacitors

What size would be good for 600W and an 800W amp, I hear they help save batteries. 1.0, 2.0?

Could a stereo guru offer some advice here?

Rule of Thumb is 0.5 for every 500 watts

I would go with the flux capacitor. One should be able to handle all of it.

so I should use a 1.0 for each amp or do you think it is overkill? Thanks for the advice.

Paul, both amps on one flux capacitor? save some $

i was told that one capacitor at 1.0 could handle both amps?

I have heard from many people that a 5 farad cap is the smalest cap you would ever want to mess with. And that a 30 farid cap is where you would realy start to notice the advantages that a cap can give your system. BTW The new stinger caps look beautiful. I dont know how they work but they are about the size of a med sized amp.
IMO nothing beats a second or 3rd battery.

The price of a 2nd or 3rd battey is going to be cheeper than a 5 or 30 farid cap, and I know my system will run longer & stronger from a extra battery then from a cap.

But you cant beet the bling factor of a Digital cap they sure look sweet

thanks Grant! I have 2 batteries but drained them both the other day, I forgot to turn to 1 instead of all. So all day I drained both of them. The amps will use the stored power in a farad cap and possibly conserve what is in the battery, correct? Atleast that is what I have been told.

Grant, did you finish that other SAN's install yet?

caps won't make your batteries last longer, in fact it will help the amps discharge the battery faster. the idea behind the cap is to help the charging system provide short bursts of power to the amps, such as fast transient bass hits at high volume. they kind of 'level the load' so to speak that the battery and/or alternator sees from the amp. the idea is to allow the amp to put out more power, as it is not constrained as much by the battery/alternator capability. that being said, charging/discharging the cap is an additional load and if you are running off your battery alone, you will drain it (marginally) faster.

Tim is correct.

Yes Harols SAN with his 8 Batterys is Booming away.

There is talk of a New Monster SAN. Comming this fall with 4" 12's

I thought I needed a cap, guess not. Thanks Timmy. I just have to not forget to turn the switch to 1 instead of all next time.

How is Black Creek treating you lately? Next time you're out there stop by my buddies house he has the Malibu on the lift right in front of the entrance to Little Black Creek. It's a response and his name is George Hall, he is looking for people to ride with.

I have been debating about adding a cap to my system the is currently being re-wired (almost 1000 total watts). I was told by a stereo installer today that the caps will help the amps run cooler by lessening the load on the amp (see Tim's explanation above).

My amps tend to get very hot and I wonder if there's any validity to this statement?

Hairbanddude,
Capacitors can be a very important part of a stereo system, when they are installed for the right reasons. The number one reason to install a capacitor is to supply a quick burst of a lot of power. An example would be: to power a large subwoofer amp when the amp is called on to drive power hungry subs during a bass heavy part of a song. Powering a 1000+ Watt sub amp at peak volume can draw over 100 amps at it's 12 volt supply. To sound "tight" it needs all the power "right now". The capacitor gives the system that quick burst of power. Think of it this way: Battery - normal power delivery of an hour +-. Capacitor - a flash of huge current for a fraction of a second.

The above, is a general rule. There are now capacitors used in competition stereo sytems that are 50 - 100 farads +. These are cool, but generally don't apply to us.

Note: capacitors are power storage devices, they do not keep your battery from draining. A normal 1 farad capacitor fully charged might help your battery kick the starter off a little quicker, but it would certainly not have the power reserve to start the engine.

If you are looking to power your stereo while the engine is not running, a dedicated, isolated, battery bank is what you are after. If your want your bass to hit "harder", depending on your system, a capacitor could help.

I run a 1 farad capacitor in my system, and it does improve the hit of the bass.

Hope this helps.
Geoff

yes it does. I should run a farad on the bass amp and use one battery for the stereo and one battery to crank the boat at the end of the day, does this sound like a good idea?

i am down in west palm now working for a living. will probably go to the creek sometime later this fall though.