i have a question about whether a capacitor is right for my amp or what not....

ok so i have a JL audio 250/1 mono amp and i just bought a lightning audio strike 1 farad capacitor and i was wondering about the volts and such because im not sure if the cap would give the amp too many volts or what? im new to capacitors so any info would be great

1/18/2006 10:15:43 PM

Just hook the positive power wire from your battery to the positive of the cap, negative to ground. You're fine.

1/18/2006 10:37:13 PM

ok soooo like this?

-[| battery |]+======== + | cap | -===ground.... but where does it connect to the amp?

1/18/2006 10:41:16 PM

the cap terminals are in parallel with the amp/battery...the positive from the battery connects to the positive of the cap and then on to the positive of the amp...the negative of amp and cap connect to the same place on your chassis.

1/18/2006 10:55:28 PM

current is drawn by the amp, not forced to the amp. its a flow

a capacitor is a big bucket of charge waiting to be drawn from...

your concerns are unwarranted... enjoy

1/19/2006 7:35:55 AM

power wire: battery ----> + terminal of cap ----> + terminal of amp

Ground wire: Ground location (close (<18") to cap and amp) ----> cap ----> amp

adding length to your ground is how you pick up noise... the ground lead is an antenna

[Edited on January 19, 2006 at 7:39 AM. Reason : its 7:30 in the morning... I thought I had hit "edit post"... ooops]

1/19/2006 7:38:36 AM

a capacitor is like putting air-ride shock absorbers on your big truck

1/19/2006 8:14:30 AM

great info thanks guys

1/19/2006 4:02:31 PM

if all u are running a is a jl 250/1 mono amp then u shouldn't need a capacitor that. amp shouldn't be drawing any more current than your rear defrost . i'd return to whatever shop u got it from.

1/19/2006 5:35:55 PM

^ Yeah. A 1 farad capcitor should be used on a system drawing in the neighborhood of 1000 watts.

1/19/2006 8:24:58 PM

I had a 1/2 farrad capacitor for a 400W amp a few years ago. It stopping me from frying alternators and shorting battery cells, lights dimmed less. Didn't really notice an improvement on the sound, but it had to help some.

You'll want to slowly charge the capacitor with a resistor otherwise you could damage the capacitor.

1/19/2006 8:40:14 PM