Capacitor

[20ducks]

What do they do for an aftermarket sub w/amp add-on system and are they worth it?

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[BlackandBlue]

If your lights dim when the bass hits, get a capacitor sized to your system. If you run undersized wire (or CCA) get a capacitor or run proper wire.

Otherwise they are a waste of money.

 

[Evolvd]

Think of a capacitor as a shock absorber for your electrical system. Your alternator has a maximum output and the engineers give you one big enough to run every system in the car, charge the battery, and leave a little overhead to adjust for temperature changes.

Usually that’s enough amperage to run a smaller audio system without impacting other systems. But, when your audio amps start drawing too much amperage then something has to give…and that ends up being other systems in the car. Typically you won’t notice mild voltage drops until you have your headlights on and the bass hits as subwoofer amps tend to draw more power than your components.

In comes the capacitor. Without delving far into electronic principles think of capacitors as a quick-charging/discharging battery. When your audio amps drag the system voltage down the cap helps balance the voltage by discharging enough amperage to balance the system. Since bass notes are typically short the cap can quickly recover to fill capacity and be ready for the next note. The longer the bass note, the more capacitance is required to balance the system.

Long story short, there’s a lot of math involved to determine how many farads your system will need. I highly recommend a supercap or superbank as those 1-2 farad cylinder types are mostly garbage and won’t do much for you. If you’re looking to keep your total RMS wattage below 3000 you can get away with a 500 farad bank or supercap. That’s what I have in my build and I have have zero voltage drop at full volume. If your system is smaller you could get away with a smaller bank.

Caveat: it’s always wise to upgrade the “big 3” but that’s not always practical. You can google Big 3 as this post is already long enough. Let us know if you have any further questions.

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