how do I install a capacitor?

[Smokin' Rubber]

Ok so I had the instructions at one point, but i can't figure out where they are now So then from what i do remember you need to pre charge the cap before putting it in the circuit, and I found the "lamp" or whatever that came with it that shows when its fully charged. However, I can't remember exactly how to charge it using the lamp. Any input would be awesome

[Jahntassa]

Okay, have everything hooked up, but DON'T put the fuse in under the hood. Once you're at that point, what I usually do is put the little 'lamp' between the two ends of the fuse holder, so the lamp completes the circuit between the battery and the cap.Basically, as the lamp dims, the cap is getting more and more fully charged. Once the lamp is out completely, wait a few seconds, pull the lamp out of the fuse holder, and pop the fuse in. Make sense?

[Smokin' Rubber]

Sounds simple enough, out of curiousity is it a absolute neccesity that the cap be grounded in addition to the amp? Oh and then one more easy to answer thing the cap says it has a remote turn on circuit, but I can't figure out where the heck you connect the wire. Will it provide power to the amp without the remote turn on?

[Jahntassa]

1. Yes, the cap needs to be grounded. Otherwise it'll never charge and it's pretty much useless.2. If there is a smaller 'third' screw other than the two larger contacts, then connect your remote turn-on wire to that. Generally you only use it if you have a digital-top with a voltage readout.

[Smokin' Rubber]

Ok last, last question and this is a really dumb one lol, which side should I attach the ground positive or negative (I'm gonna guess negative)

[jeffgtx]

negative

[Smokin' Rubber]

Ok so having some issues with the install and getting the amp powered I have diagrams of my install but no pics since its dark and I can't find the memory stick for the digital cam.So basically I tried to pre charge the thing with the lamp like you guys said but nothing was happening when I tried it so out of pure curiousity and hooked the cable directly to the positive on teh battery and wouldn't you know it the thing turned on volt meter, leds, and even the ****ty little built in speaker started playing christmas carols telling me the voltage was below 9.5 volts... So I figured it somehow must have already gotten charged. So I finally get up teh nerve to butcher my positive wire leading to the amp from the battery and cut it about 5 or 6 inches before the amp, stip it and stick the end in the holders for th capacitor. Then (here is where i might have made a mistake altho not positve) I grounded the side between the cap and the amp (the negative side) to the ground port on the amp which had its own ground connected to the chassis. So then after I finished hooking those wires up I turned on the car and flipped the cut off switch I have for the postive battery so it was supply juice. Sure enough the thing turned on again and the volts stayed steady at 11.5 or 11.25 I think. So the cap was powered, the problem was the amp wasn't getting any power for some reason (possibly because of where I grounded the cap?). So then I remembered what Jahn had said about the remote wire so I found something that i had no idea what it was and assumed it was the remote turn on thing. Ok so let me explain what this thing on the cap looked like... it looked like a small metal plate that had a hole thru it that was attached to a chip looking thing which was attached to the top circuit board of the cap by 3 metal connectors which were flexible. The metal plate and chip part could move making it seem like a vice which you put the remote wire in and screwed down. So thats what I did, but it made absolutely no difference Ok so here is the wiring and top of the cap diagrams:

Attached files

[Smokin' Rubber]

Capacitor top diagram

Attached files

[Jahntassa]

Maybe the cap doesn't need a remote-turn on. Usually there'd just be a single small screw if you needed it. Some caps will turn on when they sense the voltage difference of the car starting. And that only applies to the digital readout.And..there's your problem.The way the cap SHOULD be connected is as follows:Battery (+) -> Cap (+) -> Amp (+)Chassis (-) -> Cap (-) -> Amp (-)Or you can run seperate grounds to the cap and amp. But, I wouldn't ground the amp and then loop out of that to the cap. Yes, it should work, I just would rather have a direct line from the cap to ground so it charges better.You have the (-) of the cap going to the positive of the amp, so the amp doesn't get any voltage.The cap should be 'spliced in' to the power wire going to the amplifier..so it acts as a mini-battery working with your car battery.The fact the display on it is only reading 11.5 or 11.25 is a little off.. Do you have a multimeter or voltage meter at all? It should read EXACTLY the same as your battery, whether the car is running or not.

[Smokin' Rubber]

I'll check tonight after work whether the volts are messed up, my battery was super drained from the phantom power drain I had several monthes ago so I don't know if it ever fully recharged the batter either

[Smokin' Rubber]

Ok so I check the voltage at the end (after the wires come from the cap to the amp and it said like 14ish volts which was the same at the battery with car running) meanwhile the display on the cap originally said 10.95 when I first started the car and after it ran for a bit longer the number dropped to 10.80 and then 10.75 (is it like doing a charging count down?).Second problem I ran into after wiring things up mostly correctly (positive cap to positive amp and negative grounding still attached to the amps negative) was the amp had the power light on the main part but the remote volume things power light wasn't on and the amp wasn't putting anything out of the subs. Also, after I cut the power (via the switch I made due to the original amp having the power drain) the cap stayed on and the cap stayed on with the voltage meter dropping AND the damn light on the amp was STILL ON. Btw the thing I didn't know what it was... as I stopped by radioshack today for some new cable connectors for doing the new wiring I saw what was on the circuit board of the amp, it was a voltage regulator (or voltage adjuster or something like that I can't quite remember) why would it be on there?

[Smokin' Rubber]

Gonna go leave the car on for a bit to see if the voltage keeps "dropping" guess we'll see what happens

[Jahntassa]

When mine did that it ended up being a bad grounding point... Moved the ground, scraped off some paint for good contact, and it works like a champ..

[Smokin' Rubber]

Hmmm... ok so I resoldered the tip that was touching the car and put it back and rescrewed it back to the chassis but this time the number was at 9.56 so I checked with the volt meter and it said 12 volts so then I decided to try something more drastic so I got out the jump cables attached one end to the negative side of the battery and the other to the ground of the amp but it still only read 9.56 on the caps displayAny other ideas? I'm going to try grounding the cap to the frame itself instead of to the amp first tomorrow morning hopefully that will do it

[Jahntassa]

That'd be my only guess... You might try discharging and recharging the cap once you move the ground point.To discharge:Pull the fuse under the hood.Put that 'bulb' across the + and - of the cap, wait for it to go out.Recharge:Go up front, place the bulb between the contacts of the fuse holder. Wait for it to go out.Replace the fuseSee if that doesn't help.. AFTER you reground it

[Smokin' Rubber]

Is it possible to "break" the bulb? Because it doesn't seem to want to light up when I put the contacts for it on teh + and - sides of the cap (that could be why it didn't light up when I was trying to charge it in the beginning as well)

[Jahntassa]

It is just a bulb..so yes, you could break it.Once I get off my rear end and send you that linelevel converter, i'll send you another bulb!

[Smokin' Rubber]

Quote, originally posted by Jahntassa »Once I get off my rear end and send you that linelevel converter, i'll send you another bulb!:smiles confusedly:

[Jahntassa]

Or send someone a linelevel converter. I'm so confused lately, i've no idea what i'm talking about.If you NEED a bulb, I can send you one. Though technically you just need a similarly rated resistor and a voltage meter. The bulb just makes it convenient so you can see it go out as the cap charges.

[Smokin' Rubber]

I looks like its a 10 or 20 ohm resistor with +/- 5% tolerance based on the stripes, but I can't tell if the first stripe is red or brown so i can't tell if its 1 or 2. I'm gonna go try to pick a couple up from radio shack tomorrow morning.What happens if you charges it like I did which was just hook it up straight without the bulb? or better yet discharge it without one

[Jahntassa]

Well..worst case scenario is you pop the cap, and it starts spewing out its innards.It's possible to internally damage a cap and not have any external signs of it.. i've seen a couple die like that from not charging..

[Smokin' Rubber]

Today was not the best day for my cars electric systems lol. Ok so little did I realize the first day of trying to install my cap I have fried both the 35 amp fuses in my amp which was part of the reason it wasn't getting power.However I tried charging the cap with the resistors and and it didn't seem to work properly even after I done it. The display still read 9.62 and I checked with the volt meter and with the car off it said 12 volts exactly and while running it said like 13.5. However I do not know if it will actually power the amp because I didn't know that the amp fuses were blown until after I took teh cap totally out and tried the amp to make sure it worked.So then I went to radioshack and got 6 new 35 amp 32v fuses and rewired stuff and regrounded the thing to make sure it wasn't causing some kind of short. So then I flipped the cut off switch to the on position and all the electronics flicker for a second even the engine's and I thought **** it blew again. So i went back to look at the amp and realized that somehow I had the 12+ volt on the ground port of the amp and the GRND on the 12+ of the amp. So i switched that around replaced the fuses and tried flipping the switch again. POP! **** almost died again and i went back to look and sure enough the fuses has fried again. So this time i went and inspected the switch itself. It looked perfectly ok from the outside but I guess that doesn't mean the innards couldn't be F-ed up and shorting stuff out. So I cleaned the contacts off retaped the wires to the switch to make sure they wouldn't be even slightly loose and flipped it again and of course fried the fuses again. So I have no idea now (removed) is causing the fuses to fry every time. I think the little ring terminals you put the 12 volt wires in (the ones that have the hex screw that pinches the wire inside) has something to do with it but I can't see how. Because other than that everything is how it was before I started messing with the cap. Is it possible that I actually blew the amp itself and now sending electricity to it at all makes the fuses for it blow?

[Jahntassa]

It is possible that something in the amp did blow... that stuff is fairly sensitive to which direction current is flowing in. If the fuses are blowing constantly and you're SURE that you have all the connections correct...i'd pretty much say it's a goner..

[Smokin' Rubber]

So then if the amp is busted it CAN cause the fuses to blow on a regular basis? But would the amp have split second drain of power like no other and cause all the electronics in my car to hesitate for a half second?I may try to just totally rewire everything tomorrow from battery back, I really hope its not the amp but I already thought at one point it was so i was prepared to get a new one there goes another $250+ Is there any other way to check the amp physically like open it up to see if its blown?