MX-3.com

Hey guys,
I got a 1 farad cap from a friend of mine and it says in the instructions say to "charge" the cap with the supplied resistor or lightbulb. I have neither.....Anyone know how to hook this thing up and get it charged??? Please help!!

charge it with your cars electrical system. first you need to disconnect the power wire from your battery. ground the cap. run your main power wire to the cap itself and run another power wire to your amp. after you have this finished you can reconnect the power wire to your battery. start your car up so the cap can charge and it will not drain your battery. hope this helps

The instructions say to use a resistor or something to charge it correctly so you dont get a huge spark...any ideas??

i have done a few of them this way with my car, never had a big spark. even the local stereo shops around here hook them up that way.

A resistor isn't needed. Just hook the power to it. It charges instantaneously once it sees power. You might get a very small spark, but it shouldn't be a worry unless you're installing the cap directly in your gas tank with 20 lbs. of C4 strapped to your car.<p>You'll be fine.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by lakersfan1:
A resistor isn't needed. Just hook the power to it. It charges instantaneously once it sees power. You might get a very small spark, but it shouldn't be a worry unless you're installing the cap directly in your gas tank with 20 lbs. of C4 strapped to your car.<p>You'll be fine.<hr></blockquote>
How the hell did you know where I keep my C4!!!

my buddy has a capacitor charger and any respectable shop should have one too.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by lakersfan1:
Just hook the power to it. It charges instantaneously once it sees power. You might get a very small spark, but it shouldn't be a worry unless you're installing the cap directly in your gas tank with 20 lbs. of C4 strapped to your car.<p>You'll be fine.<hr></blockquote><p>sorry, but you won't be fine.
If you do this, this can cause a spark powerful enough to weld.
your connectors are just going to melt.
By just connecting it, you'll charge that cap w/ too much power.
You need to use a resistor OR a light circuit tester OR a volt meter to properly charge a cap.<p>I charge my car like:<p>gound to gound.
power wire (cap -> amp) - connect.
power wire to digital display - connect<p>power wire --> light circuit tester --> to cap
your fully charged when the light goes off.
use the digital display to help see the charge or a volt meter.<p>here's my sounddomain page...<p>
My Sounddomain Page<p>[ July 16, 2003: Message edited by: pizza ]</p>

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by pizza:
<p>sorry, but you won't be fine.
If you do this, this can cause a spark powerful enough to weld.<hr></blockquote><p>Whatever. That's why Richard Clark went around at a show once and stuck a cap down the front of his pants and discharged it to show how safe it was. That was some 8 years ago he did this (and he's an f'ing engineer), yet this stupid myth about the dangers of a discharging cap still persist to this day.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by lakersfan1:
<p>Whatever. That's why Richard Clark went around at a show once and stuck a cap down the front of his pants and discharged it to show how safe it was. That was some 8 years ago he did this (and he's an f'ing engineer), yet this stupid myth about the dangers of a discharging cap still persist to this day.<hr></blockquote><p>sure buddy...may be you should read that this post is about "charging" a cap and not discharging.

I'm an electrical engineer. While I can't tell you if you will get a huge spark when you turn on the system, I can tell you that 1 farad is a TON of energy. So be careful. To get a feeling for how big 1 farad is, the caps that I usually use in designing normal circuitry range from the micro (10e-6) to the pico (10e-12) farad range.

Okay. I ran all the wiring and pulled the fuse out of the engine bay to my amp before completing all the wiring. Then I slowly started to put the fuse back in. WOW what a spark. It threw an arc about two inches and then was fine. No probs.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Len-Dogg:
I'm an electrical engineer. While I can't tell you if you will get a huge spark when you turn on the system, I can tell you that 1 farad is a TON of energy. So be careful. To get a feeling for how big 1 farad is, the caps that I usually use in designing normal circuitry range from the micro (10e-6) to the pico (10e-12) farad range.<hr></blockquote><p>However, a 1 farad cap has a much higher ESR than the microfarad rated caps you include in a circuit. However, I'm not ever trying to argue theory. In applicationnoone has ever been severely injured hooking up an automotive 12Volt stiffening capacitor.

Jarid,
When I installed a .5 farad cap in my bug I charged it with a light circuit tester. If you want, give me a call and I can help.
Steve

It is working fine. No more dimming lights and the bass does seem better.