Capacitor stay always on

[ThxOne Premium Member]

What is the science behind that? Faster power delivery in bursts from a cap over a battery?

If you are just burping then you don't need the added weight and space that batteries take up. You can just use the caps.

Yes, caps are faster to discharge and faster to charge.

 

[huberoy123 10+ year member]

Hello everybody and sorry for my english i am from Europe. I buy a new car with an audio installation in. There is in the trunk a capacitor, an amplifier and a sub. I notice that the light of the capacitor stay always on. There is 2 lights and a voltage indicator who stay at 0v. The capacitor is a crunch cr 1000 cap. I notice that there is a sort of box at the end of the wire of the capacitor and the amplifier. I don't understand what's in. My probleme is that do you know if the light on in my capacitor can broke my battery ? I close the car and let my phone filming inside. The lights stay always on even with the trunk and the car closed. Do you know how i can disconnect this capacitor ?

Thanks you all for your help

When I first installed a capacitor, I installed a switch to turn it off and on. When I couldn't see any benefit of using it, I gutted it and use the built-in voltage meter to monitor voltage to my amplifiers in the trunk.

 

[audiobaun 5,000+ posts]

Hello everybody and sorry for my english i am from Europe. I buy a new car with an audio installation in. There is in the trunk a capacitor, an amplifier and a sub. I notice that the light of the capacitor stay always on. There is 2 lights and a voltage indicator who stay at 0v. The capacitor is a crunch cr 1000 cap. I notice that there is a sort of box at the end of the wire of the capacitor and the amplifier. I don't understand what's in. My probleme is that do you know if the light on in my capacitor can broke my battery ? I close the car and let my phone filming inside. The lights stay always on even with the trunk and the car closed. Do you know how i can disconnect this capacitor ?

Thanks you all for your help

These Caps Stay Energized until you De-Energize them.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

If 500F would only power an amp for a few seconds for that kind of money, wouldn’t it make much more sense to run another battery?

That's been my takeaway.

are there other benefits to a cap

Extremely low internal impedance so if you need very large burst current they're the best choice, this is why you use big honking caps in large electric motors to buffer that big instantaneous draw. Still though with modern lithium batteries having some rather stout burst current potential AND just so much more energy reserve I don't think they're terribly practical for the cost unless you're getting a super good deal on them.

In home audio it’s always “more is better”

Have you seen any evidence of this being anything measurable or audible? I find it hard to believe that anything outside of the junk drawer by way of amplifiers don't have adequate capacitance built into the power supply for them to function as intended within their rated operating range.
I'll reach out to someone who knows more about that realm and see if I can get some input, but I'd like to think that <1500W or so there's no reason your wall outlet is going to drop voltage or anything, and there's no reason that throwing the same money into batteries (lithium or AGM) shouldn't get you damn close to the same end result as supercaps in a vehicle.

That all said, there is one guy up here in the northeast that has a proper dB Drag SPL vehicle that just uses a large cap bank but it ONLY needs to do 3 second burst. Now would he get the same numbers spending dollar for dollar on some modern lithium? Who can say, I don't think he'll ever need to replace them for a few shows a year they're going to outlast the vehicle by far.

 

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

That's been my takeaway.

Extremely low internal impedance so if you need very large burst current they're the best choice, this is why you use big honking caps in large electric motors to buffer that big instantaneous draw. Still though with modern lithium batteries having some rather stout burst current potential AND just so much more energy reserve I don't think they're terribly practical for the cost unless you're getting a super good deal on them.

Have you seen any evidence of this being anything measurable or audible? I find it hard to believe that anything outside of the junk drawer by way of amplifiers don't have adequate capacitance built into the power supply for them to function as intended within their rated operating range.
I'll reach out to someone who knows more about that realm and see if I can get some input, but I'd like to think that <1500W or so there's no reason your wall outlet is going to drop voltage or anything, and there's no reason that throwing the same money into batteries (lithium or AGM) shouldn't get you damn close to the same end result as supercaps in a vehicle.

That all said, there is one guy up here in the northeast that has a proper dB Drag SPL vehicle that just uses a large cap bank but it ONLY needs to do 3 second burst. Now would he get the same numbers spending dollar for dollar on some modern lithium? Who can say, I don't think he'll ever need to replace them for a few shows a year they're going to outlast the vehicle by far.

Been a while, but I figured it would pop up in my regular reading material sooner rather than later.
Simaudio Moon 860 home amp. $20,000. 225WPC.
1/4 Farad Capacitance.

 

[hispls 5,000+ posts]

Been a while, but I figured it would pop up in my regular reading material sooner rather than later.
Simaudio Moon 860 home amp. $20,000. 225WPC.
1/4 Farad Capacitance.

View attachment 44620

I'd very much distrust anybody selling amps for 45$ a watt.

 

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

I'd very much distrust anybody selling amps for 45$ a watt.

That’s barely rarified air in home audio. Those guys use interconnects that cost more than my system, lol. I’ve heard some of the lower end of that stuff and even THAT is amazing.

Good on them if they can play on that field.