jaythenewguytojeepn

Has anyone ever used a capacitor for stereos. As a back up fir lights instead of a second battery ...I only ask cuz some dude from work said it would work...but ...........

Gee oh Dee

I always thought they were more of a gimmic.

DIRTDOGXJ

They work great for stereo systems, if you buy a quality one. I don't think they would do any good for lighting though. They are made to charge and discharge rapidly. My guess is if you took a fully charged 1 Farad capacitor and hooked up a single standard halogen light to it, the light would dim after a few seconds.

ragged1

X2 they give you a tiny bulb with leads you connect to the terminals to discharge it. It is empty in about 30 seconds.

Gee oh Dee

I think he's tryimg to prevent headlight dim when the sub hits.

ragged1

His post seems to be that he wants to run his lights on the capacitor as opposed to adding a separate battery.

DIRTDOGXJ

If you are debating adding the capacitor due to your lights dimming, don't waste your time. Upgrade your alternator and/or battery. Possibly add a second battery.

jaythenewguytojeepn

I was going to use it instead of a second battery ...I was going to do a second battery until that dude told me that...next question were should I mount the second battery

DIRTDOGXJ

Either make room under the hood or in the rear cargo area in a battery box. Is your alternator good?

Cateyerr

Capacitors are for maintaining a fluctuating voltage, which is why they work great for stereo systems - a hard sub hit drops the voltage for split second, and the capacitor picks up the slack so the battery and alternator don't see the big drop, more of a steady draw. They smooth out the peaks and valleys of the voltage. But capacitors are terrible at storing charge, with a constant draw on one (such as a high wattage light) it would discharge in less than a second.

jeepheep1

I have lota of experience with audio equipment, and like the other guys are saying either upgrade the alternator(the big 3) or a secondary deep cycle battery IMO I MOUNT that under the back seat

jaythenewguytojeepn

Thanks ...yes I tested it with a voltage meter...14.1 just running..13.8 with everything on...but I want to upgrade my lights and battery ....I see that u said one of the big 3 alternator ...sorry new to this...what are they?

jeepheep1

The big 3 is a very simple upgrade. All you're doing is upgrading the wires running from the negative terminal to the chassis, the alternator to the positive terminal, and chassis to the engine. This upgrade allows for a more stable current flow and less strain on both the alternator and battery.

T-VIS

Reason why is electricity flows from - to +, not + to -, the better the ground the better current flows. Pluss it will help out with your spark witch gives you a better idle and in some cases better fuel mileage. if you run a CB/Ham radio you'll notice a better receive and lower noise and you'll transmit farther becouse your Jeep wont be absorbing as much RF. Grounding makes a world of difference.

jeepheep1

X2