Originally posted by Steve Benthal Jr.:
How do you charge your cap to your battery w/out a charge card?

Steve



Steve, sounds like a punchline is missing...lol. Installing a cap is like adding a fuse inline. Only upon first installation you need to charge the cap slowly. A 100 ohm 1/2 watt resistor is used inline on the + side of the cap.

The main reason this is used is that so you do not jolt your self or the top of the cap. Have you ever installed an amp and when you attach that one last cable you get a spark?

Well that spark is created because you just charges the small caps in your amp. The 1 Farad cap is several times bigger (depending on amp) and will create one hell of a spark, that is why the resistor is there.

Originally posted by contouranado:
but another "myth" is also that a capacitator is a solution for a weak alternator. like i said most contour owners wont need a HO alt., but many people on other forums, are using 2 1200.1 amplifiers off a car with a 95A alternator, and thinking their cap is going to be sufficient.



That is correct a cap will be pointless, a cap and a second battery would be best or just a second battery would be better then a cap.

Originally posted by contouranado:
you may have drawn 300a off 4 batteries, but i'm saying i've talked to a lot of people with dead alternators, because the blared bass music at 90% volume with only about 1000 rms amps.



So you think I never listened to my stereo at full volume? and What exactly is 1000 rms amps? My stereo would draw over 300amps of current (alt is a teeennyy-tiiinny 95A) basically it was over 4000 watts of real power just for the two subs (not a Pyramid rating, real power) and another 500 watts to each kick panel. I played plenty of bass, trust me

Originally posted by contouranado:
there are cars with small dimming problems that can be fixed with a cap, but all i'm saying is
lots of people, especially people online are buying a cap(sometimes 2 or 3) or a yellow top and draining their alternator even more, when they really need to upgrade to a high output alternator.




Adding a properly charged second battery will not cause added stress to a charging system. If you use an isolator (which I do not recommend) you can drain the rear battery with the car off and upon starting the car after a period of playing, that will stress an ALT. Make sure both battteries are evenly charged, no damage will come to the ALT. I had over 155,000 miles on mine and it just died about 2 months ago. Today there is nothing left in the car and it failed because of worn brushes. Some tiny imports may need a bigger alt, but a second battery is certainly a cheaper and more practical route.

Think about it, a bass note hits, what do you think is more important - Having a second battery that will absorb the impact of the demand (slower then a cap, but for a muuuuuuch longer period of time) or getting a HO ALT that has to rely on a voltage regulator that has a delay built in to reduce voltage spikes. All ford ALT (and probably all of today cars) have a delay in the voltage regulator. IIRC it ranges from 4 sec to 11 sec depending on car and type of ALT. (I use to work a rebuilding facility )

Originally posted by contouranado:
it is dangerous to electrical systems



So is misinformation

Previous Owner of 00 SVT Contour #1077/2150 95 Contour SE '01 3L