Stereo & Electronics - need info about capacitors

somewhat new to stereo systems, or at least new to understanding them beyond the fact they are loud. having a bad power drain problem, and im going to try a cap for the fix. just wondering about a few things....

Farads....??? what the hell are these, lol?

and just any general info would help, thanks!

Well by definition is the unit of capacitance is a farad. A 1-farad capacitor can store one coulomb (coo-lomb) of charge at 1 volt. A coulomb is 6.25e18 (6.25 * 10^18, or 6.25 billion billion) electrons. One amp represents a rate of electron flow of 1 coulomb of electrons per second, so a 1-farad capacitor can hold 1 amp-second of electrons at 1 volt.



In simple terms a cap acts like a quick battery. They discharge extremely quickly when your battery cannot. The basic rule of thumb is 1 Farad (farad is a unit of measure) for every 1000 watts. Remember to keep your caps positive wire as close to the positive side of amp. Good grounds for caps are critical (make sure to scratch the paint off for bare metal). Discharging a cap is quite dangerous, so make sure that you do not jump/short the +/- side of the cap. I always use a resistor when charging the cap up for the first time.

Thank you. Answered just about every question i could think of. Thanks for the advice!

how many amps is your amplifiers drawing?

I have a MTx amp running in mono, putting out around 550 watts. Before a capacitor I was getting dimming lights everytime the bass hit and at stop lights the most. I put in a cheap $40 .5 fared cap and stopped the dimming. Put that cap after a year in my wifes care and bought a cheap 3 farad cap off ebay and it has worked great.

i bought two 1 farad capacitors, they worked great until i switch to two amps, then it was like they didnt exist, or atleast the electrical system was back to normal.

im running a crossifre VR602 amp....rated at 600 watts, not what it is actually putting out, dont get me to lying. like i said, i dont know much about the specifics on stereo systems. i have this amp ran to two Digital Designs competition 10s.