Thread: Finding +and- on a cap

my suggestion is don't even use it. they don't really do anything.

Originally Posted by jasonball

my suggestion is don't even use it. they don't really do anything.

I have it already, it can't hurt anything to have it and The display is kinda cool, so if I can figure out which way it hooks up properly I would like to use it.

Originally Posted by Sabrewings

Actually, it can. Once it becomes discharged (after the first hit), it will do nothing but add a load to your alternator instead of helping it.

So what purpose do they really serve then? Just wondering. A friend of mine has a 5 farrad cap on his system which consists of 1 3000 watt power accoustic amp 2 12 p accoustic subs and an alpine 4 channel and the lights still dim on bass hits?

A cap can be very helpful with minor light dimming/voltage drop situations, as it stores power and discharges it very quickly...much quicker than a battery. A cap is essentially a battery, but it can charge up much faster, discharge energy much faster and take a lot less toll on your charging system overall (not to mention it weighs a fraction of a batteries weight)....any more than a 1-2f cap is useless, and likely will start to over-tax your charging system (much like additional batteries)...the absolute one and only thing that makes power is an alternator, batteries and caps simply store power... so if your low on voltage upgrade your alternator!

As for your cap, i really can not see there being no markings unless the stickers got peeled off or something??...hooking up a cap backwards can be dangerous, so i would look into the make and model try pulling up some information on it, perhaps e-mail the company.