i got a 1 farad capacitor and it tells me to "charge" it up before install or something. it came with a small charging circuit board with and LED on it to "charge" it.

i see this as a totally pointless thing to do, why cant i just wire it up and go??

thanx

 

also the charging board comes with a 1k resistor on it, i just dont see the need to precharge the capacitor. i cant see why i cant just wire it up without charging it and turn it on from there.

will i risk damaging anything if i dont "charge" up the capacitor ??

 

A 1 farad capacitor is a dead short when discharged; pre charging will reduce the initial current surge when the cap is connected to the battery, this will avoid sparks and blown fuses. Once charged, treat the cap the same as the battery.

Jeff

 

thanks for the reply, i did a little more research on charging it and the 1k resistor is going keep it from surging basicly, i also found out that it needs to be charged so its as close as it can be to the batteries voltage so it doesn't surge more power trying to balance out the voltage difference.

so ill be hooking up the resistor, wait until its about 12 volts. take the resistor out and connect everything back up.

the thing i am most worried about is playing around with a fully charged 1 farad capacitor, i must be extra careful wen reconnecting wires back up to it or ill blow my hand off and start arc welding my amp's wires.

thanx again

 

it's like a shrapnel bomp.
i have a 2 farad on mine, and it almost always sparks with the battery, so just don't worry if you hear it or see it
or maybe there is something wrong with mine, i dunno

 

well i hooked everything up and it sparked a little bit, but after the first few seconds it was fine. the resistor smoked a little, don't know if thats a bad thing.

but anyways after hooking it all up, i noted a big improvement in the low end punch i never knew could sound so good. even just over all bass sound is much better and i am not telling a placebo effect story. it really made a nice improvement in bass sound across the board. mainly because the capacitor is smoothing out the ruff current from the alternator and sending my amp a pure signal. low end bass (40 hz and below) is much stronger and smoother. 20 hz is like a massage

thanx u all

and sparking is normal because the first cycle of the capacitor is a hella lot of amps

 

How long are you charging it? Are you sure the resistor is 1k? Even one rated for 1/4W should be able to charge a cap up to 12V without smoking. A 2W 100ohm might be a better choice. You can also use the resistor to discharge the cap safely before you accidentally arc-weld something...

 

it was a charging circuit board that came with the capacitor, it included a 1k ohm resistor and an led to tell you wen its charged. the resistor heated up very fast for the first 2 volts of charging and started to smoke more than just a little. it wasn't until about 4 volts it stopped smoking. i guess as each cycle of the charging rounds got smaller it dropped off in current.

it might have been a crapped board/resistor i think, next time ill pull out the fuse replace it with a larger 1k resistor and just keep a voltmeter on it until its charged. much safer i guess. then put the fuse back in.

anyways it all worked out

 

ditch the cap. it's worthless...do the big 3

 

you have to charge the capacitor before connecting it, I just installed one last night it isn't hard. The way I did it may not be the way your instructions tell you but it works.

disconnect your power lead from the battery-
connect everything as shown in instructions-
now when you go to connect the power lead to the battery put a 12v light bulb between the power line and + terminal-
wait for the light to go off *cap is charged-

very carefully connect back to the + terminal of the battery don't short the wire or touch the car while holding the + lead

 

only reason that is there is so that it doesnt "arc" when power is applied to it the first time because it charges instantly. when it "arcs" it presents the chance of leaving a small scorch mark. ive prolly installed 40 or so and never once used it.

 

The way I understand it you need to actually hook the cap up backwards to charge it. Then once it is charged you should lick the terminals to test it.