Capacitors

[Domsz06]

Ok,

so what's everyone feel about capacitors on a boat? I have heard they are good, but also bad. I was just wondering as with 5 subs, thought they might help those amps. But then again with 4 batts, maybe it won't be that bad.

SPharris? you there?

[chpthril]

Ok,

so what's everyone feel about capacitors on a boat? I have heard they are good, but also bad. I was just wondering as with 5 subs, thought they might help those amps. But then again with 4 batts, maybe it won't be that bad.

SPharris? you there?

They are good for those unruly riders

[Domsz06]

ha ha ha

[zad0030]

Dom i think 2,000 of your posts are you laughing.

[spharis]

Caps are usually a band-aid for small systems, but in your case, you may warrant one. If you go back to the water analogy on stereo systems, a capacitor would be like a little water bottle. The faucet (amp) get turned on max and there isn't enough volume of water coming from the pump (alternator), then the little water bottle can give a small amount to keep the faucet flowing at the correct rate. The problem is that little bottle has to be refilled as well as still allow the water to flow to the faucet. Caps also have very low resistance, so they will take charge faster than your amp; basically robbing power from it. The cure for a poor electrical system is a properly sized alternator; in your case though an alt that big isn't going to be readily available, so caps may help out. A cap also discharges way faster than a battery. Caps are supposed to also aid in the non-steady charging you get from an alt due to current demand in the electrical system. whatever.

I am usually against caps vs. upgrading the electrical, but you can read up on caps and what they do at bcae1.com

More info there than I can type, and the guy who writes it is very knowledgable.

Here's a quote from there

The diagram below shows what a stiffening capacitor is supposed_to_do for a car audio system. You can see how the ripple is reduced now that the capacitor is connected. The dips in voltage are smaller. If the capacitor does its job, the added voltage (less voltage drop means higher voltage available to the amplifier) would give you more power output, especially with amps with unregulated power supplies. You probably noticed that I said 'supposed_to_do' earlier. This is because there has been some discussion as to whether a capacitor is a help or a hinderence when it comes to keeping the voltage at a higher level than without it. Of course, if you ask someone that's spent more than $100 on a capacitor if it helped, they'll tell you that it has. Why on earth would someone 'fess up' to wasting that much money on 'snake oil'. I've yet to see a capacitor increase the SPL in any system.

[Domsz06]

Ok, that makes sense and is what I had read/remembered from before. If my alt doesn't keep up, I'll talk to DB to see if they can custom make me one. If they can't, then I guess I'll put the caps in. What I'm hoping/guessing is that for normal ops I won't need to turn it up that loud, as with that many subs and what not it should be loud. Just need it for the rare ear drum busting moments. In that case I'll just have the boat on and what not. I guess we shall just see. I would think that doubling my Alt will for sure help, as I'm not adding that much more power then I already had. Just keep the fingers crossed.

Side note

Spharris,

you think 1 0 gauge to the amps is gonna be ok, or do you think I will need to run 2 lenghts of 0?

[spharis]

What is your total load? (total the amps draw)

[Moki]

Where are you finding the room to put all this stuff without taking all of your storage space?

[da.bell]

Dom probably has one of those floating islands that he is planning to pull behind him.

[Domsz06]

ha ha ha!! you all are so funny! I wanted to take a pic with all of my stuff to show you how much stuff I'm putting in, but I can't wait any longer.

Basically the batts are going in the back for extra ballast, and I got smaller fat sac back there. Subs go under seats, where I dont store anything anyway, and amps go in a new rack being made in the port side storage. So will still have lots of storage space

[zad0030]

ha ha ha!! you all are so funny! I wanted to take a pic with all of my stuff to show you how much stuff I'm putting in, but I can't wait any longer.

Basically the batts are going in the back for extra ballast, and I got smaller fat sac back there. Subs go under seats, where I dont store anything anyway, and amps go in a new rack being made in the port side storage. So will still have lots of storage space

If you had the guts and didnt use it you probably could remake the cooler into a place for some stuff.

[Domsz06]

amps draw 4750 watts. Do you need more?

[Domsz06]

If you had the guts and didnt use it you probably could remake the cooler into a place for some stuff.

cooler will probably have to be used for a cooling system, drawing cool air off the bottome and blowing into the compartment.

[Moki]

Sounds great, I can't wait to see the pics! You may be the first to install a generator to run everything or a perhaps a small nuclear plant! Where did you get the 130 amp alt from?

[spharis]

Yes....what is the total fused amp draw on the amps? Add all the recommended fuse ratings together. And how far in feet from batteries to amp/distro block/??