nyzrox
Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Nottinghamshire Drives: MK4 Astra GSi
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Hi,
So i had a read of Tim's guid on wiring up these things!
Basically i have not finished wiring up the car yet, but i have a 0Gauge wiring kit running from battery to back of car into a distributor then onto 4Gauge cable which when done will be into 2 amps, 1 mono block 1000watt max and a multi channel 800watt max.
Il be running this off my standard battery!!! You think i would benifit from having a Power Capacitor on the live cable... and were would it be wired before distribution block or after?
I have a unfused distribution block as well for earths...
What farad would be advised to use wil 1.0 Farad be eniugh or maybe 1.2, 1.5???
Cheers
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craig8
Premium Member
Registered: 31st Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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nope, you wont need it
E36 328
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nyzrox
Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Nottinghamshire Drives: MK4 Astra GSi
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How can you be so sure i dnt need 1 mate?
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AaronHorn
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Registered: 30th Jun 06
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Power caps are kind of stupid I think, fashion accessories if you like. Indeed they can help if your head lights are dimming but otherwise they woun't do much. You have thick wiring and presumably a decent battery so you are unlikely to need one anyway. What I would say is ensure your ground wiring from battery to chassis and chassis to distro is also good and thick.
But then it's your money, personally I'd rather have a better head unit/amp/speaker/whatever than buying powercaps.
Thinking about it 1000 and 800W max isn't that much anyway, not for the wiring you've got any how.
EDIT: To answer your question, you woun't notice any difference between 1 1.25 etc especially if you don't have any problems, it's unlikely to make your system any louder/more powerful. Personally I'd wire before the distro on the live line but you could wire one inline with each amp after the distro if you have more money than sense
[Edited on 06-08-2006 by AaronHorn]
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nyzrox
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Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Nottinghamshire Drives: MK4 Astra GSi
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Thank you for your response.
Well i got a 100a under the bonnet and then 2x 100a in the distro block so i think i should be fine anyways with regards to power.
just got standard battery so all should be good i presume.
so i will not waste any money on a power cap 
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arbi12
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Registered: 22nd Feb 04
Location: newcastle
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waste of time on any system ,better off putting money into deisel alternator and battery, pick alternator up at scrapyard for £20-£30 battery £30-£50
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AaronHorn
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Registered: 30th Jun 06
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By 100A, I presume you mean fuses, you should have the lowest rated possible with fuses, maybe 100amp at the engine side is fine but I'd be tempted to go with lower values for the 4 guage wires coming out of the distro but then according to http://www.mmxpress.com/technical/wiregauge.htm, 4 guage can carry 100+ amps when the length is <1m so you should be fine with 100amp since presumably you're amps will be fused to their designed specs.
As I mentioned before, make sure you have enough earthing, on the corsa I think there is only 4 guage running to the firewall, I'd be tempted to add another piece of 4 guage just to be sure.
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nyzrox
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Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Nottinghamshire Drives: MK4 Astra GSi
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0Gauge all way from engine to distroblock. then got 2x 4Gauge out of them, whtta will be less then 1M so il be fine, then the earths joing to a disto block with 4Gauge wire and then out the distro block to 0Gauge to the main earth
were is best where? in the spare wheel well?
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craig8
Premium Member
Registered: 31st Dec 04
Location: Glasgow
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should have gave an explanation but was in a hurry, luckly AaronHorn seems to have covered it 
E36 328
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corsa_lover
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Registered: 2nd Feb 03
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At the risk of being ganged upon as i know people on this site dont like power caps i think power caps are a personal preference. What you need to ask yourself is what you want from your system and how far your prepared to take it. What a power cap does is not save your battery power youd need a second battery for that it just evens out the flow of power from your battery the advantage being less strain on your battery and faster supply of power to your amp. I do agree however that for a system like yours you probably wont need one its more for competition systems that are trying to fine tune there system. Remember if your struggling for power abc upgrade in this order - alternator, battery power cap but as i mentioned before i dont think you need to take it to c.
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csweatherston
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Registered: 16th Jan 06
Location: Devon
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erm...what ???^^ a power cap does the same as the cap built into an amplifier....just looks snazzier
the best place to put your earth is back to the battery using more zero guage
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nyzrox
Member
Registered: 19th Jan 06
Location: Nottinghamshire Drives: MK4 Astra GSi
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to far to battery, earthed on chassis behind o/s/r lights
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AaronHorn
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Registered: 30th Jun 06
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Urgh, whatever you do, don't run an earth wire. Not only is it a waste of money you're just going to be picking up more engine noise and interference. The point of earthing through the chassis is that everything else also earths through the chassis so the potential between all electrical components in the car is 0. If you run wire you could end up with a potential difference between your head unit and amp, then you get noise.
As for caps, yes amps do have them but external ones are bigger and have more energy storage, still see my post above about them. The ones in the amp are more to do with current smothing and removing spikes or so I thought?
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csweatherston
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Registered: 16th Jan 06
Location: Devon
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yes - current smoothing and removing spikes......thats all an external one will do...the amp capacitor is plenty,
power caps do not store power!!
hava a browse of talk audio's site...this may be more help to you, as everyone here seems to be an expert lol
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AaronHorn
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Registered: 30th Jun 06
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quote:
Originally posted by BlackerSport
yes - current smoothing and removing spikes......thats all an external one will do...the amp capacitor is plenty,
power caps do not store power!!
hava a browse of talk audio's site...this may be more help to you, as everyone here seems to be an expert lol
Erm so if they don't store power what do they do? Check out
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=define%3A+capacitor&meta=
Also plug your beer can cap into your battery, disconnect it and put your finger across the polls  . Then tell me that they don't hold charge.
[Edited on 14-08-2006 by AaronHorn]
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