Actually technical car audio question... How the hell do I reinstall a capacitor?

[brxndxn]

Okay, please don't give me a 'guess' answer. A charged 1Farad capacitor is more than plenty to send a person into cardiac arrest. I don't feel like killing myself right now.

Anyway.. I bought a car that already had a system installed in it. It has a 1F capacitor and two 2channel amps. I was sick of not being able to fade to front/rear (since one amp was powering the sub and the other was powering the four main speakers). So, I bought a 4channel amp and installed it. I unhooked the capacitor... and totally unthinking, I left it unhooked for a long time so it completely discharged.

Now, I have a discharged capacitor that I want to hook back into my system. The System Control and positive wires are still connected and the ground wire is disconnected. Now, I have to figure out how to recharge it.

But, here's the thing.. I don't have the charge card or the resistor that came with the capacitor since I bought the car and never thought to ask about it.

Can I just wing it and watch the sparks fly while I stick the ground? just kidding..

Anyway.. where do I get a resistor that can handle being pummeled to death while charging a capacitor?

 

[Spoooon]

You can just wing it. I did with mine. I didn't even think about using the card. There were some sparks though.

edit: You might wear gloves just in case, just to protect yourself from the sparks.

edit2: I'm serious about the just wing it idea. I screwed down the 12 volt line on the cap and touched the ground to the other post. There were sparks, but not as many as I was expecting. Many more sparks when you discharge the cap.

 

[brxndxn]

so.. you're basically saying just to connect the ground and hold it there while the wires heat up and sparks go flying?

I'll do it.. I just don't want to explode an amplifier and have it leak fluid all over my car

 

[Spoooon]

Originally posted by: brxndxn
so.. you're basically saying just to connect the ground and hold it there while the wires heat up and sparks go flying?

I'll do it.. I just don't want to explode an amplifier and have it leak fluid all over my car

When I installed my cap, I took all my amps out of the circuit.

I read somewhere that the charge card is provided just to prevent sparks and the scarring of the cap that may result from those sparks.

Obviously, be careful when you do it, but it shouldn't be a big deal.

 

[GermyBoy]

a) Depending on the cap, it takes a LONG time to discharge them.
b) Just wing it, caps don't have a lot of current.
c) Trust me here.

 

[brxndxn]

Done.. When the cap was halfway charged (when I initially tried it), it caused some crazy sparks..

However, it's been a few hours and the cap was disharged down to .3V difference between ground terminal and ground terminal in my car.. So, I just connected it and no sparks. Yay.. I now have neato stereo...

...and extra 760W 2Channel Pioneer amp for sale!

 

[brxndxn]

whoops.. did NOT mean to double post

 

[nguyendot1]

lol. you can just wing it. I have installed many a-cap. Tho you could have just gone to radio shack and got a resistor from them. In my car I have a circuit breaker inline, so i just install the caps, then pop the breaker. No sparks, no mess.. fully charged caps

check it out :

Http://members.sounddomain.com/nguyendot