Subwoofer issues Options

[Liam_c]

Hey everyone!

Just got my sound setup all put in (nothing huge)

Whats the best way to secure a 12" Sub box in the boot? So its easy to access the spare tyre etc.

Also, when i have my sub cranking at night (headlights on full beam) they tend to have a slight flicker with the beat. Could this be from a bad earth? Or do i need to upgrade my battery? Or even my alternator?

[tto010]

a capacitor does not do anything. many say it helps giving extra boost blablabla, but at the best, it MAY remove some noise from dynamo and reduce ripples.

it is only good for:
Jewelry in the trunk to impress chicks with a cylindrical shiny thing,
Extra weight
A very poor and expensive connection point
A projectile in event of a crash
A expensive rolling pin if you gotta cook something in your trunk on a trip.
Something you can brag about: Hey maan check this, ive got a condensator to fix all my battery problems.

A Capacitor only delivers around like 100W over almost 1 sec... well worth the bucks!! cheaper to go buy a scrapped battery at the junkyard and connect it up in your trunk, and it works way better because a battery delivers the power of 200++ capacitors.

It is funny how many that think capacitors work... I myself belive it triggers a "placebo effect"...


The easyest, and best way to improve it is better battery with lower inner ressistance (E) so it can deliver bigger discharges, and improve connections...

Edit: Soo, Bigger dynamo and battery is the way to go if you want to stop the flickering because when the lights flicker it is because your voltage dropps when the sub "suck the most" and the alternator cant keep the voltage up so it draws from the battery as well.

This post has been edited by tto010: Jan 19, 2013 - 11:52 AM

[Special_Edy]

a capacitor does not do anything. many say it helps giving extra boost blablabla, but at the best, it MAY remove some noise from dynamo and reduce ripples.

it is only good for:
Jewelry in the trunk to impress chicks with a cylindrical shiny thing,
Extra weight
A very poor and expensive connection point
A projectile in event of a crash
A expensive rolling pin if you gotta cook something in your trunk on a trip.
Something you can brag about: Hey maan check this, ive got a condensator to fix all my battery problems.

A Capacitor only delivers around like 100W over almost 1 sec... well worth the bucks!! cheaper to go buy a scrapped battery at the junkyard and connect it up in your trunk, and it works way better because a battery delivers the power of 200++ capacitors.

It is funny how many that think capacitors work... I myself belive it triggers a "placebo effect"...


The easyest, and best way to improve it is better battery with lower inner ressistance (E) so it can deliver bigger discharges, and improve connections...

Edit: Soo, Bigger dynamo and battery is the way to go if you want to stop the flickering because when the lights flicker it is because your voltage dropps when the sub "suck the most" and the alternator cant keep the voltage up so it draws from the battery as well.

Haha, I guess electronics work by magic. All those capacitors inside everything from your TV to your cell phone must be TOTALLY useless.

I had to put decoupling capacitors on my sequential turn signal to make it work right. The cmos chips were too sensitive for the jitter caused by the 555 timer, adding a capacitor to the power supply fixed this. But Im sure it was because of magic and not because a capacitor is perhaps the most useful electronic component ever manufactured.(google RC, resistor-capacitor circuit)

A capacitor doesnt need to supply power for longer than even a few microseconds. When the amplitude of the music goes high, the capacitor drains, when the amplitude goes low or the wave crosses zero, the capacitor recharges. It does this hundreds to thousands of times a second, it is a decoupling capacitor and it smooths out the ripple from the power supply.

Adding a battery to the trunk is a stupid idea. Youve added 40lbs of unnecessary weight, you need a sophisticated electronic relay to keep it from supplying power back to the main battery or else you need to run a 0 or 2 gauge wire all the way to the trunk. Because when you hit the starter, its going to try to draw amperage from both batteries, and the 6-10 gauge wire running to the trunk isnt large enough and will get toasted.
The sulfur fumes from the battery are toxic, and youve now placed a battery inside the passenger compartment. The hydrogen fumes are explosive, and the trunk is not as well ventilated as the engine compartment. Youve also got a half gallon of battery acid in your trunk that can possibly spill.
A battery also cost money
If you use a bad battery it will kill the alternator and main battery in the engine compartment.



Need I go on?

This post has been edited by Special_Edy: Jan 19, 2013 - 1:58 PM

[tto010]

a capacitor does not do anything. many say it helps giving extra boost blablabla, but at the best, it MAY remove some noise from dynamo and reduce ripples.

it is only good for:
Jewelry in the trunk to impress chicks with a cylindrical shiny thing,
Extra weight
A very poor and expensive connection point
A projectile in event of a crash
A expensive rolling pin if you gotta cook something in your trunk on a trip.
Something you can brag about: Hey maan check this, ive got a condensator to fix all my battery problems.

A Capacitor only delivers around like 100W over almost 1 sec... well worth the bucks!! cheaper to go buy a scrapped battery at the junkyard and connect it up in your trunk, and it works way better because a battery delivers the power of 200++ capacitors.

It is funny how many that think capacitors work... I myself belive it triggers a "placebo effect"...


The easyest, and best way to improve it is better battery with lower inner ressistance (E) so it can deliver bigger discharges, and improve connections...

Edit: Soo, Bigger dynamo and battery is the way to go if you want to stop the flickering because when the lights flicker it is because your voltage dropps when the sub "suck the most" and the alternator cant keep the voltage up so it draws from the battery as well.

Haha, I guess electronics work by magic. All those capacitors inside everything from your TV to your cell phone must be TOTALLY useless.

I had to put decoupling capacitors on my sequential turn signal to make it work right. The cmos chips were too sensitive for the jitter caused by the 555 timer, adding a capacitor to the power supply fixed this. But Im sure it was because of magic and not because a capacitor is perhaps the most useful electronic component ever manufactured.(google RC, resistor-capacitor circuit)

A capacitor doesnt need to supply power for longer than even a few microseconds. When the amplitude of the music goes high, the capacitor drains, when the amplitude goes low or the wave crosses zero, the capacitor recharges. It does this hundreds to thousands of times a second, it is a decoupling capacitor and it smooths out the ripple from the power supply.

Adding a battery to the trunk is a stupid idea. Youve added 40lbs of unnecessary weight, you need a sophisticated electronic relay to keep it from supplying power back to the main battery or else you need to run a 0 or 2 gauge wire all the way to the trunk. Because when you hit the starter, its going to try to draw amperage from both batteries, and the 6-10 gauge wire running to the trunk isnt large enough and will get toasted.
The sulfur fumes from the battery are toxic, and youve now placed a battery inside the passenger compartment. The hydrogen fumes are explosive, and the trunk is not as well ventilated as the engine compartment. Youve also got a half gallon of battery acid in your trunk that can possibly spill.
A battery also cost money
If you use a bad battery it will kill the alternator and main battery in the engine compartment.



Need I go on?

Acually, i know that the condensator is a very neat component, i was talking about the ones for stereo... its a beast when we talk about mA. But when it comes to delivering high amounts of burst, a battery with a low inner ressistance is the thing but they are expensive... so how to svolve it cheap?? another battery...

Yes i know that adding a battery costs more money, there is acid in it (Gel battery = no spill and no gases) And you gotta get a battery that is compatable with your existing battery. 6-10 gauge is enough... i bet you dont have anything bigger then 50gauge al cable to your house... and the starter does not draw more power than your house... the cable to the original battery is 10 gauge, why is not that fried? and when you have 2 batteries, it will draw half from each battery, or more from the one in front since its less ressistance to get to it... and 10 gauge is nothing for a power cable to the stereo...


and, Math to prove condensator does not do anything worth the money.

If we calculate how much Joule it delivers (Watts in secounds-ish... 10 joule = 1watt for 1 sec or 5watt for 2 sec) The formula to find the answer is
W (Joule) = (F (farad) / 2) x U (Squared Charge voltage)
with a extremely big condensator... (20 Farad)
(20F / 2) X (14x14) = 1960 joules (196watts for 1 sec, i.e. enough to power your headlight for almost 4 sec... and if you have a 1kw amp, 0.2 sec)
so, thats the extremely overkill one, probably bigger and more expensive then a battery and alternator... so here is the calculations on a 1F (normal one)
(1F/2) X (14x14) = 98 Joules (98 watts for 1 sec, i.e. headlamps for almost 2 sec, or 1kw amp for 0.1 sec)
If we compare that to a battery, thats badly discharged would be like 2M Joule... this is because battery does not "store" energy, it "makes" it with chemical reactions (gel batteries does not make gasses, but water batteries does).

That explained how it works...

Battery/Alternator = 14,2v

If the potential is getting lower over the battery/alternator then it is over the amp, then the condensator will discharge the other way, so that it will be utterly useless. (potential is not current...)

AND, since the capacitor have a potential above itself all the time, it means it will never go below 10volts, that means on our oversized capacitor, most of the Joules becomes unusable, around 1000 of them... that means we only have 960 Joules...

Because of the Heat it develops when we discharge the Cap, we will lose 13% at 100 amps.. that means we dont have 860 joules (34) any more, but

If the capacitor is 0.017 ohms (No capacitor will get this low) and 100 amps is flowing through it that means it will have 1,7 volts over it... this means you have less voltage over the amp... 12,5 volts... That means the amp will require more power because the voltage dropps.

The Load (100 ohm) will consume 1250 watts from the Capacitor. Since there is some Voltage over the Capacitor, there will be 1420 Watts over the Cap and Amp. This means that 170 Watts go to waste in heat in the capacitor.


This means that the cap can work if there is ONLY alternator and a Amp... but there is just so much more to it than that... i have just written down ESR and the amount of Joule it delivers, but how the alternator/battery works and the different systems on the car require power as well. when everything is mashed together, it is so little difference that it is not worth spending the 100 bucks on a Capacitor... either play the music lower when it is dark, or change your alternator/battery and check connections...

And, the lights flicker because the voltage dropps... and the voltage has to dropp for the capacitor to discharge, but it can only substain the headlights for a half secound if it was ONLY Headlights when you have a big ass capacitor on 20F...

BTW, i have a amp on 2500watts and one on 1300watts, i can play on max volume without any flickering on the lights... and i have original battery and alternator.