Capacitors? Alternator upgrades?

[nautiques4life]

As the title says, wondering who uses them and/or what everyone thinks about capacitors and or alternator upgrades. I was at best buy today and a 15 year old sale associate was on a mission to tell me how badly I need a cap for my system. I understand the logic of how they work, but its not very often the headlights on my SAN dim; any of you have any experience with them or considered upgrading their alternator, thanks.

[Latonkaboarder]

It depends on what type of system you have. If it is the stock system then don't worry about it. Do you have problems with the stereo clipping out when you have it up loud? How many batteries are in your boat now, 1, 2? There are too many variables involved to give you an answer, but I wouldn't waste the money on a capacitor. If you need more power I would add another battery, such as a Kinetic or something similar that is designed for stereos.

[RyanATX]

more batts, not caps

[nautiques4life]

Here's the reason I even started looking into/conisdering caps or alt upgrade... been having an issue with just my tower speakers- not sure what it is, (don't think its clipping, think its something else) what happens is that at high volumes, I'll loose the tower speakers, and just the tower speakers- not any cabin or sub. Then I drop volume back down to like 20- they come back on. Also this only happens while boat is running, can't recreate the issues in the garage (while its running on batteries- just while on the lake running off alt). Running 3 amps, 6 cabin speakers, 6 tower speakers, and 1 sub, w/ batteries. Hence looking into alt/cap vs. more batteries. (Plus, not gonna lie, cap is way smaller than adding another battery in a 210) thanks guys

[CradGen2]

Sounds like you have a Heat issue on the tower Amps. I had a frield with a Kicker amp for his tower speakers that would go out on the water. We could duplicate on the trailer either. We put a new same model AMP in and haven't had the issue since. I think he fried some voltage reply from heat. Your amp could have some kind of voltage monitor...

[nautiques4life]

do you know if an amp can be tested? IE, pull it, take it to best buy or some other place & have them run diagnostics on it before I buy a new one?

[EarmarkMarine]

4life,

Pertaining to stiffening capacitors on a boat: Usually in an automotive application when you initially power up a large cap the manufacturer strongly suggests that you use the supplied resistor to slowly charge the capaitor. Otherwise, repeatedly applying power to a totally discharged cap would eventually damage the cap and the damaged cap would create other problems for your charging system and audio system.

In a vehicle installation the capacitor is always tied in parallel with the battery and never fully discharged. But in a boat it is often necesaary to isolate your compenents during storage. So it would be impractical, or at minimum an inconvenience, to slow charge the cap every weekend.

From a different perspective, boats are often used at rest where the voltage rapidly drops more so than in an automobile where most of the time the vehicle is operational. While a cap will help stiffen the voltage during the transient cycles of music it will only be of benefit in an optimum situation. It can't raise your voltage. It can only sustain voltage for a micro-second at the level supplied to it.

So, if it were my investment, I would skip the cap in a boat and focus on building a more efficient system from top to bottom. And, I would definitely add a smart AC multi-stage dual-bank shore charger.

I think an upgrade alternator is a last resort after you've exhausted more cost-effective upgrades.

Specific to your problem, it sounds like an amplifier isuue with voltage, thermal shutdown or possibly even a speaker voice coil that is still functional but starting to burn. For sure, isolate the real cause before adding new equipment.

David
Earmark Marine

[MLA]

Here's the reason I even started looking into/conisdering caps or alt upgrade... been having an issue with just my tower speakers- not sure what it is, (don't think its clipping, think its something else) what happens is that at high volumes, I'll loose the tower speakers, and just the tower speakers- not any cabin or sub. Then I drop volume back down to like 20- they come back on. Also this only happens while boat is running, can't recreate the issues in the garage (while its running on batteries- just while on the lake running off alt). Running 3 amps, 6 cabin speakers, 6 tower speakers, and 1 sub, w/ batteries. Hence looking into alt/cap vs. more batteries. (Plus, not gonna lie, cap is way smaller than adding another battery in a 210) thanks guys

What amp and speakers on the tower? I'd start with how its wired and where the settings are. Too low of an impedance at the amp, too high of a gain setting, or wrong cross-over setting can all cause clipping as well as amp going into protect mode.

[nautiques4life]

You guys are all studs, thanks for your time, I wish I knew a 10th of what you guys do about this stuff. Try to get out in the boat and give you guys some more info soon, until then, thanks again.

[Wet-N-Wild]

So am I understanding this right?? Is eveyone saying not to run a cap on a boat system?? I'm installing a new system on my boat right now and just installed a 1 fared cap in my system on Friday, but haven't powered anything up. Should I just take the cap out?? I was wondering how that would work by the cap lossing all of it's charge and what would happen next time the power is turned back on the boat. Would I need to recharge the cap everytime I take the boat out?? Thanks for the help

[SuperSquirt]

Don't stress having it in there. For two seasons, I have had a 2-farad hooked up to 3 PDX amps and mine works without any problems . Initial charge needs to be done properly, but thats really it. The battery/alt will recharge it from there. I asked the manufacturer if I had to charge it up using a ohm resistor every season, he said it's not required and he personally didn't do it. I have been happy as it also works as an audilble beeping alert to low voltage in the system.