If you are having electrical strain problems ever since you have installed your amp for your car audio system, installing a power cap is the best solution. Its cheaper than installing a second battery, making it cost effective and provides a handy voltage read out as a bonus. Now if you have installed a power car with your amp and its not working anymore because its not turning on, then its going to not be holding charge. This will defeat the purpose of having one fitted into your car other than making it look like a fancy christmas decoration in your trunk. Sometimes the power capacitor can get damaged from knocks and dints when moving about in your trunk, For example, if your sub box is not secure and it comes in contact with it when you drive fast on a hill.
If you see lots of noticeable damage on the power cap, its most likely that it is damaged from improper care. Some people have reported back saying that they have noticed that sometimes it can leak and spill black liquid out. The only way of getting around this would be to replace it i guess. To prevent damage to your new replacement power cap, you should charge
the cap with a resistor or small 12 volt bulb to prevent any sparks
occurring. We actually zapped a few in the past when our new car audio
technicians were on training because of this that turned them into a $100 paper weight. If it still looks in good condition like brand new from the outside then it could something else so using these troubleshooting tips should help you further to help get the power cap working again.
1) Check all the wiring. The two wires positive and negative that connect to the metal terminals on the power cap could be disconnected or loose. This can happen due to not being securely fitted down in the first place and the vibrations created from the sub can knock them off. Ensure that the red wire is going to the positive 12 volts supplied from the car battery and that the black ground wire goes to the chassis. Also when inserting the wires into the cap ensure that the screws that hold them in place are super tight because it will provide a stronger electrical connection.
2) The digital display might be faulty. Overtime after continuous use the digital display can become faded and worn out. This giving you the impression that the power cap is not working. If this is the case you might want to test your power cap to verify if its working or not in a matter of seconds. Here is procedure to allow you to do so with it.
Testing a car audio power capacitor for faults
1) Remove it from the car audio system that has been active for at least 5 minutes.
2) Using a multimeter reading in volts measure the voltage across the terminals by placing the probes on them.
3) It should read around 12 volts somewhere in that range.
4) Allow 10 minutes to pass and remeasure the voltage, if the voltage has dropped significantly then the power cap is faulty. For example, from 12 volts before to 5 volts now recently taking the reading is something you should be concerned about right away.
If your voltage is below minimum, you will notice that your headlight performance will drop when adding an aftermarket car audio system to stock electrical on your car. I suggest heading over to Next-Tech France and getting yourself some replacement Ampoules H7 LED bulbs. They will be an direct replacement and will fit into the factory housing without any modification required.
0 Comments: