Capacitor

[pgarner]

im just suggesting it as it sounds like his standard battery is rather small. and maybe insuficiant at delivering enough juice for a lengh of time yours might be alot larger. the prelude used to run for around an hr before the alarm would sound with system and TV running, that was with a 1 , might have been 1.5 cant honestly remember, farad cap. where as the boras battery is alot smaller. i get around half and hour to 40 mins with the carputer and HU with standard speakers no amps at all before it switches itself off (low voltage on the power supply kills power when the battery drops below 11.5v) simply because the battery is smaller rated

chippy look at your battery and see what the rating on it is
look for XX Ahr.

[turbonutter69]

He wouldn't need a seperate battery even if his is weak. Just upgrade the current battery in the car and then add the power cap and everything should be fine. How old is the car? Some on the earths may need replacing.
Understand where your coming from Pgarner buddy but IMO it's just too much work when all is needed is to possibly upgrade the current battery and install the cap.

[pgarner]

no worries mate, i was needing mine to run for a couple of hours at a time so had a second battery wired in this way as it was the easist way of doing it. already had decent wiring to the amp so removed it and fitted the battery with an isolater up front then ran a short earth wire from the 2nd battery.

depends if theres room for a decent battery. ive no idea how big the battery tray is in the 206. if he can get a dcent one in then yup it wont be a problem, a new one might not be much better if the current ones in good nick, but if he cant.. then he can get back in touch

[turbonutter69]

You can get small Optimax batteries that are yellow and designed for this sort of use.

[pgarner]

yeah thats more or less what i was on about installing in the back. the battery box of the 206 looks like its stuck in, so really need the sizes of the battery to see if a better one can be fitted

[Chippy657]

Wow i caused a bit of a debate lol.

havent had the chance to look at my battery yet will do soon, i am going to get a capacitor anyway and just go with that, im to lazy to wire in another battery or think of any other solutions , the capacitor seems easiest so im going with that!

[turbonutter69]

Originally Posted by Chippy657

Wow i caused a bit of a debate lol.

havent had the chance to look at my battery yet will do soon, i am going to get a capacitor anyway and just go with that, im to lazy to wire in another battery or think of any other solutions , the capacitor seems easiest so im going with that!

I like a good debate...
Power Cap will do you fine buddy.

[pgarner]

Yup
its a good way of getting more ideas other than everyone agreeing.

your already wiring in another battery in, well in a way

[turbonutter69]

Yeah thats the basic jist of a power cap. It just delivers the power quicker.
If I was Chippy though I'd spend a few extra pennies and get a 2 farad cap. So there is then scope for adding more amps in the future.

[HDi fun]

A power cap doesn't deliver current any more quickly than a battery mounted very close to the power amp's supply input. Caps and batteries are one and the same. Both rely upon electrolysis in their operation.

[Chippy657]

Yep i like saving pennies so i will probs get a 2 farad so when i get my next sub i can add it and have no worries.

[HDi fun]

Would it be worth opening the power amp and fitting caps between the amps supply rails and 0v downstream of the inverter? A 70 volt cap could be of a much smaller capacity (farads).

It would be much smaller in size. You'd also not have to wait for the latency of the inverter which itself can cause poor transient response.

[pgarner]

mmm.. not sure about that, been a while since i played about with amplifers in the classroom so cant remember how they are set up.
makes sense in the delay time and the size as the voltage is higher the current would be lower