Hi I've been trying to install my system and i'm getting a lot of mixed reviews as far as which products to use and such. The setup consists of a kinetic hc600 battery, power acoustik 5 farad cap, distribution block, jl 1000/1 v2 amp powering 1x 13.5 W7, a kicker zx350.4 powering 2xkicker rear and 2xpolk audio front speakers. all wiring is memphis 4 gauge ground and power. and i also installed a f700bt pioneer double din. Basically i'm having a lot of trouble crimping since it is 4 gauge i've been hammering then crimping afterwards, still some wires can be pulled if pulled enough. Also, is it necessary to have a capacitor and distribution block? The way i would have had it set up is: Main battery fused to hc600. hc600 fused to cap. cap to dist block. dist block out to two amps. hc600 and 2 amps grounded to chasis and cap grounded to hc600. An alternate method I was suggested was no cap, just run wire from hc600 to dist block out to two amps (both fused). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

I'm not sure how much you stand to gain by leaving the cap in there. There is not much point in having bulk capacitance unless it is very close to the load (your amp). Even though you have 4 aug wire, the inductance caused by the length of wire in the pathway between your cap and your amp pretty much defeats the purpose of using the cap at all.

You certainly don't need the extra capacitance for the 4 channel amp. If you intend on using the cap, then move the cap as close as possible to the input terminals on the subwoofer amp. If you haven't bought all this stuff yet, then I would skip the cap and see how it performs without it.

I have a hard time understanding how adding these giant caps helps anything at all. Caps are used as a power reservoir all the time in high speed electronics, but only because the voltage can become unstable after long trace runs. They certainly aren't there to make up for a lack of available current, which I think is the real problem in high power stereo systems.

Caps are actually pretty terrible at supplying current for constant-current applications. If you are getting voltage sags (dimming headlights, etc..), then I would upgrade the current source (the alternator). The cap is just going to discharge under load then become an additional burden on the alternator as it tries hopelessly to stay charged.

You already have the additional battery in your setup. I think that will be plenty good enough. You might try a small butane torch and some thick gauge solder from Radio Shack on the crimps.

 

5 farad?! you are crazy. Your system would benefit from a 2 farad MAX. Otherwise, like hemp stated, its just going to be a burden. Also, 4 gauge wire is a bit small. I would run 2 gauge to the sub amp and 4 gauge to your speaker amp. Or a zero gauge and branch it. Same goes for the cap, your going to need at least 4 gauge in and out of the cap to actually utilize it. Also as stated, you really dont need a cap at all. You have a second battery and a relatively low watt system.