how do you know if your capacitor no longer works? i think i charged it incorrectly and had sparks flying everywhere. it also melted my wires... by the way, it has a digital LCD. still shows #'s and they decrease and increase after all of this.

 

from what your saying id throw it away caps can be very dangerous and posibly kill you throw it out and get a new one of ebay for cheap and not have to worry about it

 

An easy way to test it is, once it is charged, open the car door so dome light is on, disconnect the neg. batt. (-) term. and keep an eye on the dome light and see how long it takes for the light to go out, this is a very simple test, and will only tell you that the cap is holding a charge, the number of lights and their wattage will have an effect on how fast the cap discharges, but if the light goes out instantly or almost instantly, you have a bad cap.
You say that when charging you "had sparks flying everywhere", it sounds like you did not charge it properly, lots or big sparks mean you are charging to fast. the best, easiest and safest way to charge a cap is.........
1- Have everything installed and wired, except the neg. (-) terminal of the batt., and no fuse in the power cable to the amp/amps/cap at the batt.
2- With everything turned off, the doors closed on the car, connect the neg. (-) batt. term.
3- Using any small 12V light bulb, [the dome light bulb works great] install it in series where the main fuse for the amp/amps/caps power wire would go, [this should be very close to the batt.] pos. (+) term. of the bulb to the batt. side and neg. (-) term. of the bulb to the amp side, [series] be careful the bulb will get HOT, as soon as you complete the connection the bulb will light up bright, and slowly get dimmer, once it is out, the cap is charged.
4- remove light bulb and install fuse. 94

 

takes about 7 seconds before my dome light completely turns off when i have everything installed.

 

You can also measure the impedence through it. When its discharged its a short so impedence should quickly climb as it charges.

*edit*
To spell it out don't do this on a charged cap. Discharge it first then measure the impedence.


Modified by nsxxtreme at 7:44 AM 7/29/2005

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nsxxtreme &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You can also measure the impedence through it. When its discharged its a short so impedence should quickly climb as it charges.

*edit*
To spell it out don't do this on a charged cap. Discharge it first then measure the impedence.


Modified by nsxxtreme at 7:44 AM 7/29/2005</TD></TR></TABLE> Ditto that 94

 

the only way to have it tested is to take it to a electronics lab cause testers are expensive for capacitors. your talking several g's

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by junior40er &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the only way to have it tested is to take it to a electronics lab cause testers are expensive for capacitors. your talking several g's</TD></TR></TABLE> Not so, simple basic tests can be done with the cap in the car, [as mentioned above] 94

 

Ah your right didnt really read that well. Im just used to using my sencore maching.