Quote:
Originally Posted by george kujanski
Capacitors are used to store electrical energy and provide bursts of current for short times .
A capacitor connected directly to a stero amplifier, for example, will help since music has transients such as a bass drum that require short bursts of energy. For those bursts, the capacitor stabilizes the voltage at the amp and provides the needed energy. Once the transient has passed, the cap recharges from the battery feed, and the cycle repeats.
For electric fans that require high starting currents, the starting current transient may last a lot longer than the capacitor can support, even a large cap. In any case, the fan start current will be provided by the alternator, or if the alt can't provide it, the battery will. Once the fan starts up, the alt will recover and replenish the battery energy as long as the overall system load is below tha alt output capacity.
George
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And, it's important to note that a discharged capacitor is effectively a short circuit to the voltage source. As it charges, the needed current will diminish. But a big cap will take awhile to charge, during which the alternator load is increased.
I've built many an amplifier/preamplifier, etc. Some diodes (like Schottky types) cannot take a joke. Exceed their maximum current rating and you'll let out the magic smoke. As long as the caps you are planning to use have a high enough ESR, you should be fine. But beware of adding lots of them, the current draw is not insignificant.
Stuart