Hey guys, I admit that I'm a little lost when it comes to relays. I know how they work, essentially, but the application is whats killing me. Here's what's going on

When I turn my car off, my cap is still drawing power from the battery sporadically to keep itself charged I suppose. That means that if the car sits for long enough....dead battery. Now I hear that you can hook up a relay into the system to only allow the ca to turn on when the car is on. Is that correct? If so, how should it be wired up, what grade relay should I use, etc etc etc.

Here's a diagram of my system as it stands now, so it will be easier to tell me how to alter it.

Thanks guys.

 

Power from battery to cap, go to Discount and get a lawn mower solonoid. Probably 30amps is what you need but make sure about that from what the draw is. Then wire the power from the head unit to amp (blue wire [remote]) and your done.

I hope I was clear lol.

 

haha i tihnk i need a little more clarity....

you're saying hook a lawn mower solenoid in line between the battery and cap, and then leave the rest of the system hooked up the way it is? what will that accomplish? sorry, i just dont know much about solenoids haha

thanks for the reply

 

Ok the lawn mower solenoid is the cheapest. Not the best looking but cheapest. And yes everything the same but just hook the solenoid between the battery to cap lead then the blue wire (remote) to the solenoid to activate it.

You can go through Allen Bradly to get a fancy relay/solonoid but you will pay around $80+ for the relay and base, but it has an LED that comes on when it's on so more for show.

What is the draw of the cap and amp on load?

Shouldn't be more than 30 amps.



That's basically what it is.

You see the two posts for the power (relay side) and the smaller post for power (activate/close relay).

 

yep makes sense now. ill give that a try. thanks a lot man

 

Yup no problem. And there only like $10 so not bad. And just make sure you get the correct amp rating.

 

sounds like a bad cap battery or install

A properly installed cap with a good battery wont discharge even sitting a month or so

 

Yeah hes right, what kind of cap do you have? You might be better off just spending the money on a better cap and checking all of your connections.

 

I have never had an issue with mine.
The only difference in the setup is that I don't have the ground from my cap connected to the ground on my amp. They each have there own seperate ground.
Infact there was a big warning in The Cap's owners manual (stinger) that sayed to make sure that the cap and the amp ran seperate grounds.

 

interesting. its entirely possibe that my cap is bad. i got it from some audio store that did my tints for like 120 bucks for 2 farads. cheap man's special. It works great, but could be the reason im having problems. if it still happens after this relay, i'll look into replacing it. funds are low now that i just bought a header/dp combo and a new nitrous setup haha

thanks again for the info everyone

 

meh only way it would matter was if you ran the ground to the amp and just ran jumpers to the cap. In that case if the cap failed and needed to make a bunch of current/voltage disappear wheres it going to go? (amp)

Ive seen a small cap in an amp blow anyone want to try a 1f+?