Car Stereos: Amplifier, fuse holder, capacitor

Question
Hello Brian,

I hooked up a stinger capacitor (SPC505) and charged it with the included resistor. Now when I try to hook up my amp (Hifonics Brutus 2610D) to the capacitor it just shoots sparks before i can get the power wire hooked up to the capacitor. Capacitor has normal voltage, I checked, checked, and rechecked wiring. Grounds are all secure. What do you think could be causing this?

Answer
Hi Mike,

Sorry for the delay in answering this question.

It's not unusual to see a spark when you're making the final connection to an amplifier, so I don't know whether what you're seeing is out of the ordinary or not.

Generally, I prefer to wait and charge the capacitor after all the connections have been made to the amplifier.  I'd mount the capacitor, ground it, and connect the power wiring, all with the fuse removed from the power line fuse holder at the battery.  Once all the connections are complete, I'd use the charging resistor to bridge the connection across the terminals of the fuse holder until the capacitor was fully charged in place.  After that, I'd replace the fuse.

Hope this helps!

Brian