Capacitors are used in car stereo installations to provide more powerful amplifiers and subwoofers with the power they need during high performance. Tsunami is a manufacturer of mobile stereo products. The capacitor stores power it receives from the battery and delivers it to the amplifier when it needs extra power. Farads are a unit of measure to determine the storage capacity for the capacitor. The smallest car capacitors are .5 farads and the largest are 10. Installing a capacitor should take less than a half an hour.
Disconnect the battery from the car. Use a wrench to loosen the bolt that holds the black, negative cable in place. Remove the cable from the negative battery post. This will help keep the work environment safe.
Mount the capacitor. The capacitor should be mounted as close to the amplifier as possible. This will make the power transfer more efficient. The capacitor will come with a mounting bracket. Screw the brackets into the material the capacitor will be mounted on. Usually the amplifier and capacitor will be mounted on the speaker enclosure.
Connect a power wire to the capacitor's positive "+" terminal. Connect the other end of this power wire to the amplifier's +12 volt power terminal. The power wire can be connected on both the capacitor and amplifier by using the supplied connector clip on both devices. Open the clip, insert the power wire and close the clip.
Connect another power wire to the capacitor's ground , or "-" terminal. Connect the other end of this wire to a ground source. The best place to connect the ground it to the steel body of the car. Attach a ground wire clip to the ground wire and drill it into the steel body of the car.
Attach a power wire to the ground power terminal on the amplifier. Attach the other end of this wire to a ground source, such as the body of the car.
Attach another power cable to the positive terminal on the capacitor. Run this power cable to the car's battery. Attach the other end of this cable to the car battery's positive terminal.
Turn on the car and turn down the volume on the car stereo. Drive the car for 10-15 minutes. This will charge the capacitor. Once the capacitor is charged, the volume on the stereo can be increased and the stereo can be tested.
