charging a capacitor

sntnsupermen131
sntnsupermen131 Posts: 1,831
edited September 2003 in Car Audio & Electronics
my dad has a car battery charger but his friend has it right now
is it possible to charge a capacitor by simply hooking up to the battery?
(without the car running)
if so how long do you think it would take?
-Cody
Post edited by sntnsupermen131 on
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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,804
    edited September 2003
    No, you should be able to charge a capacitor by hooking it up to a battery. I mean, that is what you do anyway. The capacitor goes inline between the amp and the battery anyway. What's between that besides a fuse? As far as how long, I'm not sure. Capacitors will charge pretty quickly but it depends on the size or the capacitor too.
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  • C-Man
    C-Man Posts: 307
    edited September 2003
    If you have a fuse tester, simply touch one end to your power wire coming from the battery, and touch the other end to the positive on the cap with the cap grounded. The light on the tester will light up. Hold the tester in place till the light goes out. The cap is charged! Takes like 30 seconds. If you dont' have a fuse tester, use a night light light bulb. One with the two little wires coming out of the bottom. Touch one wire to the power... one to the cap till the light goes out. Good to go.
    "The Big C"
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  • sntnsupermen131
    sntnsupermen131 Posts: 1,831
    edited September 2003
    thats what i thought jstas, but ive had mine charging off my battery for 3 hours the day before yesterday, and i put it on my battery about 1 pm yesterday, it has been on there ever since(its 10am right now) and the little green light is STILL on
    its a 1 farad capacitor...so its not like a huge cap or anything
    and c-man thanks a lot, but i dont have a fuse tester....i dont even have a night light light bulb...
    lol
    *sighs*
    -Cody
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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,804
    edited September 2003
    Did you ground the capacitor? Power is cyclical and you can't just fill it up like you were pouring water into a jug or something.
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  • sntnsupermen131
    sntnsupermen131 Posts: 1,831
    edited September 2003
    it was grounded, the red wire was on the positive battery terminal and the black wire was on the negative(thus grounding it)
    besides...i dont think the light would come on if it wasnt grounded
    i got the battery charger today and put it on it, after charging for a while i noticed one of the resistors on the charging card was kind of blackish-gray...does that mean its blown?
    cuz the light is still coming on
    im going to see if i cant find my old card from the other capacitor
    -Cody
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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,804
    edited September 2003
    It could be. It could be over-heated too. It can just happen. An impurity in the resistor film could cause a resistor to fry. It's not necessarily indicative of junk. It just happens some time. Best thing to do is grab a multi-meter and see if it is pushing voltage across the capacitor. If not, that resistor is most likely bad. You could replace it yourself or send it back for warranty work.
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