Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zackary
I'm thinking of going with the 3400F caps. That'll run me about $400 per car from Mouser.com.
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Are you going for battery elimination, or just supplementing the cranking amps of the battery in the vehicle? Generally I would say running capacitors only is a bad idea. If even the glove box light is left on you will likely be unable to start the car. You also can't listen to the radio for extended periods of time with the engine off.
If going with the BCAP3400, you might consider running just 5 series caps instead of 6. They are rated at a slightly higher voltage than all of the other caps. Using as few caps as possible in series will increase the overall farad capacity. 5-series connected 3400f caps have 680 farads of charge, while 6-series connected caps have 566 farads. That's close to a 20% difference in capacitance, and it costs more to purchase the 6th capacitor.
I bought 5 of the BCAP3400 to eliminate 2 large batteries from my truck. The truck has a very high cranking demand of over 400 amps, but has an extremely low parasitic draw of just 5.7 mA just to maintain the presets on the radio. It would be almost zero if the radio were removed. I also have a solar charger to maintain charge after long periods of sitting unused.
If you're just going to supplement the battery in your car, go with 350 or 600 farad caps. The kits make them easy to assemble.