330hp_91RS

I got a semi-generic Cap that was a display model off E-bay. The top has neither a positive or negative emblem to tell you what to hook to what. The brand is Tsunami, it's a 1 farad "power pumper". I looked close at the connects and can see that one of them has the small arc marks that happen when you hook a cap up. I am assuming that this is the positive side.

Can you guys take a look at your caps and let me know which side the positive is on for you??? right or left??? I know some might be different but I bet most are the same. I just don't want to fry it or anything.

junkyarddog

the arcing is what happens when the leads are connected to the wrong terminals with power applied, it's not deadly, just no good for the terminal surface.

get your self a magic marker or black tape.

hold the wires and touch them to the cap, if they spark violently, then don't leave them connected that way!

touch them again, opposite as before, it should not spark at all like it would if they were crossed. Take that marker and mark your negative terminal, disconnect the wires. if you have a multimeter, you can check the terminals and briefly see a positive 12 volts discharging, this would verify you have properly identified the negative and positive terminals.

the cap won't explode, but leaving it hooked up the wrong way will cause it to overheat and leak very corossive stuff all over your car. the spark check should do the trick, you will know for sure which way not to hook it up then!

br()bert

is the cap charged at all? if so, then hook up a 12 volt fan to it, hooked up + wire to + and - wire to - wire the fan will spin forward, if its hooked up back wards the fan will spin backwards, you'll know which fan wire is + and - so when you get the fan going forward you know what terminal is what, also this is MUCH safer than the hook up a wire and look for a arc thing.

330hp_91RS

I thought that it will arc no matter which way it is hooked unless you use a capacitor to charge it???

From my experienece you could either just hook it up and spark it for a quick charge, or hold the capacitor in place for a few minutes so that it won't spark.