14.4v?

[ctaylor821 10+ year member]

Ok, i was just looking at an amp and it said 300w RMS @ 14.4v. Then it said 200w RMS @ 12v. So does this mean that if i only have 12v coming from my car battery that i will only be getting 200 watts?

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[cyber256 10+ year member]

that is correct //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[maylar 10+ year member]

Usually the difference between 12 v (engine off) and 14.4 v (engine running) is not that high. But that's what it means.

 

[badboy 10+ year member]

i was reading in a crutchfield magazine about that once the 12.9 or 14.4 volts it says that a amp with 12.9 will have better performance than a 14.4 i think most cars run at 14.4 on the gauge and the amp need those 14.4 for full performance and at nights like when u have other electrical things on in u car like headlights or u have ur a/c or rear defroster on, the gauge drps down a bit especially when ur stopped with engine on.

if anyone knows and read this i got the same doubt too cuz i have a 14.4 amp i just installed but i have not used my a/c yet or rear defroster thats when my volts drop to 14 or a bit less.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/furious.gif.fc81ca146dbff91fede3ed290dbc4f4c.gif

 

[ctaylor821 10+ year member]

Ok, so what you're telling me is that I get 14.4 volts when the engine is running with lights, etc. off, and just 12 volts with engine off. But when i turn lights and other things on the voltage drops. Is this correct?

 

[BassiKLowZ 10+ year member]

Thats why you always go bye the 12v rating. It is **** near impossible to get 14.4 volts to your amp in a car. MAYBE OFF A POWER SUPPLY, but not through car wiring. The most youll more then likely pull at idle is 13.8 volts. The resistance in the wiring itself will not allow a draw of 14.4 to make it to the amp. Even with stiffening caps and beefed up alts. MTX rates their 1500 watt beast at 14 volts, in actuallity youll maybe pull 1300 or so watts @ around 13.5 volts.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

This really isn't that big of an issue.

Your car, given that it has a good battery and healthy alternator will provide about 13.6-13.8 (give or take) volts.

So say you have an amp rated (accurately) for 500 watts rms @ 14.4 volts. Well then, at 13.6 volts it would be

13.6/14.4 = approx 94%

500 x .94 = 472 rms at 13.6v you wouldn't be able to hear the difference

Then say at night with headlights and foglights on you drop to 13v.

That equals about 90% of 14.4 which would be 450 rms which still isn't likely to be noticed

In theory 14.4v is obviously what you want, but in reality, you're not going to hear a difference in a 1v change anyway.

 

[EPanther99 10+ year member]

if your having a hard time getting 14v then you have another problem....a bad alt. it should be easy to get at least 14.4v with the car running, i usually get between 14.9-15.1v at the amp.

 

[djjdnap 10+ year member]

Yes but it also depends on the battery wire you have running to the amp because if it's oo small than you will not get enough energy to the amp. this doesn't really matter unless you have an amp that puts out alot of power thus needing alot of energy to use.

 

[n2audio 5,000+ posts]

Originally posted by EPanther99 if your having a hard time getting 14v then you have another problem....a bad alt. it should be easy to get at least 14.4v with the car running, i usually get between 14.9-15.1v at the amp.

That's not typical.

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

when needing of more voltage to your amp off your batterie, add caps. they help a bunch. when i had 1 full farat, i was getting about 14.2 constant bright lights on ac running engine on, then i killed my alt. got a new one and got a 2nd cap. now i'm getting a steady 14.9 brights on a/c on engine running in park. so i'm happy but now my alt. needs to be rewound to put out more amps. new alt. or battery is an easy way to stiffen the amount of volts going to your amp.

keep it thumpin,

adam

 

[Daniel 10+ year member]

blaupunkt rates thier new class t amps at 13.8 volts!

 

[bumpin_blazer 5,000+ posts]

hey daniel you like blaupunkt i got a friend who has a setup that will make you cream in your pants. he's running 6 overdrive 12"s in an exloder(explorer we just call it exploder) got some pics if ya want them. email me at incubus_65@hotmail.com

keep it thumpin,

adam