can car audio go home?

[Stealth 10+ year member]

here's something for you guys thinking of running your car audio equipment off PC power supplies (hehe)

-- Ever notice how the power going to your amp in your car is 4 gauge (for 1000W amplifiers or so) or thereabouts, and the power coming out of a power supply is a TIIIINNNY gauge wire? there's a reason for that... it's because computers don't draw a lot of amps, and car audio amplifiers do.

so good luck hooking up an amp thirsty amplifier to a low amperage pc power supply.

don't forget to upgrade the wires of the power supply hehehe

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

here's something for you guys thinking of running your car audio equipment off PC power supplies (hehe)
-- Ever notice how the power going to your amp in your car is 4 gauge (for 1000W amplifiers or so) or thereabouts, and the power coming out of a power supply is a TIIIINNNY gauge wire? there's a reason for that... it's because computers don't draw a lot of amps, and car audio amplifiers do.

so good luck hooking up an amp thirsty amplifier to a low amperage pc power supply.

don't forget to upgrade the wires of the power supply hehehe

dont take me as a complete iddiot sir! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

i was planning on de-soldering all the wires from the PSU for;

A. Neatness

B. wire thickness

basically, this thing pulls ~35amps on the 5v line, and ~10amps on the 12v line. this got me thinking, and that does not seem like enough to power a car amp IMO.

so what if i hooked the 5v\3v\1.2v all up to the battery as well? will that raise the voltage that the battery sees? (5+3+1.2+12=22.2v and lots of amperage?)

and youd be surprised how many amps a PC PSU can handle... siad 35w from a 200w supply unit on the 5v rail. thats prolly is overrated at best, but still. i have a 500w supply unit and it said 45 on the 5v and ~20 on the 12. its just spread out over many different components with little amperage to each (as a car is and all other electronics)

so im gonna try and hook it all up tonight and ill tell you if my idea works... im draining the battery i have now to see if the PC PSU can charge it, and ill solder on some 10 awg tonight that i have laying around, and ill go get some ring terminals at the hardware store.

it looks really ghetto (lotsa duct tape) but it should work.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

bump?

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

ahh hello can you read i powered 1600 w ampifer to a 40 amp power supply.

Hate to break it to you.......but you were not getting anywhere close to 1600w out of that amp, unless it can magically defy physics. More like 360w (given 12V and 40A, and I guessed that the amp was a maximum of 75% efficient)...heck, I'll say you were getting up to 400w just to make you feel good, but you weren't getting anywhere close to 1600w.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

Hate to break it to you.......but you were not getting anywhere close to 1600w out of that amp, unless it can magically defy physics. More like 360w (given 12V and 40A, and I guessed that the amp was a maximum of 75% efficient)...heck, I'll say you were getting up to 400w just to make you feel good, but you weren't getting anywhere close to 1600w.

exactally my thoght

but do you think using a battery as a buffer\power storage would give the psu unit a little break and make the whole system run a little eaiser?

i know the 12v supply @ 15~20 amps will work... but i dont know what kind of stress that will put on the PSU.

im not lookin to run it at 500w that the max of the PPI amp can do, just a few 100~200w with the gains nice and conservative.

i got a maybe 50w sub on my RCA 7.1 unit (maybe 100) and its ported, but tis only 6" or 8" and its not very low freq at all. you think this will make it bump a little better? if it does ill make a ported box for it and make it wang with some more PSU units, and mount them all nicely.

 

[Stealth 10+ year member]

dont take me as a complete iddiot sir! //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif
i was planning on de-soldering all the wires from the PSU for;

A. Neatness

B. wire thickness

i don't take you as a complete idiot, and i didn't mean any insult, just meant that it's not quite that easy.

when you replace the wires in the PSU, be sure you replace ALL connections, including the circuit board, transisters, coils, capacitors, etc... or you'll end up with a blown power supply.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

eh? all the 12v\3v\1.2v connections are all basically blobbed to a big solder spot on the tray. i was just going to take them off and leave them off. then 8 or 10 guage wire straight from just the 12v solder pad to the battery.

im missing my PPI power\ground plug, and i cant test it out and im kinda pissed. i have to ask my friend what he did with the crap. i swear, if he left em in the car he sold ill be pissed. they are like $15 to replace.

*sigh*

he is a poor bastard too.

ps.

the complete idiot part was sarcasm //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif so dun worry about it mang.

but im not removing anything but the wires that go out of the case. just no sense in having them clutter all over if im not gonna even use em. thats all. i just gotta get that power thing to test it out.

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

just buy a real linear bench supply, get it over with //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

i love my 35A Astron....mmm //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

ok,

so i ran and found another amp that i took out the other day that i was using for my CDTs (not very good, but it did the job)

i got my GZ nuke in the sealed box, maybe .8ft^3

i got the amp (maybe 200w max) hooked up to the battery

i got the PSU hooked up to the battery

i plugged in the amp RCAs to the audio output on my sony trinatron TV to see if it would make some kind of signal. remote is wired to a switch, then the battery and all other wires are installed (using 10awg for the time being.. it was lying around handy style)

i get nothing.

so i get my trusty DMM, and i unplug the PSU, i read ~11.5v so it should at least power the amp...

i read the battery... 8v *sigh*

so i hook the psu to the battery, and i turn everything on (PSU should charge battery right?) and i still get 8v and no sound.

i proceed to hook it up to my RCA 300w system, and i cant find how the hell im supposed to connect the amp to the subwoofer preamp... it is a single purple RCA... a monojack maybe?

so i gotta get a monojack -> stereo end or somthing? i dunno. any ideas?

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

woot!

i hooked it back to the TV and i bypased the battery and im running straight from the PSU and its working fine.

its not very loud at all, but it works.

now i get to test it with thicker wire and a better PSU because i know it works.

its only doing 10v atm, bad voltage drops, but it works. maybe ill throw a capicator in the loop and see if that helps, not like i have THAT many PSU's lying around.

anyone know if i can run it off the 5v line + the 12v line? thatd give me ~13v (after all the drops) and way more amperage.

any ideas?

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

if you want to run the PSU's at a higher voltage, adding a few power resistors in the regulator circuit should stablize the voltage some, and allow you to bump the voltage up to 14.4 or so...at least that's what I did when I modified one to run a base radio at 14V...

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

shweet. i found a better powersupply that pulls a few more amps and stays constant at ~11.5v when playing.

now all i gotta do is get the PPI plug from my buddy and actually give it some wattage. (and upgrade the wires)

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

if you want to run the PSU's at a higher voltage, adding a few power resistors in the regulator circuit should stablize the voltage some, and allow you to bump the voltage up to 14.4 or so...at least that's what I did when I modified one to run a base radio at 14V...

well. when it comes to reverse engineering and messing with some big caps in those PSUs, im a newbie.

ive made a few simple circuts, and LED arrays... but ive not messed with that stuff.

i wonder if i can use 2 supplies hooked to one amp though?

 

[iamamp3pimp 5,000+ posts]

would it be possible to just use a battery charger and disconnect it using a switch when you use the equipment???with a battery of course. that makes the most sence.

 

[req 5,000+ posts]

yes, id imagine you could, but they are quite expensive compared to free powersupplies eh?

but do you think i can hook 2 powersupplies to the +12v\gnd on the amp? do you think that it would double the voltage or anything? and add the amperage?

or would the voltage stay the same and the amperage increase?

cuz i am wanting more amperage for the car amp... im only getting ~15amps out of the PC power supply, and if i just added another id get ~30.

what do you think?