If 125 volts =1825 Watts...

[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

If a transformer were to be added at either the power input to an amplifier, or the speaker wire outputs of the amplifier, would there be any change to the amount of power the amplifier could produce; in a good way? I could easily test this, however I would rather not waste unecessary fuses/speakers ect. The main reason I want to know this is simply because my amp is way too weak, and i don't have the cash to toss out on a more wattage producing amplifier. Would it be very hard to customize the transistors within an amplifier, perhaps adding either more of them or more efficient ones? All i'm saying is that i can't to spend $500+ for the power im needing, so any ideas on how i could best solve the problem of a weak *** amplifier without buying a better one, and not spending much money...

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[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

for my title, thats at 15 amperes, just an fyi.

 

[thch 10+ year member]

transformer = not very efficient...
plus, if you increase the voltage, you decrease the current that the amplifier could actually give, but in theory, you could get 1500watts into 1 ohm, or 16ohms, and anything inbetween, basically //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

commercial power transformers can be near 99% efficient (helps when 1% power losses = 10,000W)

that said, a transformer can increase the power output of an amplifier to a limit. as you increase the ratio from primary to secondary, the load impedance decreases with N^2. this makes sense because double voltage would mean 4x power, and for the amp to provide 4x power, it would need to put out 4x current, and mathmatically this would mean it "sees" a load of Z/4. In the end, if the amp can give you more power with a lower impedance, then it can give you more power with a transformer as well. Its usually cheaper, better, easier to use a lower impedance speaker and skip the extra iron.

as for amp mods, eh, maybe is all i can say. The amp's output stage may be a limiting factor, or maybe the amp would overheat. you should be able to easily remove the overcurrent protection from the amp and from there you can do whatever you want to try to cool the amp to get more power. of course the PSU needs help as well. it may not be as easy if the PSU ferrites have issues.

 

[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

The amp im using is an Optimus 4-channel 340 watt with mosfet power supply. Right now im just bridging all four channels to two 15's. If i put a 50 amp fuse by the battery it blows it easily, does this mean that it's taking more than 50 amps? Im using 4-gauge wiring so should i just put a 100-amp by the battery so i don't have any more problems with it? This amp is 29 years old, does this mean that it's most likely underrated as well, considering 50+amps*12 volt=600+watts, im not sure how this amp is rated i got it from a garage sale a while ago and it didn't have a box with it, and i can't find any information of this optimus amp on google. The speakers im using are American Bass DX-15's, they are 4 ohm impedance with 350 watt rms. When i have the amp to it's capacity they hardly seem to have much motion. How can i test to see how many watts are going to them when i run the system?

 

[headless 10+ year member]

If the fuse blows listening to music you're likely pulling over 100a in bursts...

is it 340w RMS? Does it get warm? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

yeah it's rms, it does get really hot. After 10 minutes you can fry eggs on it. Good thing i have it in my trunk right next to an air vent.

 

[Vincent9515 10+ year member]

It'd pretty much be equivalent to running a higher voltage system like a lot of SPL cars do if it's hooked to the power terminals.

You'd have to first run it through a DC to AC converter for it to be stepped up, then rectify the output to convert it back to DC.

I'd just buy another amp.

 

[lilmaniac2 5,000+ posts]

Check out a product called the Accumatch made by veritas //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

So if i were to use one of the DC to AC converters that people use for camping, then hook the transformer into the converted AC and step up the voltage going into the amp, is what you're saying that i would need to reduce the voltage and convert back to DC from the speaker outputs of the amp? So basically increasing the voltage going into the amp would allow for the transistors to "draw" more amperage from a higher voltage, or something of the sort?

 

[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

Does the amount of voltage going into an amp affect the transistors abilities though?

 

[thch 10+ year member]

no, just ignore what Vincent9515 said, as it made no bloody sense whatsoever! lol

it actually does make sense. its how a DC-DC power supply works.

adding a transformer to the input of the amp will not work. transformers really don't work at DC. to use the trasformer, you'd have to use a switching topolgy like the one used in the amp, which converts 12V DC to a higher DC voltage.

as for transistors and voltages, it really depends. there is an avalanch breakdown (BJT) or blowing up a mosfet's gate, and a few other things that limit the voltage used. but without any knowledge of the parts used, its impossible to say if you will have these problems.

 

[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

I think i've thought of a good idea, after reading owners manual and finding out that the stock alternator puts out 14-15volts, can i just mod the alternator to output more voltage, would that be easier than modding the amp itself for someone who has no experience with circuit boards? Also, since my amp has 4 channels, right now i'm bridging all of them, 2 channels per speaker. Is it possible to bridge all 4 channels into one speaker so i can finally hear this speaker at it's peak?

 

[Hydrastas 10+ year member]

if i took the top of the amp off and took some pictures would that be useful for this type of post? Yeah converting 12V DC to a higher volt DC sounds easier than DC to AC then higher voltage then back to DC, but if i used a switching topolgy to increase the DC voltage at the input of the amp, would the amp also increase it, but how much affect does higher voltages have for an amplifier to be able to draw more current. Is it as good as using a lower impedence. The speakers im using are 4 ohm , how would i run them as 2 ohm or 1 ohm.