Whats the easiest/quickets/cheapest way to connect a car amp at home. Its a 4x100w rms amp and i jus wanna connect a 10" sub to the computer.

Whats the best way to get power into the amp? Can i tap it outta my computer somehow? Anyone here done this easily

thanks

You can tap 12V from the PC PSU thru one of the HDD power connectors, but if the amp draws too much current it could cause abnormal crashes.

Best way is to get a dedicated 12V DC power supply like the ones they use for running CB Radios on your desk indoors. They supply clean regulated 12-13.8V DC and are perfect for the job.

you won't be able to run it off you pc power supply it's way to small, you could go out and a buy a decent power supply 12vdc at at least 10 amp but this will still be small and quiet expensive. at home i am running to vr's off two amps which is powered by a big 12v dry cell battery. it's on continoues trickle charge from an al-cheapo arlec batt charger. seems to do the job fine, been there for a few months now...

hmmm.. well i have a batt charger.. where do i get a big 12v dry cell battery from tho?

If you know what you are doing you can use PC power supplies, you need to sort out the power good signal on all, and some require a load on the +5V rail (as this is used for regulation) but with some modification, you can pull about 10A out of each supply, if you get clever, you can use (as I do) 20 PC power supplies, using 1 for regulation, the other 19 follow... Think 200A output continuous, with large resovoir caps (10,000 uf per supply), you can (and I had to once) jump start a car :) Stupid battery.

Failing that, you could rig up a voltage regulated power supply out of 12V halogen transformers etc etc.

What do I need 200A of continuous 13.8V for... I design large switchmode power supplies and class D amplifiers for a hobby :)

Cheers
Heath Young

hmmm.. well i have a batt charger.. where do i get a big 12v dry cell battery from tho?

He means a wet cell - like a car battery. There are no dry cell batteries that are secondary (ie. rechargeable) cells that I can think of...

Or a gel cel - which is still a wet cell.

Cheers
Heath Young

good one revin_11..



keep the ideas comin guys

ill use one of them

Mouse in a wheel... Charge up a little dyno...

Or.... Get a house amplifier... ;)

Depends how loud you wanna push it. I test my gear with a 3 amp 12v transformer. Just to play around with and see if things are working. That's enough to drive car speakers at a moderate level in a small room. But with a sub, you'd be wanting 20 amps minimum to get some good results.

In our backyard we have a deep cycle battery with a big solar panel charging it constantly. This powers a lot of little things around our backyard. There are so many 12v appliances lying around. It's never run flat.

Get Nigel (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19270&item=5567096353&rd=1) to help you lol

Peace

Tim

If you know what you are doing you can use PC power supplies, you need to sort out the power good signal on all, and some require a load on the +5V rail (as this is used for regulation) but with some modification, you can pull about 10A out of each supply, if you get clever, you can use (as I do) 20 PC power supplies, using 1 for regulation, the other 19 follow... Think 200A output continuous, with large resovoir caps (10,000 uf per supply), you can (and I had to once) jump start a car :) Stupid battery.
Caveat being... you can't use the same PSU that your PC is running on at same time.


Failing that, you could rig up a voltage regulated power supply out of 12V halogen transformers etc etc.
Careful, most of those I've seen are 12V AC, not DC.



What do I need 200A of continuous 13.8V for... I design large switchmode power supplies and class D amplifiers for a hobby :)
Cheers
Heath Young
Still racing toy cars eh Heath? 8)

Mouse in a wheel... Charge up a little dyno...

So far this is the most feasable idea..

Caveat being... you can't use the same PSU that your PC is running on at same time.


Careful, most of those I've seen are 12V AC, not DC.



Still racing toy cars eh Heath? 8)

You wouldn't be using that as a PC power supply :P

The halogen transformers have to be run through a bridge rectifier and filter network (ie caps, or caps and a choke).

Toy cars... err... Wha???

Cheers
Heath Young

12vdc at at least 10 amp ...

12Vdc at 10A is only 120W!!! with a 4 x 100Wrms u will need a lot more if you are going to run it it its full potential.

Just buy a 240AC to 12v DC regulated power supply plug into the wall and wire output to your amp. to drive 4x 100Wrms amp. Power supply would need min supply rating of 35A constant and a peak of around 60A (700w peak)

Prob get one from Dickies or similar. Cost: not sure couple hundred?

u at high school? go into ur science area, they will have some :D, electronics may have some power packs as well

u at high school? go into ur science area, they will have some :D, electronics may have some power packs as well

hehe, i was thinking that

I have a 12V power pack thing, and it only does 4A....stupid. its only good for testing out neons and headunits etc..the second u turn up the vol on a car amp...poof, it shuts down.

yer, im convinced my school doesnt need all of them, 1 wont hurt

u at high school? go into ur science area, they will have some :D, electronics may have some power packs as well

hahahahah yeaa thas right, i remember those.. I was thinking about snatching one a few years back, but then i thought id never need it.. Woulda been sweet now.

Ah well..

I can personally guarantee that an old 300W AT power supply does wonders! The Fusion amp is meant to come up with 600W RMS total but even if I hook up a car battery, it doesn't get any louder, so I can't see it needing more juice than it's getting already.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~raph/temp/fusion.jpg

"600W" amps don't draw 600W (50A @ 12V) continuously unless they're true Class-A.

Class-A won't be built into a car amp, the best you'll find are Class-A/B hybrid.


True Class-A home amps like Krells draw so much current your house lights dim when
its turned on... and probably the rest of the street gets a brownout also.

Gotta be a serious audiophile to afford a Krell... and its power bills. :cool:

Or a Gryphon Antileon, they were so heavy! Massive transformers and adjustable biasing. :cry: So sad.

"600W" amps don't draw 600W (50A @ 12V) continuously unless they're true Class-A.

Class-A won't be built into a car amp, the best you'll find are Class-A/B hybrid.


True Class-A home amps like Krells draw so much current your house lights dim when
its turned on... and probably the rest of the street gets a brownout also.

Gotta be a serious audiophile to afford a Krell... and its power bills. :cool:


Then how come my mtx instruction manual says it's class a?

'class a 100% discrete driver circuit topology'

Then how come my mtx instruction manual says it's class a?

'class a 100% discrete driver circuit topology'

There it - *discrete driver circuit* the driver circuit, as opposed to the power amplifier section itself, is class A. Your driver circuit that controls the power transistors/mosfets is class A, but the power amplifier is class AB.

Cheers
Heath Young

lol this is a great post, any ideas on how to get a head unit going in my house? :D cheers

There it - *discrete driver circuit* the driver circuit, as opposed to the power amplifier section itself, is class A. Your driver circuit that controls the power transistors/mosfets is class A, but the power amplifier is class AB.

Cheers
Heath Young


oh how interesting, theres so much to know about this stuff, oh well already bought the amp anyways