Power supply for a car amp help with math.

[Clive]

Considering using a power supply for a car amplifier. I don't have the specs for what the amp requires other than the fuse needed is 50 amp. Can a power supply be used and if so what do I need to know to figure out the size needed.

[Ammok]

50 amps is an enormous amount of juice. But is relatively meaningless as the appropriate use of a transformer can produce it. To know what power it takes you really need to know the wattage, which is volts mutiplied by amps, so you need a bit more information. For example, 12 volts (car battery) x 50 amps is 600 watts, enough for a decent power drill, and your cabling will need to be able to handle that power also, too thin and it overheats and melts.

When you say power supply, what is the power supply going to be fed from, car battery?

[gjimene2]

I don't know about you but when I hook up a car's amp, I hook it up straight to the battery. I do leave a fuse in case there is a short the fuse will blow and not my amp or make my battery leak.

[Clive]

Mine is direct to the battery via 2 gauge wire with inline 50 amp fuse. I was thinking of using the amp inside the house and would need a way to power it.

[Billforce]

If your looking for a power supply to run 12 volt D.C. device from 110 V A.C. source, Radio Shack has a good, REGULATED power supply. I used on to run my 12 volt bagged 4 watt cellphone for a couple of years, good quality too.

[Bovon]

Originally posted by Clive
Considering using a power supply for a car amplifier. I don't have the specs for what the amp requires other than the fuse needed is 50 amp . Can a power supply be used and if so what do I need to know to figure out the size needed. Are you absolutely positive it is fifty amperes?.. that seems like a huge amount of fused current. See if you can find out what the input current is in amps. Quite often, a circuit is fused 50% more than the actual current draw. To begin calculating what size of power-supply that will be requires, we must know the actual current draw of the system. If indeed it needs a 50 amp power source, I do hope you are well heeled, because you are getting ready to spend some serious cash.

I built a 25-30 amp, regulated 12 VDC power-supply several years ago, and just the parts cost over $100 bucks. The heatsink for the full wave bridge rectifiers cost $45 bucks at an industrial junk yard and came out of a DC welder.

[gjimene2]

so in other words, you want to turn it into a house amp?

heck, you can google for it dude :)