Powering a car audio amp at home... computer power supply?
 

i think thats how you do it, I just need to test and make sure a few amplifiers work properly , can I rig up an old computer power supply to test it? If so is there a link somewhere or any specific wire colors to use?

Thanks guys.

yeah it could works, but u must have a very powerful PSU that can handle it, depending what amp u use, if you have a 400Wrms amp then you have to get a 600 or 700watt psu, or, check out the sticker on the 12V rail, what amperage is rated, my 500watt PSU have 28Amp on 12V so P=IV , 336watt max. For turning on the AMP you have to find it yourself.

If he's using a 400w amp he can still use a 'lesser' power supply... it's not like he's going to be maxing the output of the amp if he's just testing it to see if it turns on and plays at low volume.

please dont use a power supply that you care about, or want to use in a computer.

ive burnt up about 4 power supplys doing this... they work for a while, but i was told that they dont operate properly if there isnt a load on the 3.3 and 5 volt lines. i guess they run hot or something... im no tech, i just know that its bad for them.

if you google for 12volt power supply you should be able to find lots of options, generally theyre cheaper than a decent quality computer psu.

Knowing what he does for a living..... he can probably get a bunch of ATX supplies for free (or close to it) ... :D

use a car battery. that would be a much safer way both for your amp and power supply

Yeah but I have no RCA output source near my truck.

I can get a hold of power supplys, what I need to confirm is that red is power and black is ground right? I can then use red again for the remote turn on.

I will only be powering them on for a few seconds, I am sure the pc power supplys should do the trick.

not sure why you need RCA. It will say on the battery where the + and - are. But yes red means + (power). Also check to see what kind of remote turn on input voltage your amp takes. I don't think it's good idea to use the constant car battery lead for that but maybe it will be fine I dunno. You might get away with just using a simple 3v or maybe 9v volt battery for remote turn on.

computer power supply will simply fry as it doesn't provide enough current to run the amp. I tried that once with a deck and that's what happened. But an amp draws much more than a deck I think.

Seems like its the yellow wire that is the 12 volt power wire.
I didnt think of it but I need the computer to power on the power supply so this solution wont work.

Oh well

I use a 12v supply out of a computer for all my amp testing....

if you are repairing amps it is a must to use a low current power source or you could end up burning up the new parts you just spent $100 on.....





for ghetto style car audio/home audio conversion... about a dozen power supplys in parallel and a small battery and you should be set....... :la: