Hey I've been reading and watching some video on this, but none really get into any detail on what I want to do. I have a 1200W Power Supply using about ~450W to run my computer. I want to hook my car amp and subwoofer up to my computer. Its like hooking it up to a battery (DC), but you hook it up to the PSU (DC out). Is there any way to do this without removing the head unit (deck)? My Amp is 350W RMS and 700W Peak. Diagrams would be nice. Thanks in advance, -TheftAuto
To get mains electricity in a car, you use an inverter to get it to mains voltage, and then you're using a PC's PSU to get it back down? That's a huge waste of power why not hook the audio systems up to the car's DC source instead, like they're meant to be?
heh? It is a waste of power, but I don't understand what you mean. In a car, its goes Battery(DC) to a car amp, which is actually an amplifier and an inverter, then to the subwoofer as an alternating current. In a computer, it goes alternating current from the outlet to the PSU, which feed DC to your computer components. It does waste power when you hook the amp up to psu, as then it would go Wall-PSU-AMP AC-DC-AC So the save power I would need a dampener (don't know if that is the proper term for it) or something, straight to subwoofer. I would rather have my system hooked up to something I don't need to recharge(aka car battery) Theres many ways to do this, but buying an inverter or dampener is expensive and usually an industrial product. Everything I have seen where people hookup car audio inside, they use a computer PSU.
Where is this mains coming from in a car? It certainly won't be coming from the wall in your house else you could only power the stuff when the car was at home. Unless you have your own generator, a PC will be hooked up to the car battery as well, via an inverter. Energy loss is caused by the electrical components involved with inverting / regulating current - so to use this method, you lose energy at the inverter, in the PC's PSU and in the amp, rather than just in the amp like before.
Dude you lost me. I understand that power is lost in the amp and the psu, but I am not concerned about that...its more expensive and complicated to go another route. Everything I have seen they hook the amp up to the PSU, I still have another 2 12 volt rails on my PSU also. But in the turtorials I read, they put the car deck in a bay, but I'd rather not do that route, as I like the deck in my car, but I don't need the subs in it. "Where is this mains coming from in a car?" I don't understand? I have a system in my car, its hooked up to the battery. Do you know how a car systems work and/or look like and are hooked in? My guess is that I have to hook to Amp control wire into a audio jack on my MB, but I want to be sure.
It's more expensive and complicated to do it the PC route. I have not set up a car audio system myself, but I know that running the amp off the PC is a complete waste of energy - you are far better off having the amp powered by the car's 12V and receiving a signal from the PC.
But then I'd have to recharge the battery regularly.... especially without an alternator, a cap won't help much either, anyways this thread is closed no one seems to have done this before.
You'd have to charge it even more often if you ran it off the PC, because the battery would have to output 40%+ more power.
Then where's the PC getting its power from? PSUs don't magically produce power. If it's a laptop, it's getting power from a cigarette lighter presumably, if it's a PC it needs power from the mains. There's no mains in a car - the only way I can see of having it is using an inverter, which will of course have to be powered by the car battery. How were you thinking of doing it?
Man I honestly don't think you read the post that carefully. To put it in layman's terms, I am replacing the power source from a battery (in my car), to the PSU (in my computer). And, Instead of hooking the remote wire up to the headunit in my car, I hook to remote wire up to my MB and have Vista read it as the subwoofer. It gets more complicated as I have to check the current on my 12V rails and put a fuse block in, so I don't mess up my new comp. It's all good, I got all the information I needed on another forum.
My house outlet powers the PSU, and my PSU powers my hardware. Im going to bring my subwoofer and amp inside my house, and hook it up the PSU. Do you mean the ATX plug in? I am not using that, that is needed for my pc obviously.
Right, OK, I understand now. I was under the impression the kit was staying in the car, sorry for the confusion.
don't be, it's all good. If I get it hooked-up, it will blow those THX certified ones outta the water. Sam you're an EE right?
Hah, if only. I studied the first year of Electronic Engineering at Uni but couldn't cope with the maths, so I dropped out and I'm starting in October doing Environmental Science. Our friend Spamual here will be an Electronic engineer I think... I did however do A-Level Electronics with a decent grade, so I like to think I've done alright, I think it was just a misunderstanding of your post more than anything else though.
