Redneck Audio help

bkathsalero · 09-14-2009, 06:38 PM

So I'm trying to make a ghetto home theater system I've decided with my day off.

I have a bunch of mix and match components like amps, subs, 6" 6x9's etc etc. My question is there anyway to get a car amp to run off of a/c power? And If I take the rca's plug them into the tv and into the amp would that even work? I have no idea what I'm doing but I'm determined. And I'm being a little carefull by using an outlet with a breaker built in

Chipmunk-Alero · 09-14-2009, 06:44 PM

Computer Power Supply

Look it up on youtube man.

Chipmunk-Alero · 09-14-2009, 06:44 PM

Also a battery charger set to 12v will work.

bkathsalero · 09-14-2009, 07:05 PM

got it, thanks man. Took a power supply off of my old surround sound. Even comes with a switch and fuse.

Chipmunk-Alero · 09-14-2009, 07:06 PM

Sweet. You are lucky.

bkathsalero · 09-14-2009, 07:11 PM

only thing is this fuse going to bring the 120 volts down to the power an amp can handle? The fuse says t 1.6a/250v - that sounds like its going to raise it 130 volts.

lonnie · 09-14-2009, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bkathsalero

only thing is this fuse going to bring the 120 volts down to the power an amp can handle? The fuse says t 1.6a/250v - that sounds like its going to raise it 130 volts.

A fuse doesn't raise voltage. It's merely there to protect the wiring and circuitry it is in place for. So for example a fuse rated a 1.6a will blow if it gets current higher then the rating...2a will blow it, 3a will blow it....etc. If you use a PC power supply you are going to have to put a switch on it unless it is newer and already has one, and hopefully you get at least 28 to 30 amps continuous under load. Good luck though sounds like a neat project.

Chipmunk-Alero · 09-14-2009, 09:06 PM

Lonnie,
With some PC power supplies without switches(not all) you can wire two wires together to trick the power supply into thinking you pressed the power button on your computer.

I did it with my old one to power a older headunit I had hooked to my computer. I took the headunit to a pawn shop that's why I said had.

Look this up on youtube. Many people have car audio in their room.

Cashdollar2009 · 09-15-2009, 08:06 AM

I just put a spare 15" car subwoofer in my dorm room 3 days ago. I just took a car battery and wired a regular car amplifier up to it. Then just wired the subwoofer like normal as i did in my car. The battery has a trickle-charger hooked up to it so it charges and maintains the batter when i'm not playing music. Just run a small wire from the 12v+ on the amp to the turn on lead to tell the amp to turn on and off. I have it playing the bass from my laptop where i'm just using and auxiliary to rca splitter cable to send the signal to my amp. It shakes the ceiling in the hallway! The computer pcu does work, it is just that if you already know car audio enough, and don't want to deal with stripping apart a harness, the amplifier route to me was much easier, and again a lot easier to get the correct amperage to my sub.

lonnie · 09-15-2009, 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chipmunk-Alero

Lonnie,
With some PC power supplies without switches(not all) you can wire two wires together to trick the power supply into thinking you pressed the power button on your computer.

I did it with my old one to power a older headunit I had hooked to my computer. I took the headunit to a pawn shop that's why I said had.

Look this up on youtube. Many people have car audio in their room.

I understand that but you are going to have to put a switch somewhere unless you want it to run all day? Unless I'm missing something?