How to make a Car Power Amp work on AC power using a PC power supply

I saw a thread where people were asking how they could make their Car Amp work in their home, I found where someone had managed to make one work with a PSU from a computer. People wanted a tutorial on how to do it, so I played with the idea and came up with this. I am NOT responsible if you blow something up, or if you start a fire, but This is a fairly safe project.




Use a standard computer PSU, no internal modification required, remember if you open a PSU, there are parts in there that WILL shock you, even un-plugged.

I cut one of the molex connectors off of the PSU, but there are ways to do this without damaging the psu.




On higher power PSUs there are more than one rail inside the psu for power, each providing only part of the rated wattage, so, I made sure I hooked both strands of molex connectors to the amp because I know that it will draw from both rails. Some PSUs may have more.
Just common sense tells me DO NOT HOOK UP MORE WATTAGE TO THE AMP THAN YOUR PSU CAN PROVIDE! and remember that the amp itself wastes some power for the LEDs and about 30 percent in heat, so, dont connect 650w of speakers with a 650w psu. I would stay below 400w on the speakers.




I dont know much about these car amps, I usually deal with DJ audio/home theater equipment, so make sure you know what speaker impedance is, and how to figure it, and make sure you dont under power the speakers

Hope the video helps! feel free to email me with questions/requests at SARGENTSCRUFY@gmail.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• How
• to
• make
• Car
• Power
• Amp
• or
• head
• unit
• work
• on
• AC
• power
• using
• PC
• supply

[nimquie1000]

isnt that speaker 8 ohms the car amp 4 ohm its going to fuck the amp and or even the speakers so use a car speaker on the amp

[SARGENTSCRUFY]

@nimquie1000 If you do the math, the amp is rated at 4 ohms 1200 watts, but when you put an 8 ohm load on it, it provides 600 watts max. It is safe. If I hooked two of those cabs up to one channel, it will reduce the ohms to 4, and provide 1200w, with the cab being only 200 watts, yes then I would have a small problem.

[93buckhunter]

i really need help... i have a 500 watt power supply an a 500 watt kicker amp hooked to a 12'' kicker cvr. everything works fine but when i plug the rca's to my denon stereo all the sub doe's is make a humming sound. whats the best thing to plug them up to? an how? any advice would be awesome thanks.

[SARGENTSCRUFY]

@93buckhunter Are you sending an analog signal to the amp? Make sure your not trying to send an amplified signal to the second amp. If your stereo has an RCA sub out, this is what you need to connect to your sub amp. If there isnt one, you could split your signal from your main input.

[SpaceMonkey0315]

i would recommend to most of the yellow wires, if not all (if you plan to use it at a decent rate)... if you use just one wire it would heat up and eventually melt (based on the number of amps flowing through it). hope this helps.

cheers!

[SARGENTSCRUFY]

@SpaceMonkey0315 With the PSU I was using, if I crossed the PCI-E Power connections, or the CPU power wires with the 12v wires, It causes the PSU to not power on at all. I think its a safety trip to protect your PC. In any case, I just did this as an example. I stick to real power amps when I need to run a system. :D

[BIGDADDY19913]

what would i have to do to hook up 2 jl 12 w3 an a 2000 watt jl mono block amp what do i need to get to hook it up in my house

[youareaonebar69]

What would u use for an 1000 wat amp

[DXZGXZ]

@SpaceMonkey0315 This guy is very correct, in fact, those wires can barely handle any amps at all.. some 12v rails will rate at like 50a which the wire thickness clearly can't handle a fraction of that.. using any power supply you highly underpower your amp, no matter what. also @sargentscrufy the motherboard power isn't a molex.. that's the main connector.. and connecting green wire to any black(ground) wire usually gives the mobo "on" signal to start the power supply

[TheEpicNoodle101]

@ZzFxgAmeRzZ the computer power cord is a short thick wire that has 3 points... u simply just plug it into your wall from the back of the power supply unit

[spingeneral]

I need help i have 600watt JVC KS-AX4302 and a 12 Alpine SWE-1243 and im use a 450watt PSU.. Everytime i turn on the PSU it runs fine untill i try to turn up the AMP volume it chips out!!! Bass Boost is on 0 and the XOver is set @ 50hz so it at minimum settings.. i would like to know why it chips out? Is it because i need a higher watt PSU or something? Pls help ty...

[ididnthackanyaccount]

rem is for remote



[ZzFxgAmeRzZ]

This may sound like a stupid question but what does the psu hook up to to get its power? :/ lol

[zxx5]

@Flippit1303

What do you think of this 'home amplifier of 1000w', doesn't have the subwoofer RCA outlet. but I'm think..What if I just put my subwoofer's wire into the speaker output...?plus I have the advantage of regular speakers..[and I can descard my 'car amplifier of 1000w' to use>>..its called (Pyle Pro P1001AT 1000W Amplifier with Preamp & AM/FM Tuner)'google it' thank you sir =]

[Flippit1303]

@zxx5 Well, since you're wanting to run off 110 i will assume its for an indoor system.

That 75 amp will work but it is under rated by about 20 amps. You always want a little more power than what you'll need because of how amps work, Since they are always drawing a different flow of current all the time ans a lot at once sometimes. Try to find a 100amp/1200w supply. This will give you a "cushion" of power. It would be best to try to find a amp that is made for home theater but that will work.