PC power supply powering my car amplifier in home

 

New member
Username: Jhovik

Post Number: 2
Registered: Apr-04
I've had a 350 watt car amp and a 12" mtx sub in my garage for years and since I never plan on using it in my car again I wanted to try and hook it up in my home to my stereo or computer. I read several articles that said you could hook it up but the main issue was powering the amplifier in home off of AC power. I finally found a method that works. I used an old PC power supply. I use the 12+V for the positive input and on the remote and the ground for the negative terminal. Im using a 250watt AT PC power supply that provides 10amps on the 12+v line. With this configuration I can easily power my amp and get great house shaking music now in my room. However if I bridge the amp it takes up too many amps for the power supply to dish out and starts to distort. So only connect it to one of the L or R outputs. They make PC power supplies in the 600 watt range that provide 30+amps on the 12+V line if you want to run more subs or run your amp bridged but I got this one for free and it works so I dont need any more power. Everything runs perfect and nothing gets hot. Still a lot cheaper than buying a dedicated power supply. Just thought I'd let you all know that it works. Hope this helps someone.
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

NorthWest, Michigan USA

Post Number: 2213
Registered: Dec-03
at most you'll get about 70-75 watts from that amplifier with that power supply before you cook the PC power supply, blow a fuse, or start a fire.

10A is 120 watts @ 100% efficiency
the amp is old, which means it's probably a class AB amp which has an efficiency of about 60%. I'm not even factoring in loss from the power supply itself.

glad it works for ya though.
 

Bronze Member
Username: Speakerbox

Post Number: 15
Registered: Apr-04
Yeah, you can't argue with success.

Where did you plug in the remote wire?
 

Gold Member
Username: Glasswolf

NorthWest, Michigan USA

Post Number: 2222
Registered: Dec-03
same spot probably.
+12VDC line as a trigger
 

New member
Username: Jhovik

Post Number: 3
Registered: Apr-04
yup i plugged the +12VDC line in at the remote for the trigger as well.
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