Ground connects to frying pan?

ijwalla · 03-05-2007, 03:34 PM

I aim to test my sub speakers & amp in my living room before I plug the whole thing into my car, by what should I connect the ground wire to???

I have it wired to the handle of a frying pan, but am too scared to flip the switch incase I blow something...

kevinlekiller · 03-05-2007, 03:39 PM

What source of power are you using?

ijwalla · 03-05-2007, 03:42 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kevinlekiller

What source of power are you using?

a 12v multi adaptor which plugs directly into the mains... I chopped one of the ends off and connected the bare wires to the amp (positive & negative).

Sonicxtacy02 · 03-05-2007, 03:45 PM

please youtube this. lol

kevinlekiller · 03-05-2007, 03:45 PM

That wont supply enough power, and no dont use the ground from a frying pan

You need something that supplies lots of power ( a multi adaptor supplies at most 1 amp of power ).

Use a car battery or something.

ijwalla · 03-05-2007, 04:00 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kevinlekiller

That wont supply enough power, and no dont use the ground from a frying pan

You need something that supplies lots of power ( a multi adaptor supplies at most 1 amp of power ).

Use a car battery or something.

oh man, it says 300mA on the adapter and 3.6VA max (dont know what that is)...

Maybe if i get a few more multi adapters, cut the ends off, and wire them all up to the amp... I may need a few hundred or so right??? Ok scrap that...

So whats a good alternative? I really dont wana buy a car battery, and the one in my car is a pain to get out...

Enforcer · 03-05-2007, 04:09 PM

450w ATX power supply. Just use the 12V Rail. you will need to ground the Power OK lead. If you search there will be a thread (or more) mentioning how to do it.

It's how I run my test CarPC indoors at present.

Frying Pan hehe, sounds like a nomination for the darwin awards might be on the cards.

kevinlekiller · 03-05-2007, 04:11 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ijwalla

oh man, it says 300mA on the adapter and 3.6VA max (dont know what that is)...

Maybe if i get a few more multi adapters, cut the ends off, and wire them all up to the amp... I may need a few hundred or so right??? Ok scrap that...

So whats a good alternative? I really dont wana buy a car battery, and the one in my car is a pain to get out...

You can do it like enforcer says, or use a old AT power supply to do it even easier, that has like 10+ amps on the 12v rail.

durwood · 03-05-2007, 04:19 PM

There is an article in the wiki on using a computer PSU to power 12V. You won't be able to really turn up the volume though. Make sure to put a fuse on the 12V line equal to what the PSU can actually put out. Good luck. Record it just incase something good happens. I would ahve loved to see the frying pan idea

Sonicxtacy02 · 03-05-2007, 04:21 PM

you can get a wal-mart battery for around $30 bucks. Why not go the safest and easiest route.

evandude · 03-05-2007, 04:31 PM

Just as a frame of reference, Watts = Volts * Amps. Take the wattage of your amp, and divide by 12 volts, to get a ballpark figure for the number of amps it can draw.

For example, a 300W amplifier would need about 300/12 = 25 amps. This is a huge amount to even think about supplying with a power supply you'd normally find around the house.

You can purchase 13.8V power supplies that are built to run CB radios and other accessories designed for car use, and can handle relatively high current (like 20A) but those aren't going to be extremely cheap and aren't going to be all that useful for anything else.

Honestly, I think the best solution if you absolutely need to test it indoors would be a car battery with a big heavy-duty car battery charger hooked up.

Why are you so intent on testing it in the house? It sounds like a lot more trouble and expense than it's worth. Just put it in the car. If you don't trust your abilities and are worried about blowing something up, find a friend who can check it all out for you before you power it up the first time. The car's electrical system is pretty beefy, and as long as you make absolutely sure to properly fuse everything, you shouldn't have all that much to worry about - in fact I'd feel safer hooking up an amp in my car than to some ghetto-rigged power supply setup indoors

kevinlekiller · 03-05-2007, 04:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by evandude

Just as a frame of reference, Watts = Volts * Amps. Take the wattage of your amp, and divide by 12 volts, to get a ballpark figure for the number of amps it can draw.

For example, a 300W amplifier would need about 300/12 = 25 amps. This is a huge amount to even think about supplying with a power supply you'd normally find around the house.

You can purchase 13.8V power supplies that are built to run CB radios and other accessories designed for car use, and can handle relatively high current (like 20A) but those aren't going to be extremely cheap and aren't going to be all that useful for anything else.

Honestly, I think the best solution if you absolutely need to test it indoors would be a car battery with a big heavy-duty car battery charger hooked up.

Why are you so intent on testing it in the house? It sounds like a lot more trouble and expense than it's worth. Just put it in the car. If you don't trust your abilities and are worried about blowing something up, find a friend who can check it all out for you before you power it up the first time. The car's electrical system is pretty beefy, and as long as you make absolutely sure to properly fuse everything, you shouldn't have all that much to worry about.

300w if your cranking it to max capacity , he just wants to test if it works. Hes gonna be putting the volume to 1/10 on the dial.

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