can I power a car stereo with an ATX PSU?

Fourgig · 10-02-2001, 07:08 PM

I bet the first question will be "why the heck would you want to do that??"

Well, my car is going to be in a car show. It's indoors and the rules state that we must disconnnect the car battery. So, I need to run my car stereo, LCD and computer without the car battery. My computer and LCD is taken care of. I can plug my computer into an AC outlet. The LCD I can plug into the ATX power supply. I tried that once, so it shouldn't be a problem. Now, can I do the same with the car stereo? I was thinking of running a wire from one of the power supply leads (red wire, of course) into the fuse for the car stereo and then grounding the black wire off the power supply lead. Is this going to work? Or am I going to fry something?

SkinnyBoy · 10-02-2001, 07:17 PM

Hmm...
well, now let me see...
It really all depends on what the stereo is and how good the power supply is, the stereo may draw too much current from the power supply, Why don't you just disconnect the battery from the car and then run a wire from the battery to the stereo?? Makes more sence to me...

Zip-Lock · 10-02-2001, 07:47 PM

I won't recommend hooking stereo equipment up to a computer power supply that is still powering a computer. The stereo will draw a varying amount of current, and might interfere with the computers operation.

Maybe you can find another PS to use, you could probably pick up an old AT power supply cheep. I occasionally use an old AT power supply to power up car stereo equipment off house current and it works fine.

SkinnyBoy · 10-02-2001, 08:04 PM

Just disconnect everything from the battery except the stereo, or is this not allowed??

[ 10-02-2001: Message edited by: SkinnyBoy ]

magnetik · 10-02-2001, 08:04 PM

whats your sound system like? just a head unit and speakers? I reckon you could power this all from a computer PSU, at most a head unit will draw around 10A-15A.... borderline for most PSU's, but if your careful you should be fine..... maybe get a second one just for the headunit........

failing that get a hefty 12Volt bench supply, I used to test head units on battery chargers (and even my mp3car system) at times.... not the cleanest voltage output, but it worked and was cheap!

if your running amps, subs, etc..... forget about it.... its gonna be drawing a few too many amps to keep the PSU happy......

Fourgig · 10-02-2001, 08:07 PM

Ziplock, what wires from the power supply need to be hooked up to the car stereo?

Fourgig · 10-02-2001, 08:09 PM

I have a spare power supply I could use. All I'm going to power is the stock stereo, stock speakers and a 6.4" LCD. Should work, right?

Zip-Lock · 10-02-2001, 08:14 PM

Take the yellow wire (+12) and the black wire next it off the computer power supply. On the receiver, connect both the 12v and the Acc (so it thinks your ignition is turned on) wire to yellow wire. Then connect the ground off the receiver to the black wire.

Aaron Cake · 10-03-2001, 08:17 AM

Going to a lot of car shows, I have noticed that most people have a large 12V supply (large, like 30-40 amps) underneath the car. I would assume that these come from audio shops at a pretty hefty price. If you are electronics oriented, you can make one yourself very easily. It doesn't even really need to be regulated, just able to supply 30+ A at around 13V. An old microwave transformer can be rewound to supply the proper voltage/current very easily.

2k1civic.com · 10-03-2001, 08:53 AM

Or you can just buy one for $140
http://www.millionbuy.com/pyrps46k.html

Derek