Powering Car Head Unit

[nic8082242]

I have an extra headunit and was wanting to install in my room. I'm just not positive on how to power it?

I don't know if anyone can help but i really don't have a good isea on how to do it so if anyone can help or point me in the direction of help that would be great

[vskid]

A computer PSU.
What is the wattage of the headunit? You'll have to make sure that the 12v line of the PSU can provide enough amps. Take the wattage of the headunit and divide that by 12, that'll give you the amount of amps the 12v line will need to supply. Or see if there is a sticker on the headunit that says the power draw. It won't always draw that much power (probably never will), but better safe than sorry.

[nic8082242]

the headunit is pushing 50Wx4
the computer psu is pushing 13A@12V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817255015the power supply i plan to use

will thuis work

[RockNRoll!]

You won't be able to turn the volume all the way up, but it'll work if you use it conservatively. I would put something in the 12v line that tells you how much amps you're using so you can keep track of it.

I don't see the point of a 200w head unit. Mine's 80w and it's more than powerful enough to blast my music.

[nic8082242]

got a few question,
1: why couldn't i turn the volume all the way up
2: if its cause of the power supply how many amps would i need to do so
3: wouldn't it be around 33A
4: if i took a PSU with multiple 12V rails (lets say2) one at 19A and the other at 20A, using both could i power my headunit, or would having to much amerage be bad

[RockNRoll!]

1. Power supply doesn't supply enough power
2. Assuming it's 100% efficient, which it isn't, around 17A. It <i>might</i> work with 20A but I don't know how much power your head unit takes so I'm not sure. It could be much more.
3. dunno
4. I'm not sure power supplies like that exist, though I may be wrong. If they do, then yes that could work. Too much amperage isn't bad because the head unit will only use however much it needs.

[nic8082242]

I'm pretty sure they do, it has two +12V rails from the 24 pin connector, ones 19A and the others 20A and if VSKid is right then it would be 400/12=[33.3(repeating)]34. so then 39A ould be enough.

link to new PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817339009

[nic8082242]

Mine's 80w and it's more than powerful enough to blast my music.

srry for the double post but just noticed this where did you get something that small?

[RockNRoll!]

That PSU would probably work. I got my head unit from best buy, it was the cheapest one there.

[bicostp]

Well, the 2 front and 2 back channels mirror each other, would the draw be lower if you only used 2 speakers? (Not sure if it goes by load on the speakers or if it gives power to every channel all the time regardless.)

[Rekarp]

You don't want to just stick two 12V lines together. If one is only producing 11.9 V to can get some really weird effects and possibly damage the powersupply.

Some really beefy diodes should to the trick.

edit// More I think about it you will probably need some really big (10,000uF?) Caps to on the output to keep them from dying when the bass hits.

[nic8082242]

so that means i have to buy one of the exoensive ones that has like 30A on 1 12V line. that sux

[nic8082242]

A computer PSU.
What is the wattage of the headunit? You'll have to make sure that the 12v line of the PSU can provide enough amps. Take the wattage of the headunit and divide that by 12, that'll give you the amount of amps the 12v line will need to supply. Or see if there is a sticker on the headunit that says the power draw. It won't always draw that much power (probably never will), but better safe than sorry.

that can't be right i just realized, because the stereo only has a 10A fuse if what you said was eu it would need a 33A use so i went ahead and connected it to my stock dell PSU and turned it up all the way and walah it worked perfectly

[vskid]

A computer PSU.
What is the wattage of the headunit? You'll have to make sure that the 12v line of the PSU can provide enough amps. Take the wattage of the headunit and divide that by 12, that'll give you the amount of amps the 12v line will need to supply. Or see if there is a sticker on the headunit that says the power draw. It won't always draw that much power (probably never will), but better safe than sorry.

that can't be right i just realized, because the stereo only has a 10A fuse if what you said was eu it would need a 33A use so i went ahead and connected it to my stock dell PSU and turned it up all the way and walah it worked perfectly

Don't know how you got 33A, 200/12=16.6. And the headunit will probably never draw a full 200w.

[nic8082242]

A computer PSU.
What is the wattage of the headunit? You'll have to make sure that the 12v line of the PSU can provide enough amps. Take the wattage of the headunit and divide that by 12, that'll give you the amount of amps the 12v line will need to supply. Or see if there is a sticker on the headunit that says the power draw. It won't always draw that much power (probably never will), but better safe than sorry.

that can't be right i just realized, because the stereo only has a 10A fuse if what you said was eu it would need a 33A use so i went ahead and connected it to my stock dell PSU and turned it up all the way and walah it worked perfectly

Don't know how you got 33A, 200/12=16.6. And the headunit will probably never draw a full 200w.

oops! i just looked at a orevioys post and saw that i had 400 for some reason well i guess it dont really matter, now that i got my math right

and the HU might pull the full 200W cause the speakers I'm gonna use but doesn't matter