A/C powering a marine amp?

[EchelonMike]

Hey Crew!

I built a patio on the back of my house and have a 5 channel marine amp that I was going to mount under the outdoor kitchen area to power some polk audio marine speakers around the patio, and a kicker sub also mounted underneath.

Anyone know of a power pack that would convert AC to DC to power the amp?

Thanks,

-- Mike

[CumminsBu]

12 V batteris and a good charger would be the route I go. When I clean the boat and listen to music at the house. I hook a battery charger to the boat and rock all day without a problem. Set it up like a system in the boat and you will be fine.

[FastFreddy]

Here's the math for you.

Say you're amp is 800 watts. To know the amperage required you need to divide watts by voltage, at 12volts you'll need about 70 amps to round up.

So then you oversize a little, search on eBay and find a 100 amp 12 volt DC supply http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PowerMax-100-Amp-Power-Supply-AC-to-DC-Converter-NEW-/220893725658?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Device_Power_Supplies&hash=item336e4ac3da.

Hook this up and you should be good to go.

Keep in mind this device will be around 1200watts+ So it's like running a toaster or hairdryer.

Edited March 13, 2013 by fredberg1414

[shawndoggy]

Here's the math for you.

Say you're amp is 800 watts. To know the amperage required you need to divide watts by voltage, at 12volts you'll need about 70 amps to round up.

So then you oversize a little, search on eBay and find a 100 amp 12 volt DC supply http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PowerMax-100-Amp-Power-Supply-AC-to-DC-Converter-NEW-/220893725658?pt=US_Radio_Comm_Device_Power_Supplies&hash=item336e4ac3da.

Hook this up and you should be good to go.

Keep in mind this device will be around 1200watts+ So it's like running a toaster or hairdryer.

Yeah thats totally the rub.... poor bang for the buck. Better off selling the amp and finding a decent stereo tuner/reciever on craigslist. With the switch over to hdmi, there are lots of decent pre-hdmi recievers that people are dumping for cheap. Add a powered sub from monoprice and you'd have a decent budget system.

Sent from my BNTV600 using Tapatalk HD

[Earmark Marine]

Mike,

Music isn't DC. AC music will be a fraction of the current draw. Maybe one-fifth to one-third.

The amplifier will lose about 25 percent of it's 14.4 volt rated power with a 12.5 volt supply. So your calculation won't start as high.

Then you have the efficiency loss that has to be accounted for which varies according to impedance load. This adds draw.

I would want an AC to DC power supply to be MUCH larger than my expected continuous duty.

A 100 amp power supply seems like the right choice.

David

[jk13]

Those are similar to what we use for demo vehicles--we have to use a different brand by contract.

We recommend using at least a small battery in between as a buffer if you will be using it at loud volumes (probably not on a patio). It eases the peak and valley loads on the power supply and helps it last much longer.

[EchelonMike]

Thanks, everyone. Sounds like an AC based Amp/receiver is the way to go. I thought about the battery and battery charger idea as well, but when all is said and done it will be more economical to just go traditional receiver, I think. I loved the waterproof concept though for the under-counter mount. Oh well! :-)