14.4 volts?

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RocknLesabre

Member - Posts: 19

Joined: November 14, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: November 22, 2002 at 5:18 AM / IP Logged

what does it mean when an amp has 14.4 volts on it's specs?

I thought a car was 12 volts?!

Velocity Motors

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Joined: March 08, 2002

Location: Manitoba, Canada

Posted: November 22, 2002 at 8:02 AM / IP Logged

14.4 is the running voltage of vehicles as opposed to when the car is turned off , then it's 12 volts.

Jeff

Velocity Custom Home Theater

Mobile Audio/Video Specialist

Morden, Manitoba CANADA

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NyxBass

Silver - Posts: 226

Joined: March 14, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: November 22, 2002 at 11:14 AM / IP Logged

The thing to remember is that only some alternators run at 14.4 volts. Many amps are also rated at 13.8 volts. If your running specs, it can always be a help to know what voltage your car runs at. An amplifier will have more power at higher voltages. Watch out for amps rated at artificially high voltages (16v or more on some cheap brands).

/NyxBass

DeathsJester12V

Silver - Posts: 352

Joined: July 22, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: November 23, 2002 at 8:53 PM / IP Logged

14.4 V...........

That's what the manufacturer tested the amp at......a lot of them do that...usually when an amp recieves more voltage, it puts out more output.. ( i.e. the SoundStream Lil' Wonder..output was regulated only by voltage input..the more power it got, the more it put out..)

It's a type of deception manufacturers put on their products....whether knowingly or not........

a lot of vehicles only run at about 13.6 to 13.8 when running, instead of the 12.6 or so when it's jsut the battery...of course the 13.6 or so is at idle RPM's...it doesn't increase much as the vehicle runs..maybe on a good day, might go to 14V.....but it's for reasons like that, if oyu go to local sound-offs, outlaws, etc, you'll see the guys revving the engine, it's to get a lil more power to the amp....

But watch out like Nyx said man..you see an amp that was tested at 16V or more...disregard it...and they are out there..I saw an amp one time rated at 1000W........at 19V...LOL.........I think I figured I'd get maybe 400 or 500 outta it under normal situations...

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JellyNutz

Copper - Posts: 85

Joined: August 18, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: November 23, 2002 at 10:03 PM / IP Logged

Hahahaha... I know what your sayin' Jester. I always laugh when I see amps rated at higher than average voltage. Rule of thumb is that for every 10 amps of current draw the MOST any given amplifier is going to put out is 100 watts, so when you see an amp the is rated at 1000W that has a 20 amp fuse on it you know its a crock of !@#$! Another point is that even if you give an amplifier 14.4V, 13.8V, 13.6V, etc, etc.. it really doesn't matter in the end because that amp is going to have voltage drops as it pumps out the juice (Unless you have a nice charging system, caps, etc. OR an amp with a regulated power supply (Like JL Audio or PPI)) so its not always going to put as much power out as it says its going to on that sheet... Remember your car does not have a regulated power supply, like the one they use to bench test their products before they ship them... Another point is sometimes they only list peak power output (Not labeling it as "peak," but just as "output"), so in the end you could be giving you speakers even less power...

Jesse

Joseph's Car Everything

NyxBass

Silver - Posts: 226

Joined: March 14, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: November 24, 2002 at 1:55 PM / IP Logged

The only hard and fast rule about power ratings is that there is no rule. Go by what your ears and the results say. If it pounds, awesome. Hearing an amp for yourself is worth more than any numbers game.

/NyxBass

JellyNutz

Copper - Posts: 85

Joined: August 18, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: November 25, 2002 at 9:51 PM / IP Logged

I beg to differ, numbers mean everything, but not everyone out there knows what they mean. If anyone needs any help understanding feel free - jellynutzo@aol.com

Jesse

Joseph's Car Everything

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14.4 volts?

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