14.4 vs 12

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luxuryrules

Copper - Posts: 102

Joined: March 17, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 12:18 PM / IP Logged

Somebody on this forum brought up a good point, that audio equipment manufacturers get their ratings up by running on a 14.4v system. Does anybody know how to convert the advertised numbers to the true numbers? For that matter, I can't tell whether my amp is rated at 14.4 or 12 . . . Lanzar Vibe 420, the black one from a year or two ago. Curiosty, mainly, but that knowledge may come in handy.

bberman1

Gold - Posts: 2,314

Joined: March 11, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 1:17 PM / IP Logged

Unfortunately in the car audio world there is no set standard for measuring the wattage at a certain voltage. Most quality manufactures will give you the rms wattage at 12 and 14 volts. But there are many companies out there not to mention any names that will measure there equipment at a much higher voltage than 14.4. They run a test tone for a fraction of a 2nd and give you the max wattage right before the amp starts to smoke. But in a real world scenario the amp will put out much less wattage then what the manufactures max rating is. But to answer your? I have no idea what your amp puts out however you can do some unscientific tests of your own. If you have a voltage meter you can use it to test the rms watts of the amp. Set the voltage meter to A/C voltage, play some tunes and watch peak voltage. Square this then divide that number by the impedance load. That number will be there rms per channel, if you multiply that number by the number of channels the amp has that will give you a close idea of the total RMS that the amp is putting out.

vseven

Copper - Posts: 60

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Joined: February 27, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 1:50 PM / IP Logged

As a side note both my Alpine amps list the RMS and peak for 2ohm/4ohm and 12v/14.4v although the certification certificate I got with both list the output at 14.4v, my M300 lists 2Ohm load, my F340 list 4 ohm load. My stock Saturn however puts out a constant 14.7v so to me it dosen't really matter that much.

Allan.

MielGibson

Copper - Posts: 74

Joined: January 03, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 2:18 PM / IP Logged

Actually High wattage amps don't necessarily run at 12 or 14 volts. You see, this voltage is boosted up to let's say, +15/-15, +24/-24 or +35/-35 volts or more, using Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) technology.

luxuryrules

Copper - Posts: 102

Joined: March 17, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 4:11 PM / IP Logged

Even more to that than I thought... wow.

Thanks.

bberman1

Gold - Posts: 2,314

Joined: March 11, 2002

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 6:59 PM / IP Logged

Your Welcome

showdwar

Member - Posts: 24

Joined: May 15, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 8:43 PM / IP Logged

I am not too sure on the reliability of a manufacturer's printed specs. But I just bought a Rockford Fosgate 851s amp. Rated at 215 watts x2 at 4 ohms. Well I received it the other day and took a gander at the testing certificate. It was tested at 13.something volts and put out around 300 watts per channel.

I was pretty impressed with this. Pretty sure on the numbers. But I was really looking for a disappointment while I was waiting for the amp....after reading posts like this about the specs not being advertised on 12 volt systems.

Speaking of that...my battery puts out a hair over 12 volts. How do I get this 14.4 volts that everyone is talking about!???

There's nothin' like good music played on a good system!

sodamninsane

Member - Posts: 7

Joined: May 18, 2003

Location: United States

Posted: May 26, 2003 at 9:11 PM / IP Logged

Most automobile charging systems (alternators) put out 14 ish volts. So if your not maxing your amp out, and it can handle the load, you should be putting out around that anyway. You can use a voltage meter to measure this in your power lines.

YOur battery on the other hand, only puts out 12 volts when the car is off. Hence why people say todays cars run on 12 volt systems. YOu might experience a voltage drop from 14 when the car is running when your amp max's out, and the only real way to fix that is a bigger alternator.

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14.4 vs 12

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