car audio to home audio

So I have had this dilemma for over 2 years now, it seems not a single soul in this world has a clue of the answer.

I am wanting to run a car audio amp in my house. Seems easy right? Just get a 12 volt power supply with "any old amp rating" and you good to go! Problem is that "any old amp rating" is going to starve your amp, did someone bring marshmallows?

Logic says the fuse rating on the amplifier is the maximum current draw of the amplifier. My amp has a 125A fuse. So with my thinking, I need a 12 volt power supply rated at 125A. This makes since because the amp is rated at 1500wRMS @ 2 ohms stable mono. (12x125=1500)

Let me back up a bit... The amp is a Kicker ZX1500.1. 1500 meaning 1500W (@2ohms stable) .1 for mono.

What about a car battery though..., what is its continuous amp rating while being 99% charged from a battery? Extremely few people know! I recently came across a formula--
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Continuous amps = Amp Hour rating / Charge-Discharge Time (hours)

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This is supposed to be the continuous current of a battery... but wait... I don't know if (the battery I have) even supplies 125A continuously! (insert dilemma of in line fuses)

I've seen people on Youtube who use battery chargers rated at 5 amps to power high end amplifiers in their home. WTH sense does this make? Charger- "Here you go Mr. amp! Here is (12Vx5A) 60w of power!
Amp- "YAY! wait... where is the other 1440 watts? I'm starved!"

So back to my original question: What is the best way to determine how many continuous amps you need from a power supply to power an amp at home with given parameters?

Am I right on the dot with logic? or am I completely lost in thought...... Don't tell me just use a home theater amp. There is not a single one in this world that will push 1500Wrms+ at 2 ohms with a low pass filter.

Reserved.

Wow... this is both an epic win and an epic failure. Epic win because this is a tough question... Epic fail because the answer is lagging.

This is a tough question. The highest amperage power supply I have seen is around 80 amps. I really haven't looked around a lot though. That one was around $400, so I would assume they probably make them up around what you would need, but you are probably going to spend a fortune if you go that route.

Are you going to be running the amp at 2 ohms in your house? If you ran it at four ohms you should be able to find a power supply that you would need fairly easily.

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MECP Advanced
Make your life easier and buy a DMM.

shlasher wrote:

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Don't tell me just use a home theater amp. There is not a single one in this world that will push 1500Wrms+ at 2 ohms with a low pass filter.

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its not home audio its pro audio and there's a couple here with over 1500 rms X 2 @2ohms, low pass crossover i don't know but I'm sure you can find something.

https://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?srchExt=CAT&srchCat=330&Cfid=3697736&CFTOKEN=73315252

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ac delco am radio and sparkomatic 40 watt sound exploder

The kind of power supply you are looking for is most likely going to be a "rack mount" style that is going to be 220v to have that kind of continuous current draw capability. (Think laboratory setting with variable current/voltage output) It's tough to say what would sustain 1500Wrms because its going to vary on what you are watching / listening to.

Are you chasing 1500w RMS for a particular reason or just trying to use old leftover equipment in your home? ( I mean BOSE sells hella priced equipment all day long with almost NO SPECS on their product info)

By the time you are done with LARGE power supplies, the voltage to run it, (220v outlet and supported wiring) why not just buy a huge powered sub for home theater?

(Side note, I too used a car amp for an old Prologic setup because my receiver had a pitiful 25w x 2 surround power when the front stage was 300w. In the end between power supplies, and amps it was just not worth it for me even though I had most of it just lying around. )

What you are really asking is "how much alternator would I need to run this amplifier".

How hard are you going to run it on a regular basis? If you are a WFO kind of guy, you'll need a big one. If you are an "easy o the volume control" kind of guy, you might be able to get away with your stock alternator.

You are also forgetting about efficiencies. That 125A fuse first off tells me that the amp ISN'T all it's cracked up to be! (That doesn't surprise me, really... Kicker never is...)

125A X 12V X .80 = 1200

Even Class D amps have losses. For a car amplifier, with it's associated switching power supply, figure AT LEAST 20%, and that's close to THEORETICAL, in a LAB, and under perfect conditions. 33% is not an unreasonable number in the real world.

Still... Getting back to your ORIGINAL question: Nobody here can tell you how much power supply you will need. If, as I said, you are a WFO guy, then still operating on the assumption that the amplifier will use all 125A, all the time, then you have to have a 125A power supply... CH-CHING!!!

They do exist...

https://www.meanwelldirect.co.uk/product/1500W-12V-125A-Parallelable-PFC-Power-Supply/RSP-1500-12/default.htm

Notice that there isn't even a price on that page. There is an RFQ link... I don't need one, so I'm not going to spend my time going through the effort, but I have always been quite shocked anytime I get a response from RFQ links.

Digikey has them, too. For $700.00!

https://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/727090-pwr-sply-pfc-1500w-12v-66a-125a-vscp-1k5-12.html

Buy a pro amplifier. More power, less money, and if all you need is a low-pass filter, they're out there. Check Parts Express. In less than 60 seconds I found several that fit you bill... Here's a FANTASTIC option:

https://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=245-506

You're limiting yourself, and wanting to spend more money than you have to. Put the car amp in the car, where it belongs.

What I am going to do... is just prolly get a couple kicker 15 comps and replace the ones in my cabinet that I have now. The ones i have now are 125W rms, im only giving them 110rms, but they have a very high response for 15's... 40hz... The kicker comp 15s are dirt cheap and they are 20hz I believe. and at 110/250 i wouldn't be under powering them. I'll just prolly go with that...

66sportfury wrote:

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shlasher wrote:

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Don't tell me just use a home theater amp. There is not a single one in this world that will push 1500Wrms+ at 2 ohms with a low pass filter.

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its not home audio its pro audio and there's a couple here with over 1500 rms X 2 @2ohms, low pass crossover i don't know but I'm sure you can find something.

https://www.parts-express.com/wizards/searchResults.cfm?srchExt=CAT&srchCat=330&Cfid=3697736&CFTOKEN=73315252

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OMFG this is exactly what i need!!! THANK YOU!!!!