formula to calculate wattage?
Printed From: the12volt.com
Forum Name: Car Audio
Forum Discription: Car Stereos, Amplifiers, Crossovers, Processors, Speakers, Subwoofers, etc.
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=74164
Printed Date: May 15, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Topic: formula to calculate wattage?
Posted By: dubb
Subject: formula to calculate wattage?
Date Posted: March 08, 2006 at 6:50 PM
whats that formula to find out exactly how many watts an amp pushes amps..something bout the volts received, fuse ratings..blah..
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2005 Ford 500 SEL. 3 Kicker CVR 15"s. 2000 watt Quantum Audio AMP.
Replies:
Posted By: coppellstereo
Date Posted: March 08, 2006 at 6:56 PM
https://www.the12volt.com/ohm/page2.asp#power
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Posted By: KPierson
Date Posted: March 08, 2006 at 8:14 PM
Keep in mind that if you are trying to calculate the power of an amp you'll need to know the effienciency of the amp in question. Also, actual current draw is much more important then fuse size. Just multiplying voltage by current will give you an extremely inflated value of actual real power.
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Kevin Pierson
Posted By: willdkartunes
Date Posted: March 08, 2006 at 9:41 PM
The current draw of an amplifier is usually much lower than the fuse rating on it right? How do you know how much lower it is?
Posted By: KPierson
Date Posted: March 08, 2006 at 10:43 PM
The only real way to know would be to use a current meter. However, most current meters aren't big enough to measure above ~20A.
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Kevin Pierson
Posted By: willdkartunes
Date Posted: March 09, 2006 at 12:18 AM
There must be a way .... I'll look around for this one. Unless someone else can shed some light on this subject for us ....
Posted By: Steven Kephart
Date Posted: March 09, 2006 at 2:54 AM
If you want to do it right, then you will need an osciloscope and a resistive load.
Posted By: jeffchilcott
Date Posted: March 09, 2006 at 3:00 AM
you can come very close with a clamp style fluke meter or similar and a DMM measure the AC voltage and AC current coming thru your speaker leads
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2009 0-1000 Trunk WR 154.0DB 2009 1001+ Trunk WR
2007 USACI World Champion
2007 World Record
2006 USACI Finals 2nd Place
Posted By: Steven Kephart
Date Posted: March 09, 2006 at 3:55 AM
The down side to that is he won't know the exact point where the amplifier is clipping. But it is probably the next best way to do it.
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