| Power Requirement Tips |
 |
 |
| Written by Grizz Archer |
| Thursday, 05 March 2009 13:17 |
 Determining The Current Capabilities Of Your VehicleBefore installing a High Current amplifier in your system you should take into consideration the vehicle's ability to provide adequate current to the amplifier. The most vehicles, the alternator is only capable of supplying a little over the requirements for the standard electrical system (i.e. headlights, air conditioning etc). Depending on how you play your system will determine the amount of current you will need. For example, you listen to your system and low listening levels, and then you will probably use less than one-third the rated current draw. If you play your system loud, then you will use most of the rated current of the amplifier. Most alternators have about a 40 percent reserve capability. Order to determine how many in ampere of current you will have for your system; you will need to find out what your alternator is rated at. If you are not sure of the total amperage of your alternator, a good place to look is on the alternator itself. Most alternators have a metal tag stating the total average available. If you cannot find the tag, check with the manufacture to find out the rated amperage. Once rated current of the alternator is determined, you need to multiply this number by .40 in order to determine the reserve current available for use with your power amplifier. For Example: Alternator = 80 Amps 80 x .40 = 32 Amps Please keep in mind this is an estimate only not exact science. It is best to get your electrical system tested by a professional to determine electrical systems true capabilities. Calculating Amplifier Current Demands By using the fuse value of the amplifier you can get an idea of the amount of current draw the will be used under full output power. Although the full output rating is good to determine the total amperage draw in the system, it does not represent the true continuous or averaged amperage draw in the system. Listed below is a simple way in order to determine the approximate continuous current draw of your amplifier. 1 Determine fuse value of the amplifier. 2 Divide the RMS power rating by the Peak power rating. For Example: 50Watts RMS Divided by 100 Watts Peak Power = .50 (50%) Once you figure the percentage of RMS vs. Peak power, you multiply the fuse value of the amplifier by the RMS percentage. For Example: If the amplifiers fuse value were 30A, then 30A multiplied by 50% would be 15A of continuous current draw. Upgrading your Electrical System Depending on systems current requirements vs. your electrical systems capabilities, you may need to upgrade your electrical system. For example, if you find that you headlights dim when you have your system cranked up when you are driving at night, this is a sign you should upgrade your electrical system. There is several different ways order to accomplish this; one way is to upgrade the alternator so that it has higher amperage output. Another way is to purchase a Capacitor. We recommend consulting your Car Audio Retailer to determine what is best for your system. (Courtesy of Soundstream) |
| Last Updated on Thursday, 05 March 2009 19:48 |