Car stereo cheap alternative to big hifi systems

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dickerbeen

Member
Joined 2003
Yeah... I was gonna do that.

I was thinking of using an old desktop PC case to put the rig in...

Pros:
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(1) PSU for PC supplies 12v with earthing possibilities

(2) Drive bays to hold the car audio equipment

(3) Put amp(s) inside of case

(4) Expansion slots for audio out leads
OR
(5) Speakers built in to the case (2 6x9" would fit, right?)

Cons:
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Heat?
 
J

Jennice

Member
Joined 2003
12 in house?

Hi Jake,

I don't know about your local laws, but here in DK you won't be able to have anyone legally install 12V along with the "ordinary" power line.

Apart from legal issues, it's pointless to make the 12V gneration as part of the house's electrical sytem. The long leads from source to appliance will create immense losses (and be terrible inductances, considering that a lot of car stereo equipment has SMPSU's built in. (especially the power-amp's)

Generally, you will need to be carefull if you use a PC PSU. It can indeed deliver a lot of current (although some types have the most juice at 5V), but powering a SMPS from a SMPS can (in worst case) lead to faults in one or both components, mainly during turn-on and turn-off.
During turn-on, some car power amps draw VERY high peak currents, which may stress or damage your PC PSU.
During turn-off, your PC PSU may have temporary states of high output impedance. The SMPS of a car power amp may not protect against (negative) voltage transients emmitting from the SMPS to the PC PSU. At work I had this problem, where one SMPS fried another one during certain power-down conditions.

Jennice
 
uvodee

uvodee

Member
Joined 2002
interesting

Back in the very early 90' s I had fitting transformers installed in the distribution box while still living in Belgium These transfo's took 220 volt AC down to 12 v DC.

I did this in order to install the then very popular 12 volt halogen lighting. it took away the wall warts and even ceiling warts......

worked just fine and installing it was a piece of cake.
 
purplepeople

purplepeople

Member
Joined 2003
Hey, how about those big halogen light wall warts. They give out 12VAC and 6A. Shouldn't that be enough for a GC monoblock. You could go to IKEA, get the cheapest tracklight for the transformer, throw the hardware in the future use pile, and still have 3 spare bulbs for your current tracklights.

With two of them, each one DC'ed with a bridge into a 317/337 or 78xx/79xx to get a just under +/-12VDC supply?

:)ensen.
 
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