Car amplifiers for sub use in home with PC supply?

[goldyrathore]

Hi,

Has anyone tried powering a car amp at home with PC supply?
Can someone point me to such links?

It looks too tempting to try.

Thanks,
Goldy

 

[gruni]

it works. 😀
but be sure not to run the pc supply without any load...

 

[Glowbug]

Wouldn't recommend it.

Buy a real 12VDC bench supply if you're doing testing, or a 120VAC amp for permanent use.

 

[EBM_dude]

It works but it isn't really wise to do that. For good measure, get an old HDD as another load for the PSU to ensure there's a minimum load.

 

[firechief]

A large portion on the power devloped by a PC supply is at +5V witch won't do you any good. Then there is usually +15 and -15 or something close to that. If you use the +15 it will probally work but be limited in current ability. You might find that you wont be able to crank it up much. Good luck.

 

[smartx21]

I did it to power a small car power amp, for a stereo pair of DIY loudspeakers (6" bass + tweeter), being the same PC the sound source, and it sounded fine. So, there was ONLY one PSU to feed both PC and car power amp (+12V).
I think you can't do this for a very loud sound, but it was fine for general purposes, like gaming or music listening.

 

[ReiMomo]

I did it too, what you need is too short the grean cable with the one of the grounds to power up the power supply then connect the 12 volts of the power supply to the amp like you would do on a car.
google for ATX pin out.
It might not be super loud but is cool when there is no amp to play music.

 

[goldyrathore]

Thank you guys for posting your results. I just got myself a PC 450W SMPS. It has two 12V supplies rated at 15Amps and 16 Amps. I ran a Sony XM-502Z car amp with a small speaker. Got sound, no hum, no noise. 😀 Will power my subs now and post the results soon.