How do these tiny amps work? As in there is no heavy transformer, so ?
I have a Flying Mole power amp, it's less than 1.5 pounds and gives 160 watts at 4ohm. Works great for bass.
How could I make one of these tiny wonders? 500w @8ohm is my target.
I have a Flying Mole power amp, it's less than 1.5 pounds and gives 160 watts at 4ohm. Works great for bass.
How could I make one of these tiny wonders? 500w @8ohm is my target.
Amps without a power transformer usually have a SMPS, a switch mode power supply, commonly referred to as a switcher.
Same as in a laptop? Could I possibly adapt one from computer parts?
Warning, I'm a quick learner, but I'm just getting started. Beware of stupid noon questions, I will of course try search function before I ask.
Warning, I'm a quick learner, but I'm just getting started. Beware of stupid noon questions, I will of course try search function before I ask.
Laptop power supplies operate on a similar function, but the voltage isn't high enough to swing 500w into 8ohm. You'd need 100v rail voltages, with at least 12A current capacity. Preferably more like 24A, depending on how low you wanna push the speaker impedance. If you only ever want to drive 8ohm speakers, 12A capacity is fine. 4ohm needs 24A, 2ohm needs 48A, etc etc.
I got power from P=V*V/R, so V=sqrt(P*R). Note that the voltage you get out is RMS voltage, so it needs multiplying by 1.414 to get to peak voltage. Then add a few because you lose volts over output transistors and the like.
NB - building PSUs is not for the faint-hearted or inexperienced. The voltages in there are very real and will kill you if you give them half a chance. With high-power amplifiers like the one you're thinking of, even the rail voltages will give you a jolt, and the energy stored will happily weld screwdrivers and the like to your capacitor bank if you don't discharge the caps thoroughly.
I don't want to scare you off, but I do want to make sure you're going in with your eyes open.
Chris
I got power from P=V*V/R, so V=sqrt(P*R). Note that the voltage you get out is RMS voltage, so it needs multiplying by 1.414 to get to peak voltage. Then add a few because you lose volts over output transistors and the like.
NB - building PSUs is not for the faint-hearted or inexperienced. The voltages in there are very real and will kill you if you give them half a chance. With high-power amplifiers like the one you're thinking of, even the rail voltages will give you a jolt, and the energy stored will happily weld screwdrivers and the like to your capacitor bank if you don't discharge the caps thoroughly.
I don't want to scare you off, but I do want to make sure you're going in with your eyes open.
Chris
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