Wall Outlet Powered

[SCT]

I've seen some showcars that have been wired to be able to plug up to a wall outlet instead of draining down the battery to power the electronics on the car (lights, audio, etc.). Anyone know how that can be done?

Thanks in advance!

[frojoe]

Either an ac to dc converter to charge the battery as quickly as it drains. For example I have a 10 amp charger attached to my battery, that plugs in to the wall to charge, and converts the ac to dc so the battery charges. You would need a much bigger one, at least 50 amps, and up depending on how much power your system has. The other option is to use amplifiers that run on ac power to drive your speaker and subs. Just use amplifiers or powered mixers that are made for concerts, home use etc.

[touringcamry]

Originally Posted by frojoe

Either an ac to dc converter to charge the battery as quickly as it drains. For example I have a 10 amp charger attached to my battery, that plugs in to the wall to charge, and converts the ac to dc so the battery charges. You would need a much bigger one, at least 50 amps, and up depending on how much power your system has. The other option is to use amplifiers that run on ac power to drive your speaker and subs. Just use amplifiers or powered mixers that are made for concerts, home use etc.

Be careful if you use home amps though because home stereo speakers are generally 8 ohms so the amps might only be 8 ohm stable. Car speakers are typically 4 or 2 ohms.

[ryan_t888]

I am heavily involved with Radio Controlled Fast electric boats and Airplanes. From this I have a couple power supplies that I have used to test car audio equipment indoors.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXKLP2&P=ML
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEH00&P=7

1st link could run a 250RMS amp
2nd link could run a 500RMS amp

Ryan

[Jigg007]

Originally Posted by ryan_t888

I am heavily involved with Radio Controlled Fast electric boats and Airplanes. From this I have a couple power supplies that I have used to test car audio equipment indoors.

http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...&I=LXKLP2&P=ML
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXEH00&P=7

1st link could run a 250RMS amp
2nd link could run a 500RMS amp

Ryan

Aha! I knew i've seen those silver boxes in autoshow cars before! :P

If you're not concerned with size, and just need it for testing purposes, use a battery charger. The big, stand up ones should be able to dish out quite a bit of current.

Also keep in mind, if you're using these to top off the batteries too, the charger is a constant current source, the battery is a buffer, and the amplifier is not a constant current draw.

So a larger amplifier or a smaller charger could be subsituted, as long as in the "quiet" time of the of the amplifier (or other system) is enough for the charger to juice up what the battery has lost.

If you don't need much, then you can use a PSU from a computer, you can get those in 500-1000W versions for fairly cheap, but they're commonly split across two power rails. Also, these are only 12V, so not much, if any battery charging would take place.