Any electronics wizards out there?

Hi,

I'm wanting to put a car stereo in my room, and was wondering the best way to go about this. I looked up on another forum a while back and someone posted how to do it with a computer power supply, but I can't find it now. Is anyone wizzy enough to help me out?

Thanks.

 

Buy one of those automotive booster packs. The yellow wire is 12V in your case. I think most PC power supplies won't supply enough juice to run any kind of stereo, though.

 

Or, get a transformer that has a 12v output, and make sure that the Amps are matched too, it should tell you on the car stereo what the required amps are, and it says on the transformer what the output is. You can probably find one at radio shack or some such type store. Then it is just a matter of hooking up the wires right.

PS: By transformer, I mean the think you plug into your power strip that takes up like 3 spaces to power your scanner or router or USB ub or whatever. Just for clarification

 

Just curious where you came up with that? Most hard disks take up to 10 amps or so, and a lot of PC supplies can power more than one.

While I was typing this I got the urge to grab one of my old spares, I keep a lot of them for the various computers. The 230W unit (w/ external switch) is rated for 9.5A on +12V, 22A on +5V, 0.5A on -5 and -12. The newer units can provide a LOT more juice.

The problem you'll run into with a computer power supply is they are switching types, which means they are basically noisy by design. You could try one and see, a big enough filter cap with a diode could quieten it down enough to use. With the logic drive on/off units (ie, new) there is a wire you have to cut and connect to (I think) the +5 line. The only reason I know this is it is an old trick to get a really cheap power supply to charge batteries for the combat robots, some of which can take substantial currents for long periods of time.

You want me to look up the specifics?

 

I ran a car stereo in my room, i used a mains transformer to take the voltage from mains to 13.8 which is just under what a car puts out when the enginges running due to the alternator. If ur just running a head unit n speakers should do u fine, i you want to run subs as well, u'l need to make sure u have enough amps.

If ur not yet driving like i was i would advise you to not bother, as by the time u start driving new cheaper and better stuff will be out. Hope this helps.

 

sounded pritty hench when i had it tho, 2x12 inch subs which are for sale now if anyones interested...

 

A mains transformer, will require an enclosure, a fuse, a fullwave rectifier module and an adequately sized filter capacitor. A 12vdc plugin power block, that comes with a PC speaker kit might do it, especially if it has a bass box for the low frquencies. What I've used for years, in my garage, is an old car battery hooked up to a cheap trickle charger, available at most hardware or automotive supply shops. The trickle charger won't run the radio, it just replaces battery power while you sleep. But with this arrangement, you've got "clean power" from the battery, and you can use all car components -- speakers, harnessess, etc. And when you want to "crank" it, you've got plenty of "juice" to do it. The caveat - - only use a "trickle charger", otherwise the battery will gas (hydrogen gas) and you'll need a vent pipe to the outside.

 

I dont know what you mean by all that enclosure and power capacitor stuff, i got mine from maplin electronics for about £30-40 its about the 2/3rds teh size of a shoe box...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=231&criteria=13.8v&doy=27m9

It was an older model of that, looks slightley different, mines just sat at the back of my closet gethering dust...

 

Different terminology accross the pond, I guess. Yes, BenUk8905, that looks like it should work, just fine. I'm such a chepskate, that the old car battery seemed like the solution for me. Your idea, looks much better.

 

Seen Benny's old setup, worked fine in the room - sounds even better in his car

 

How many amps to you need? 9.5Amps seems like it would work, and PC power supplys can provide more. I'd use the battery as a capacitor (ie, filtering). Switching supplies tend to be lots smaller than their analog counterparts.

 

mine had 7 amps continuous with a 12 amp surge, basically if ur running subs and u turn it up loud the lights will start to dimm n eventually it'l cut out. one of the problems with running it in doors... sounds good tho, different to in a car but still good.