current draw?

[will77530]

why do some amps draw more current than others? say you have to amps that both are rated at 1000rms why would one draw more current than the other?

[Guest]

different build design, different board parts, many factors really but those are the only two i can think of. smarter people will chime in

[SnowDrifter]

Effeciency too. A 1000 watt amp at 50% effeciency will draw 2000 watts needing 2000 watts of fuses.

A 1000 watt amp at 95% effeciency will draw 1050 watts - needing only 1050 watts of fuses.

Or as is popular with cheap amps: the box says 1000 watts, but the amp is really a 300 watt amp needing only 400 watts or so of fuses. =)

[kr15]

not to be a dick, but please leave this thread ^

[will77530]

does anyone have an answer or can verify what has been said?

[FiNaLaLmAsY]

i dont wanna sound like a noob but my input..first off its also matters on your ohm load. but each amp has different "Drive Boards" and run different efficiency ratings of current needing of draw at a certain ohm load i think im sorta correct if someone like to correct me feel free.

an easy way to explain this i had a old crescendo audio model 3k @ .5ohms and needed a lot more power then my new 3500 @.5ohm and took it to my amp guy get a good explanation he explained that it had something to do with how the drive boards deliver the power at a certain ohm rating which causes the less power draw = better efficiency rating = less heat too!

also it has a big roll play in box tuning and speaker effiencys on how much power a "1000 watt" amp would pull theres a lot of factors that play into how much a amp pulls and will pull.

Edited October 2, 2011 by FiNaLaLmAsY

[kickass audio]

Heres one major thing i noticed with amps and their current draw.

I have owned a decent amount of car amps over the past 2 years i have really been into car audio and i have learned that there are amps that are regulated and not regulated. There is a big difference between the two types of amps. Basically an amp that is regulated will put out very close to its rated power at a wide range of voltages where an un regulated amp will change its wattage output greatly. Now with un regulated amps, if your voltage for example is very low, the amp will draw more power to keep up with putting out its rated wattage. If you understand ohms law you can easily see what i mean. Ohms law states that volts divided by amps is equal to your wattage. So basically with a regulated amp that puts out 1000w rms, if your voltage drops down your amperage will need to go up in order to keep the 1000w power level. It also works if you have high voltage it will not take as much amperage to get the amp to put out that 1k rms. The benefit to amps that are regulated is if you have poor electrical in your car and suffer from voltage drop your amp will put out very close to its factory rating in wattage. The down side with regulated amps is that if your voltage drop is very low you will be drawing massive amounts of current through your vehicles electrical and cause a huge strain on your battery and alternator for it to handle that excess load. Another down side that i have noticed with several highly regulated amps i have owned and used is that when the voltage off your battery falls down, the amp gets really hot because it is working its butt off to try and support itself.

Now for unregulated amps you can have different voltages and it will change the output of the amp a pretty good amount. With an un regulated amp it will really only care about voltage as opposed to amperage. With unregulated amps, if your voltage is low, your amps output power will also be low. If your voltage is high, your output power will also be high. These amps tend to draw the same amount of current on a wide area of voltages which is good and bad. The good with an amp like this is that you dont have to worry as much about drawing a ton of current through your system to support the power output you want. Another good thing is if your voltage is pretty high on your cars electrical, you can squeeze out a decent amount of extra power out of that amp. The bad thing with this is that if your electrical is low on voltage you will lose a considerable amount of power output from the amps.

So basically current draw is mostly on how regulated the amp is. The impedance load and efficiency do play a role in it as well but if you were to take an amp that has the same efficiency, impedance load, impedance rise, wiring, class, etc but one amp was very regulated and the other amp was not really regulated you would see a difference in current draw from the two amps.

[Guest]

Effeciency too. A 1000 watt amp at 50% effeciency will draw 2000 watts needing 2000 watts of fuses.

A 1000 watt amp at 95% effeciency will draw 1050 watts - needing only 1050 watts of fuses.

Or as is popular with cheap amps: the box says 1000 watts, but the amp is really a 300 watt amp needing only 400 watts or so of fuses. =)

fuses arent rated by watts, theyre rated by amps

[brownm3]

Heres one major thing i noticed with amps and their current draw.

I have owned a decent amount of car amps over the past 2 years i have really been into car audio and i have learned that there are amps that are regulated and not regulated. There is a big difference between the two types of amps. Basically an amp that is regulated will put out very close to its rated power at a wide range of voltages where an un regulated amp will change its wattage output greatly. Now with un regulated amps, if your voltage for example is very low, the amp will draw more power to keep up with putting out its rated wattage. If you understand ohms law you can easily see what i mean. Ohms law states that volts divided by amps is equal to your wattage. So basically with a regulated amp that puts out 1000w rms, if your voltage drops down your amperage will need to go up in order to keep the 1000w power level. It also works if you have high voltage it will not take as much amperage to get the amp to put out that 1k rms. The benefit to amps that are regulated is if you have poor electrical in your car and suffer from voltage drop your amp will put out very close to its factory rating in wattage. The down side with regulated amps is that if your voltage drop is very low you will be drawing massive amounts of current through your vehicles electrical and cause a huge strain on your battery and alternator for it to handle that excess load. Another down side that i have noticed with several highly regulated amps i have owned and used is that when the voltage off your battery falls down, the amp gets really hot because it is working its butt off to try and support itself.

Now for unregulated amps you can have different voltages and it will change the output of the amp a pretty good amount. With an un regulated amp it will really only care about voltage as opposed to amperage. With unregulated amps, if your voltage is low, your amps output power will also be low. If your voltage is high, your output power will also be high. These amps tend to draw the same amount of current on a wide area of voltages which is good and bad. The good with an amp like this is that you dont have to worry as much about drawing a ton of current through your system to support the power output you want. Another good thing is if your voltage is pretty high on your cars electrical, you can squeeze out a decent amount of extra power out of that amp. The bad thing with this is that if your electrical is low on voltage you will lose a considerable amount of power output from the amps.

So basically current draw is mostly on how regulated the amp is. The impedance load and efficiency do play a role in it as well but if you were to take an amp that has the same efficiency, impedance load, impedance rise, wiring, class, etc but one amp was very regulated and the other amp was not really regulated you would see a difference in current draw from the two amps.

Great explanation

[will77530]

Heres one major thing i noticed with amps and their current draw.

I have owned a decent amount of car amps over the past 2 years i have really been into car audio and i have learned that there are amps that are regulated and not regulated. There is a big difference between the two types of amps. Basically an amp that is regulated will put out very close to its rated power at a wide range of voltages where an un regulated amp will change its wattage output greatly. Now with un regulated amps, if your voltage for example is very low, the amp will draw more power to keep up with putting out its rated wattage. If you understand ohms law you can easily see what i mean. Ohms law states that volts divided by amps is equal to your wattage. So basically with a regulated amp that puts out 1000w rms, if your voltage drops down your amperage will need to go up in order to keep the 1000w power level. It also works if you have high voltage it will not take as much amperage to get the amp to put out that 1k rms. The benefit to amps that are regulated is if you have poor electrical in your car and suffer from voltage drop your amp will put out very close to its factory rating in wattage. The down side with regulated amps is that if your voltage drop is very low you will be drawing massive amounts of current through your vehicles electrical and cause a huge strain on your battery and alternator for it to handle that excess load. Another down side that i have noticed with several highly regulated amps i have owned and used is that when the voltage off your battery falls down, the amp gets really hot because it is working its butt off to try and support itself.

thanks a lot that made a lot of sense

Now for unregulated amps you can have different voltages and it will change the output of the amp a pretty good amount. With an un regulated amp it will really only care about voltage as opposed to amperage. With unregulated amps, if your voltage is low, your amps output power will also be low. If your voltage is high, your output power will also be high. These amps tend to draw the same amount of current on a wide area of voltages which is good and bad. The good with an amp like this is that you dont have to worry as much about drawing a ton of current through your system to support the power output you want. Another good thing is if your voltage is pretty high on your cars electrical, you can squeeze out a decent amount of extra power out of that amp. The bad thing with this is that if your electrical is low on voltage you will lose a considerable amount of power output from the amps.

So basically current draw is mostly on how regulated the amp is. The impedance load and efficiency do play a role in it as well but if you were to take an amp that has the same efficiency, impedance load, impedance rise, wiring, class, etc but one amp was very regulated and the other amp was not really regulated you would see a difference in current draw from the two amps.