REVOofRustler Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 So right now I'm trying to put together a little speaker system using my old head unit and some Kicker 6x9's I have lying around. My dad's desktop died, and he let me pull the power supply out of it. It's an 18 amp power supply, so there's not a ton of power there. I also have a couple car batteries that aren't in use, so I was wondering if it would be OK to wire the PSU and the batteries in parallel. I figure the PSU is like a really low output alternator, but I figured I would ask before I try it out. 2002 Dodge Dakota 4.7 club cab - Sold 2004 Audi S4 Avant - Fi and Crescendo - Stock Bose System - http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/147725-2002-dodge-dakota-end-of-the-road/?hl=%202002%20%20dakota 136.4 Sealed @ 29hz 137.0 Drivers window open @ 26hz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickass audio Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 no you cannot do this setup sadly. The problem is most computer psu's are only capable of outputting up to 12.5 if your lucky volts for the 12v rails. This is a discharged batteries voltage. You need to have the batteries charged at 14.4 for a 12v battery. What you really should think about doing if you wanted to do it this route would be to either forget about the batteries and connect the power supply up to the amps directly and just make a jumper wire to go to the +12v connection on your amp to the remote turn on the amp or make a switch in between the remote turn and +12v rail so you can toggle the amps on and off. Down side to this is that you have no reserve or backup power so once you exceed that 18 amp limit the power supply if it has a protection circuit will overload and shut itself down to protect from burning out. Also with the lower voltage your amp needs to work harder and as a result will be warmer. Your best bet would be to get a battery and a 30 amp battery charger. What you can do would be run them both at the same time or run off just battery power but keep monitoring their voltage so you dont deplete the battery too far and ruin it, once you are done with using it hook up the charger to the battery and charge it back up again. Kinetik has power supply's that are high current ones but they cost a lot so thats another idea. I had a 25 amp power supply a few years back that i connected direct to my old 750w monoblock amp and i just had a jumper wire going from the remote to the +12v input on the amp. I had it so when the power supply was switched on the amp kicked on immediately after. It worked out great but the thin gauge wire on a power supply cannot handle that current all the time so it got very warm on me. 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVOofRustler Posted December 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 no you cannot do this setup sadly. The problem is most computer psu's are only capable of outputting up to 12.5 if your lucky volts for the 12v rails. This is a discharged batteries voltage. You need to have the batteries charged at 14.4 for a 12v battery. What you really should think about doing if you wanted to do it this route would be to either forget about the batteries and connect the power supply up to the amps directly and just make a jumper wire to go to the +12v connection on your amp to the remote turn on the amp or make a switch in between the remote turn and +12v rail so you can toggle the amps on and off. Down side to this is that you have no reserve or backup power so once you exceed that 18 amp limit the power supply if it has a protection circuit will overload and shut itself down to protect from burning out. Also with the lower voltage your amp needs to work harder and as a result will be warmer. Your best bet would be to get a battery and a 30 amp battery charger. What you can do would be run them both at the same time or run off just battery power but keep monitoring their voltage so you dont deplete the battery too far and ruin it, once you are done with using it hook up the charger to the battery and charge it back up again. Kinetik has power supply's that are high current ones but they cost a lot so thats another idea. I had a 25 amp power supply a few years back that i connected direct to my old 750w monoblock amp and i just had a jumper wire going from the remote to the +12v input on the amp. I had it so when the power supply was switched on the amp kicked on immediately after. It worked out great but the thin gauge wire on a power supply cannot handle that current all the time so it got very warm on me. Thank you! I've got a CTEK 7002 Charger, which will output a constant 13 volts. I'm not sure what amperage that's at, but I might just try keeping that hooked up to the battery when I'm using the stereo. I'm probably just gonna be running the speakers off of the head unit, so no amps are involved. 2002 Dodge Dakota 4.7 club cab - Sold 2004 Audi S4 Avant - Fi and Crescendo - Stock Bose System - http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/147725-2002-dodge-dakota-end-of-the-road/?hl=%202002%20%20dakota 136.4 Sealed @ 29hz 137.0 Drivers window open @ 26hz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickass audio Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 in that case you will be just fine using the power supply itself. you really cannot harm the radio running it on 12v like the power supply will output. Idk what connections you have on your power supply but here is a link to what the pin outs are on the power supply for you to understand: http://www.smpspowersupply.com/ATX-connectors.JPG The yellow and black wire on the power supplies ide connector will be used for the headunit. I just cut the yellow and two black ones off the connector and taped back the red 5v connector as its useless. Then i connected and soldered the two black wires together as they share the same ground circuit and connected that to the ground of the headunit. Then take the yellow wire and connect that to the yellow wire off your headunits harness. Now for your headunit to turn on the acc wire (usually solid red) needs to go to the +12v connection (yellow) wire. You can wire a switch in line with the acc wire if you please but its not really needed as you can switch the headunit on and off by holding the power button down for a few seconds. Now the last and final thing you need to do in order to engage/disengage the power supply itself is ground out the switch on the power supply. If you look at the connector that goes to the motherboard there should be a solid green wire (see wiring diagram here: http://powersupply88.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ATX-Power-Supply-Pinout.jpg) take that and cut it off the harness and cut one of the black com wires next to it (doesnt matter which one as again the ground is the same shared circuit throughout the power supply) and connect them together. Now if you want to be able to switch the power supply AND headunit on and off (recommended) put a switch in line with this connection. I really advise against leaving a modified power supply like this on at all times as you have that chance of something going wrong and shorting out or overloading and some cheap ass OEM power supplies do not have protection circuits like aftermarket ones will. If you get stuck let me know, i did this before and its super easy to do. 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVOofRustler Posted December 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 Awesome! I'll try to tackle that all tomorrow, and I'll let you know how it goes! 2002 Dodge Dakota 4.7 club cab - Sold 2004 Audi S4 Avant - Fi and Crescendo - Stock Bose System - http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/147725-2002-dodge-dakota-end-of-the-road/?hl=%202002%20%20dakota 136.4 Sealed @ 29hz 137.0 Drivers window open @ 26hz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickass audio Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 okay dude. good luck, i did it when i was 14 so you will be able to do it no problem. Just solder the wires and you will be fine. Those tiny ass wires love to come free if you don't solder them, trust me, i had them back off and out of my amp several times before i just stripped a ton of the wire back and folded it over so many times to get it about as thick as 12ga then soldered the hell out of it so it wouldnt have any ability to get loosened up from the terminal on my amp. And one little side note, beware that some headunits may forget their memory after extended amounts of time without power connected to them so you may have to experiment with how much current you really draw and whether you feel safe with leaving that power supply on at all times or you may lose your preset stations, eq settings, etc on the headunit. 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickass audio Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 hey dude how did it go? were you able to get everything up and running? 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVOofRustler Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 hey dude how did it go? were you able to get everything up and running? I ended up not having as much time as I thought to get it done! Haha I did play with it a bit though, and with just using the power supply to run the head unit, it would work for a couple minutes, and then the power supply would shut off, and it wouldn't turn back on for a short while. Nothing got hot, or even warm for that matter, so I'm a bit confused on that right now. 2002 Dodge Dakota 4.7 club cab - Sold 2004 Audi S4 Avant - Fi and Crescendo - Stock Bose System - http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/147725-2002-dodge-dakota-end-of-the-road/?hl=%202002%20%20dakota 136.4 Sealed @ 29hz 137.0 Drivers window open @ 26hz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickass audio Posted December 21, 2012 Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 okay that seems like it is sensing an overload in current. Maybe it does have a protection circuit. Try doing this to troubleshoot the PSU. Disconnect everything connected to the power supply and just keep the switch wire on the motherboard harness grounded out and leave the power supply to run for a hour or so. If it stays on then it is just fine and you are just drawing more current than the power supply can handle. Try to connect just the headunit to it and not any speakers then keep it on for awhile and see if it shuts down. Also when it shuts down if it is in protection mode simply unplug the power supply for 2 minutes and plug it back in, if it kicks back on then it 100% is going into its protection mode and shutting down to prevent an overload. 2004 GMC Envoy1 XS power S3400 batt under the hood and 4 XS Power D3100's battery installed in the rear by the amps0 gauge power wire from front to backAlpine iva-w205 touchscreen dvd/cd/mp3/ipod/am/fm/gps headunitSundown Audio SAX-200.4 amp for my mids and highs8 gauge speaker wire from amp to woofer270 amp Mechman AltRockford Fosgate T1652-s component speakersRockford Fosgate 3Sixty.2 sound processorRca's from Rockford Fosgate and Monster Cable14 gauge speaker wire for the mids and highs1 18" Ascendant Audio SMD Dual 1 ohm with custom Black & Blue carbon fiber and hand signed dustcapBox: 5.66 cubic feet net volume box tuned to 30.13Hz with 1.5" wide wooden dowels and 1.5" thick baffle1 DC Audio 5.0k amp wired to .5 ohms nominal with an imp rise of 1.35 ohms for the single AA SMD 18"Future Vision 8000k 50w bi-xenon projector HID's with 4300k 35w fog lightsLink to my build: Buildupdates/progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
REVOofRustler Posted December 21, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2012 Sweet! I'll have to try that if I get the time tomorrow! Thanks! 2002 Dodge Dakota 4.7 club cab - Sold 2004 Audi S4 Avant - Fi and Crescendo - Stock Bose System - http://www.stevemeadedesigns.com/board/topic/147725-2002-dodge-dakota-end-of-the-road/?hl=%202002%20%20dakota 136.4 Sealed @ 29hz 137.0 Drivers window open @ 26hz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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