How many watts can I safely Draw?
Apr 23, 2015, 05:23 PM
#1
Newbie
Thread Starter
How many watts can I safely Draw?
2005 Ralliart. Came with base stero no S&S, no amp, no sub. Looking to upgrade. Was looking at Kenwood 1200 watt amp, but how many watts can I safely draw? The stock alternator makes 110 amps so 1200 / 12 = 100 amps, and im pretty sure the car itself will need more then 10 amps. I know this is only a max number and I will probably never play music loud enough to draw all 1200 watts. But still i want to know whats the max the car itself would draw? And whats the highest, but safest amps I could draw for my new amp?
Apr 25, 2015, 01:05 PM
#2
it really depends on the draw (speakers), not the amplifier...1200w peak is what it's capable of delivering...the RMS wattage will be much less than that, also your alternator should be putting out more like 14v...but like I said, it really depends on your speaker setup, how many, what is their impedance, and how much power will they draw...
Last edited by CrAnSwIcK; Apr 25, 2015 at 01:13 PM.
May 3, 2015, 03:02 AM
#3
Evolving Member
Real easy to figure out. This may help. http://www.ohmslawcalculator.com/ohms-law-calculator
May 3, 2015, 03:06 AM
#4
Evolving Member
2005 Ralliart. Came with base stero no S&S, no amp, no sub. Looking to upgrade. Was looking at Kenwood 1200 watt amp, but how many watts can I safely draw? The stock alternator makes 110 amps so 1200 / 12 = 100 amps, and im pretty sure the car itself will need more then 10 amps. I know this is only a max number and I will probably never play music loud enough to draw all 1200 watts. But still i want to know whats the max the car itself would draw? And whats the highest, but safest amps I could draw for my new amp?
First of all, most amps such as Kenwood may be rated at 1200 Watts, but that is more like 600 watts. It will also depend on what size power cable you use and also what impendence you wire your speakers to plus how you wire them to the amp. You can PM me more details, like what speakers, how many ohms they are, if you are going to run the amp bridged etc. I can do some math for you. I posted a link for you also that helps you calculate all of this. There are also some good links in The12Volt.com web forum.
May 5, 2015, 10:53 PM
#5
Out of 110 amps you can should be able to draw 1540 watts of power at 14 volts. Should you really be doing this? No. Your vehicle needs current to operate also and what you'll likely see happen is your headlights will start dimming as your bass is thumping along.
Also look at the RMS power rating for the amp. Many manufacturers will put "1200 watts" on their stuff but that number is a MAXIMUM, meaning that the amp can only draw that for a short length of time.
Just make sure you know what the continuous power of the amp is and its maximum. That should help you decide what you feel you should put in.
Oh, and if having dimming headlights bothers what sometimes helps is putting a "stiffening cap" in your car. Its basically a capacitor that charges in between bass hits and is supposed to reduce or eliminate your headlights dimming
Also look at the RMS power rating for the amp. Many manufacturers will put "1200 watts" on their stuff but that number is a MAXIMUM, meaning that the amp can only draw that for a short length of time.
Just make sure you know what the continuous power of the amp is and its maximum. That should help you decide what you feel you should put in.
Oh, and if having dimming headlights bothers what sometimes helps is putting a "stiffening cap" in your car. Its basically a capacitor that charges in between bass hits and is supposed to reduce or eliminate your headlights dimming
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