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New member Username: Skaa08Post Number: 1 Registered: Oct-04 | hey guys i am a new member and i am just wondering what is the go with 14.4 voltage rating and 12V rating. i herd that one is alternator power and the other is battery power. is there any other wireing that needs to be done to run an amp at 14.4 Volts or does your car just need to be turned on. Cheers |
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Silver Member Username: FishyTamarac, FL USA Post Number: 456 Registered: Sep-04 | In order for your alternator to be able to charge your battery it has to provide a higher voltage potential(typicaly 13-14.5 volts) than your battery's 12 volts. If your car is running and your alternator is keeping up you should see about 14 volts, with it off its whatever your battery is at(around 12). Amplifiers with regulated power supplies provide the same power at any point in this voltage range. Those w/o do better at 14.4. If you have the latter type you need make sure your alternator is doing its job if you want all of your amp's rated power. -Fishy |
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New member Username: DonpDetroit, MI USA Post Number: 1 Registered: Oct-04 | There is a debate about running a ground wire to the battery. If you mount your amp to the floor and run a short ground braid to the floor also, then you have a ground. If you ALSO run a GROUND wire to the battery, it will be in parallel with the chassis ground and lower any resistance between the various chassis components. According to OHMS law, two resistors in parallel will have a total resistance less than either the chassis ground or the ground wire. And we SHOULD all know that when it comes to resistance LESS IS BETTER!!! |
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Silver Member Username: FishyTamarac, FL USA Post Number: 462 Registered: Sep-04 | I was always worried about ground loops doing that, but maybe that only applies to different components. Whats an average chassis resistance anyways? A ten foot run of 4 gauge has about 3 milliohms resistance, the same run of 8 gauge a lil over 7 milliohms. http://www.epanorama.net/documents/wiring/wire_resistance.html That corresponds to a voltage drop of about .3 volts thru the 4 gauge at 100 amps. -Fishy |
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Gold Member Username: GlasswolfNorthWest, Michigan USA Post Number: 4486 Registered: Dec-03 | Dishy is right. keep the ground path as short and simple as possible. otherwise you will run a very good chance of introducing a ground loop and noise into the system. he's also dead on about alternators. note that 14V will usually only appear above idle though, usually above around 900rpm. here's a bit more on charging systems I wrote a while back: http://www.wickedcases.com/caraudio/charging.html |