Good with cars/electronics?

[joker_927]

I need to plug something in in my car. That doesn't make since. I have a subwoofer that is supposed it pluf into the wall. I need to plug it into something in the car. I don't want to buy one of those huge converter boxes becuse htye cost $40-$100!! Is there anything I can rig up that will work. I will do anything. It's a $1000 car and I'm trying to put in my own serteo system.
Here is the kicker: I'm using computer speakers.

Hey, They wanted around $200 for just 4 tweeters and a sub and I can buy a good 4.1 computer speaker system for $60.

Thanks

just a thought...but basically since your pluggin the speakers into an ac adapter to take it down to dc at a certain level of volts couldn't you just wire it to the fuse box like normal?? I've never really thought about doing anything like this but its a thought

look at your plug and read what it says...its more than likely 12v anyways I'm thinking you can just wire it straight in

does it plug in to the converter then to the speakers as well or are they just wired straight to the convert...if they are plugged in on both end you can get something that hooks to the cig lighter that will plug into the back of the speakers with a universal plug adapter. and you can get one for that discman your going to be using as wel

i was shooting for something like this http://www.radioshack.com/product.as...Fid=273%2D1810

[joker_927]

That adapter won't work. I'm talking about the woofer needing to plug into a wall socket. Can I splice the wires from the cord and run them to the fuse box? That is what I am asking. I don't want to spend a ton of money on a converter box that plugs into my cig lighter and then I plug the woofer into that. To much $$.

[BobOmega]

i'm sorry to say that i do not think you can do that. as you are trying to make AC work on DC.
you might as well get the inverter. that way you know it'll work and you won't risk frying anything.

and on the plus side you can use it for other things. example you can hook an inverter to a car battery and power something far away from plugs. (my friend powered a old laptop in the woods like this) you can run a laptop in your car. blender. ect ect. they are very handy. i keep meaning to get one of my own. i just barrow one when i go on trips.

sadly the cheapest i've ever seen one is a one of thoes big truck stop gas station places. it was like 20 bucks for 400watt's
thats what the one i barrow is btw 400watts.

[Brainchild]

Do you by chance have a UPS that has a fried battery? Take the battery out and run the leads to the car battery.We did that to run the TV when the tornado came through in May.
As long as the car is running it should keep it going

ok i'm not in the greatest of moods today so if this seems snappy i appologize in advance....to make it simple does the woofer plug in via a lil black box called an inverter...if so whats the readings on the inverter....the other thing is if the inverter can be unplugger from the speakers itself..then you can use something like that....and no your not dealing with trying to make ac qork on dc you making dc work period...whe you run your amp its not runnning on ac power its converted to dc inside the box. while i'm not 100% pos you should in theroy be able to just wire them directly if you know what your doing.

not sure what your speakers run but I'm 120v ac input converted to 9v dc at 1amp output.

[joker_927]

If I buy these? What wattage of ac/dc converter should I be looking at? I see them for 150w 250w 300w 400w 500w 550w.

Alos, I notice that it says these speakers come with a POWER SUPPLY CONVERTER. WTF is this? Can I use it to some advantage?

[BobOmega]

i think that is what richeemxx is talking about.

[originel]

you need to get the wattage to match up with the wattage on your sub, there should be a rating somewhere on it. let me caution you about something though, there are actually TWO measures of wattage that are listed, and you need to make sure you are comparing the same type. there is max wattage and rms wattage. without getting into technical terms, rms is kinda like average power, and max is...well...max power. so make sure not to get the two confused. also make sure not to overpower the sub (the sub should have a slightly higher wattage if possible).

as far as splicing the inverter into the battery it can be done...if and only if the DC rating on the inverter is 14.4v (which i highley doubt). otherwise the car will supply too high a voltage to the sub. you could step down the voltage, but that's really only for people who are very confortable designing that kind of circuit (which excludes me).

btw: an inverter/converter/whatever else they've been referred to as basically converts an AC signal to a DC signal.