Fix 250 watt Dayton Plate Amp or Convert 400 Alpine Car Sub Amp for Home Use

[XJohnDoe001x]

Friends,
I messed up my 250 watt Dayton Plate Amp by wrapping it in a blanket that probably damaged it with static. It worked when I packed it up.

On the other hand I have a car 400 watt Alpine sub amp that I want to Convert to use as the sub amp in a home surround sound system by making a 14.4 vdc power supply to power it.

Can I use parts from the Dayton Plate Amp to build the power supply to power the Alpine sub amp?

I am sure that I am not the first person to want to build a 110acv to 14.4 vdc power supply to power a car amp to use in a home system.

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Hi there and welcome to Electronics Point

400W at 14.4V DC is about 30A and you can at least double that to include inefficiencies in the power converter and the output stage in the amp. So you would need a 14.4V DC power supply capable of delivering at least 60A!

I think it would be much better to bypass the voltage boosting circuitry in the amp and supply the positive and negative rails of the output stage directly from one or two separate power supplies. This would improve efficiency and avoid the high current requirements.

If you want to investigate this possibility, can you provide the full model number of your 400W sub amp so we can look for service information for it.

 

[XJohnDoe001x]

It is an Alpine MRP-M650 mono and it has two thirty amp fuses,
And one more thing. . . I only know basic electronics, I don't know any circuits or electronic fields like radio, audio or chronometric particle phase inversion but I can see in my minds eye what electricity is doing.

You said, "I think it would be much better to bypass the voltage boosting circuitry in the amp and supply the positive and negative rails of the output stage directly from one or two separate power supplies.", what does that mean?

 

[BobK]

You cannot get 400W into a speaker with 12V. So you car amp boost the voltage up to probably something like ±40V. Now, when you are going to run from mains (120VAC) down to 12V then back up to ±40V this is wasteful. It would be better to go directly from the mains to ±40V and skip the part in your amp that boosts the voltage.

Bob

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

Hmm. If you're not experienced with electronics, I think you may be biting off more than you can chew. Also, I can't find a service manual or technical information on that model.

You could try to find a power supply that can provide 14.4V DC at 50A or more, but I wouldn't.

 

[XJohnDoe001x]

Hmm. If you're not experienced with electronics, I think you may be biting off more than you can chew. Also, I can't find a service manual or technical information on that model.

You could try to find a power supply that can provide 14.4V DC at 50A or more, but I wouldn't.

I do appreciate all that information, it was good, However, I don't want to modify the amp cause I want to put it into my next car.

That wasteful thing of going from 110 down to 14.4 back up to 40 that you mentioned. . . that is what I was asking for. I want to build a power supply possibly out of parts from the 250 watt Dayton Plate Amp.

Power supplies like that cost as much as a plate amp, today I don't have cash like that.

Fixing the Dayton amp is my next choice.

 

[KrisBlueNZ]

I'd go with fixing the Dayton amp. Keep the 400W subwoofer amp in a cupboard until you get another car.

What's the model number of the Dayton amp? What are the fault symptoms?