Want to hook up my 175W amp to be powered by car

agent0064life · #1 August 15th, 2007

Is there any way without completely obliterating my battery to hook up my 175 watt crate amp to my car, or at least make it so it doesn't have to be plugged into a wall and be powered for a decent amount of time... I was thinking of one of those portable power supplies that you can charge and bring out... don't kno whow long those last or if it will hold up my amp's power consumption.

X4StringDrive · #2 August 16th, 2007

No expert here, but I've used a "converter" to power mine before. its 12 volt, plugs in to the cigarette lighter and converts to 110. I cut and spliced battery{large alligator style} clamps in place of the cigarette plug and connected straight to the battery and put an in-line fuse in the positive feed for protection. Never really tried to wring all of the time available out of my battery, but managed a nice hour or so fooling around in the driveway with it. Just have to watch amp draw and out-put to be sure your getting what your amp requires...maybe someone here with more electrical experience can fill us in for safty's sake.

edit..PS.. I was using an Ampeg 100 watt{1/15} bass amp at the time.

krissovo · #3 August 16th, 2007

I have done this with my Line 6 Spider 50w in my camper van. I used a 500w power inverter and a extra battery using a split charging system. As X4 said you then plug into a cigarette lighter or use a more permanent connection to the battery. I would not suggest doing this with only one battery as it would drain and you would not be able to start the car/van.

krissovo · #4 August 16th, 2007

Oh I can play for over 8 hours doing this, in the winter I am going to convert one of my vans to a mobile rehersal studio. I will add extra batteries and add a PA system and a bass speaker and an electrionic drum kit, the Alesis or if I have the money the roland.

GotDeeBlues · #5 August 16th, 2007

Quote:

Originally Posted by krissovo

Oh I can play for over 8 hours doing this, in the winter I am going to convert one of my vans to a mobile rehersal studio. I will add extra batteries and add a PA system and a bass speaker and an electrionic drum kit, the Alesis or if I have the money the roland.

Now THAT souds very interesting. Post some pics if you can when it's finished. Talk about traveling in STYLE!