I will be attending an indoor car show in February where they require that you disconnect your battery for the duration of the show, but they will provide AC power. I don't have much ICE....quite a few LED's, some cold cathodes in the footwells (all 4), some cold cathodes in the engine bay and a million-color LED underbody kit that I'd like to leave on for the 3-day show. I did a search looking for what I'd need, but I couldn't find anything definitive, so I thought I'd ask here.
Would this work for what I need to power my lights?
http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_4201.html

Thanks in advance.

P.S. If somebody else has a better suggestion on what one to use, please post it up! It will have to be something that can stay on for 3 days straight or at least during the show times.

 

I would get a PC power supply and hack teh wires
they have their own fans and you can but a Gigawatt now (not cheap)
but you can get them for 20-30 bucks

 

This will probably meet your needs:

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showd...number=120-538

 

Thanks for the replies...I'll check those out. Anyone else have any other suggestions?

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/60-Am...spagenameZWDVW

this is the converter that i use. brand new they're a little expensive (i paid $213.90 for the power supply, 20ft of 4awg wire, an inline fuse + fuseholder, and some ring terminals), but seeing as it's capable of 60 amps, i can run everything that i have now and then have 30 amps of headroom to expand (more lights, video monitors, etc etc etc)

 

Geee all you need is a battery charger. A small trickle/boost charger like you can get at any autoparts store will work fine. Many of these can deliver a constant 15-20 amps even which is way more than you will use running a few lights. You disconnect your battery slip the charger under the car (or extend the wires if you must) and hook it up to the unhooked battery terminals.

I got this one cause I could but it is really overkill (it will be nice maybe to have the high amp start circuit available in my garage tho). http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...seBVCookie=Yes

This is likely enough power but I prefer a little more, better to have more than not enough http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...cemldffidfjg.0

I would say 10 amp minimum with around 15-20 amp DC output prefered. The one I got delivers 15 amp continuous with up to 40 amps as needed. I like the higher tech look of the case as well. Almost painted the case to match my car

 

Back in high school I built a simple trickle charger out of parts from Radio Shack, but things like that are designed to be hooked to the battery while it's in the car. I don't know what kind of current it could provide.

It's a fairly simple setup as far as electronics go:

1. 120v to 12v 10:1 transformer

2. Full-wave bridge rectifier to turn the 12vAC into 12vDC

As for what you need, some of the other guys had good ideas, particularly the bench DC power supply. Just make sure you wire that directly to the battery and not through some other 12 volt conduit, like the cigarette lighter.

 

For these indoor shows the battery must be disconnected. They will allow you to power the car from an external power source. If you are running lighting and perhaps a screen 15 amps or so should be enuf dc power. Battery chargers will do this with no problem as long as they can run continuous 15 amp or so output. I have done it before with only a 10 amp charger (running lighting only).... 15or more amps is better. You can not play your stereo for the most part so bigger amperage is not needed to power amps (be sure to unpower your amps if you wish to try running the screen with some display). If you have multi screens you may not be able to run all on only 15 amps or so along with lighting etc, trial and error will tell you how much the charger can handle. Most chargers have a meter and many headunits will not stay powered on if the power runs low, between these clues you will be able to tinker your draw to match what power you have...is why I say bigger is better...so you can run more stuff without taxing the charger.

 

I think i am going to buy one from these guys this is the one i might get but they have different sizes

http://store.altenergystore.com/Char...ntroller/p697/

 

Wow, lots of good replies in here...thanks! And at the suggestion of TerribleTed (and his freakin awesome looking xB) I tried my trickle charger. It can run 10amps continuous and I have no problem running all my lights. The only problem is that my compressor for my air ride draws too much power. So...I'll either have to invest in a more powerful charger/power supply or not use the air at the show. Decisions decisions

 

The air compressor will tax all but the stoutest power supplies. Depending on how big it is it could easily draw 20-30 amps continuous while running with peak amps higher than that while starting. I intend to put mine on the ground at the beginning of the World of Wheels and not bring it back up till it is done. You aren't supposed to be in the cars or doing any more than a quick dusting while they are displayed anyway. Ahh well...I couldn't see spending 100's of dollars for a supply adequate to run the compressor off of for 1-2 shows a year tops....maybe if I was going to travel with the WoW show all over the country or something that would be a different story.

 

Good points, Ted. The show I'll be attending is WoW in KC, MO so I guess I'll just drop the xB once I get there and run my trickle charger for the lights/etc.
Thanks again for the advice.

 

You are most welcome.

 

I would be care full off hooking a small battery charger up to your cars batter terminal without a batter. Most batter charges are not regulated and filtered very well. They will have ac ripple coming through them. Under normal conditions the battery works as a filter and smoothes out the AC ripple. I have seen some one try and run a small dc motor off of one and it caused real bad arcking on the commutator and eventually destroyed the motor. If you hook one up to an oscilloscope you will see the ripple. I think the dirty power will be bad for the cars electronics. If you want a cheap power supply to run a few light etc I recommend buying a computer power supply. They can be found used for not much money and can provide 10 to 15 amps of clean power at 12 volts depending on the wattage. If you use a cheap power supply or a battery changer ,I would hook up a decent sized electrolytic capacitor to filter out the voltage ripple.

 

Won't have any problem with lighting. I would not want to run stereo amps fans compressor etc off this for long. It is true most chargers aren't well filtered and a dc motor (or sensitive electronics) run for a very long unfiltered might get damaged. Be sure that if you are running lights that require the accessory circuit to be on...make sure the fan for the climate system is off. I would not operate anything in the car from the run position with only the charger in place. I don't like the unfiltered power idea for the ignition and computer functions.

 

ok what u need is a 12 volt power supply.. stereo shops can get them, it what they us in there sound displays for power.. they make them in Diff amperage for you needs. Cascade 100 amp is the brand i use becuase i have over 1500 watts and to much varad Lights 6 moniters and power coverter for the PS2 .. I have it mounted into my car with plug that hang down that strap up .. so wheni go to show i just plug my car in and un hook the batt..

Kenitic also make them.. some thing that you might need is the 15 amp but that migh be cutting close .. the 30 amp might be better but thikn about what iff you upgrade your system.. I just believe in getting the largest one so yuo dont have to worry about it later..

http://www.kinetikaudio.com/powersupplies.asp

I woulnt recomend a batter charger.. if oyu un hook your batt you can run your car off the charger. and if you do leave the batt connected i have seen batterys explode .. the power supplier are made to go into idle mode if you dont need the power. its a much afer route but cost more.

 

At these shows the battery must be disconnected so overcharging and hydrogen build up aren't an issue.

 

how many amp power supply would i need to run about 10 sets of cathodes, xbox, and 8 tvs?

 

uhhhh tv's will pull what? 2 amps or so? oznium cathodes pull .7 amps per transformer. and the xbox i'm clueless about. 40 to be sure. if it's overkill, call it headroom for future expansion

 

I know pyle and pyramid are crap for car audio, but for a power supply, would they work ok?