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Can I tap 12volts off the Gen 3 Prius battery for big stereo?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Flagmaster, Dec 4, 2018.

  1. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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    Class D has been used in amps for quite some time.

    Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
     
  2. Flagmaster

    Flagmaster Junior Member

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    Ok. day 4, and all is still running well. My power plan is very over-complex, but it seems to be working, but I fear Im putting mega stress on the poor prius's buck-converter (step-down voltage side of its power inverter which makes 14 volts). It works like this...

    1. 12volt marine battery in parallel with a 200ccAmp motorcycle agm battery, backed by a 1-farad cap, into the car.
    2. car starts up, the accessory line closes a battery isolator relay (200 amp) that connects the subwoofer amp, and a 1500 watt sinewave power inverter in the trunk.
    3. It also starts a time-delay relay set for about 25 seconds.
    4. Frist 25 seconds everything is running off the car and these two batteries.
    5. Once that relay trips, it open's the deep cycle battery, but leaves the AGM still hooked to the car.
    6. The car's 12 volt side now runs the stereo parts in the trunk, only with help of the small AGM battery and the 1F cap.
    7. The 120volt inverter runs a DeWalt $100 lead-acid smart charger, which normally sees a 98% full marine battery
    8. its meter shows 10 amps, then 5, then 2, then 1, then "float" pretty darn fast (10 mins on a cold day like today (19f))
    9. Meanwhile, the sub amp gobbled up power as needed to run 1 8inch dual voice coil in series, bridged. (not trying to blow up the c10. 10. The 120v also runs a small media computer with ssd drive, running kodi.
    12. It runs a home theatre AVR unit too.
    13. Things get really interesting now, but that beyond the power-plan.


    Wth did I do all this? I wanted to recycle my old HT AVR, and figured it might run in the car, and yes, it does!
    Then figured maybe it can do more than L R stereo, and yes, it does.
    Then figured screw it, HDMI audio, DTS master audio, Dolby HD, the works....yes, it does, in a Prius and its kick nice person.
    Added in a make-shift centre channel, dropped in some surround sound speakers, ripped out the factory radio (trash) and replaced it with a small 720p panel from an iPad. Ditched the wireless keyboard and built a custom wired kodi controller for the dash (ps2 to usb based).

    Now I can watch bluray's in 5.1 waiting for the trains, and switch back to a sweet collection of DVD-Audio and DTS-CD's which work swell with Kodi.
     
  3. Flagmaster

    Flagmaster Junior Member

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    I do know a thing or two about buck converters, and they have to work far less hard then boost converters, so while this is stressful run on it, in reality all that really means is that the IGBT's for the low voltage side need to stay "on longer" to maintain 14 volts. This is gonna make way more heat, and draw way more energy out of the 200V battery, ultimiatly meaning more gas is gonna be needed. Im ok with that for now.
     
  4. audiodave

    audiodave Active Member

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  5. frodoz737

    frodoz737 Top Wrench

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    https://priuschat.com/members/frodoz737.67749/

    Click on my media to view the system I put in my 2010 II. Are you are loosing battery sitting static or during normal operations? Hooking up power should be off a switched on buss...car powered up normally. Even though my amps power sourced directly off my 12VDC battery, it still had to be activated by the switched on buss.
     
  6. Flagmaster

    Flagmaster Junior Member

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    Interesting, I found a wire that went "hot" once accy or ready mode was up (orange led on pts). I wonder if its a vampire?
     
  7. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    I HATE it when somebody commandeers a well established name and applies it to something different.
    Think synthetic oil.

    An original class D amp was useful only for RF because it amplifies only the peaks of the signal and would cause terrible distortion in an audio signal.

    Now along comes a new design for an audio amp.......and they call it a class D amp also.

    It is NOT the same thing.
     
  8. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Perhaps you are thinking of Class C which is used as a non-linear RF amplifier?
     
  9. sam spade 2

    sam spade 2 Senior Member

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    I HATE it when I think I remember something.......and it turns out to be wrong. :(
    I just realized that........but you beat me to the punch.
    Thanks.

    And the diagram and explanation supplied shows that it IS digital amplification; probably why the D designation.

    The A-D/D-A conversion takes some time (milli- seconds) and that is why live performers wear ear pieces so they won't hear the delay. I think. ;)