I was wondering if my Hifonics Brutus BXi 1610D amp can handle 18v? and if so how will it affect its sound and output? I have a 58amp continuous output switching power supply that I just bought to power it in the house, of course i'm not expecting full power, but I was just wondering how well it will handle that voltage and if it is to high the power supply is adjustable. But let me know ok, hopefully it will be better than my 12 volt 16 amp power supply that it is on right now.

I dont think it can handle an 18volt power supply but to be sure call Maxxsonics (Hifonics) tomorrow and find out before anything bad comes from it.

ok, I will do so, there is a adjustable voltage dial on it so if it is to much i can turn it down a little bit at least. its a industrial strength power supply

After looking at there manual, I think 18volts is still to high. But I would still call just to be safe.

I would keep it down as I have read this Manual and found nothing on voltage.. just to be safety...

http://www.hifonics.com/Hifonics_Brutus_amplifiers.html

Edited March 26, 201015 yr by thehawk93

well I will use a multi-meter and adjust it to 17 volts that should be fine then especially since i wont be pushing to many amps to it. what advantages does having a higher voltage have? I know that it puts out more watts that way if getting a good supply of amps also, but is there any other benefits??

Do you understand how electricity works? That power supply is rated for 58 amps at what voltage? :bangs-head-on-wall:

at 18v, yes i understand?? what are you getting at? i may not be that experienced with car audio and I am still learning but I do know my electricity very well. The only thing that I can see that you might be getting at is the the amperage is so high that the wiring can't hand it, but doesn't cars alternator but out 85-300 amps depending on what alternator you have. Otherwise I don't know what you getting at. And then why do they make 14.2v 150amp switching power supply just specifically for car amps for the house.

they can take as high as 15.8, no more

Call tech support.

Mike (good guy btw) will answer your questions.

ok thank you I will do so in a few hours.

at 18v, yes i understand?? what are you getting at? i may not be that experienced with car audio and I am still learning but I do know my electricity very well. The only thing that I can see that you might be getting at is the the amperage is so high that the wiring can't hand it, but doesn't cars alternator but out 85-300 amps depending on what alternator you have. Otherwise I don't know what you getting at. And then why do they make 14.2v 150amp switching power supply just specifically for car amps for the house.

You obviously do not understand how electricity works then.

uhhh, if you think this then why don't you correct me and tell me what your talking about. because i am clueless at this point.

uhhh, if you think this then why don't you correct me and tell me what your talking about. because i am clueless at this point.

X2 John, I know where your coming from but this does not concern me. Here you must back up your posts, not lurk in, call someone a dumbass then leave the thread. This is NOT CA.com.

uhhh, if you think this then why don't you correct me and tell me what your talking about. because i am clueless at this point.

X2 John, I know where your coming from but this does not concern me. Here you must back up your posts, not lurk in, call someone a dumbass then leave the thread. This is NOT CA.com.

Not calling him a dumbass, just that he should read up a bit to understand how electricity works. Increase voltage at a steady current, and your wattage will increase (obv.) However, I am to believe this power supply he's using will not hold that current rating as voltage is increased. Besides, I wouldn't even try to use that PSU on any amplifier with any decent amount of output... Just get a car battery if you want to do that, or a few.

well i knew that the wattage will increase, that stuff is stated all over google, and car battery's go dead when u use them, this isn't a setup to test my stereo, this is my home theater sub woofer. I use it for hours on end, and currently I am using a 12v 16 amp power supply and ive used it for weeks now and it gets pretty damn loud for how under powered it is. so with this new power supply of a similar type it should get a lot louder than it currently does. so if you where talking about that i didnt know the wattage increases with a voltage increase i did know that, i was asking if there where any benefits besides the increased wattage...

well I have the power supply running at about 15v and it works and sounds fine, I haven't been able to turn it up since its dark outside right now, but I will let you guys know how it sounds tomorrow.

I wouldn't. Unless you paid serious coin for that power supply expect a failure. The power supply should have been MORE expensive than the amp. With your luck and ingenuity you are going to end up with a dead amp and a dead sub. Please don't.

I got this power supply off of surplus, I looked it up it had a msrp of $850 and I could find it new for cheapest at $350 in new condition from only one place since this thing is 10 years old, I got mine used, but it seems to be barely used, no scratches and barely a spec of dust on it. I have a multimeter hooked up and under a heavy load it only dips down 0.5v and the power supply isn't even warm. Ive been looking on ebay for a long long time waiting for a good deal on a power supply and i saw this one, I got it for $75 and so far its working great. it all looks like overkill duty parts it weighs a ton. here is a link to the power supply I bought.

LH RESEARCH 18VDC @ 58 AMPS SWITCHING POWER SUPPLY - eBay (item 220539515037 end time Mar-25-10 15:56:49 PDT)

Either way its only gonna power this sub for 3 weeks, and then from then on it will be used for a testing power supply only.

Also i'd like to add, that this thing is gonna be great for testing various things, because the voltage is variable between 1volt and 18volts at 58amps continuous. Its very accurate to, its really easy to adjust voltage by only 0.1v at a time.