I am not sure which thread to put this in so here it is. I have searched the web for countless times looking for a device I do not know the name of. I am looking for the device that people use when they show there cars indoors and have the car hooked up so that they do not drain there battery and have full power all day long. Hopefully someone here can help me out with what it is called and maybe even tell in what range I am going to have to expect to spend.

Thanks

 

You want a 12v AC to DC converter.

 

thanks, dan

 

how big should it be? some of these look a bit weak for the car, yet the battery itself is small....

 

all the ones i keep getting convert a wall socket to a 12v socket. anyone know where to find one that is ment to be used for like cars

 

It all depends on what you're running. If you're going to be bangin a sub in the trunk with all your lights on, it's going to take a lot of juice to keep it going.

Since most AC-DC converters are rated in amps, just add up the drain from everything you're running in watts and divide by 12 to get amps.

So if you're going to run a 500w stereo with 5 interior 10w lightbulbs you're going to be drawing about 46 amps:

500w stereo
5x10w bulbs
=550w
divided by 12volts
=45.8 amps

 

so since i am running a 500W sup, a playstation 2, a laptop, 1 possible 3 video screen, my interior and underbody lights and posiible some other lights i am going to need a rather big one

 

 

so basically i need this http://www.analyticsystems.com/products/pws1501.htm

 

The favorite one used by factory demo cars is the Cascade Audio.

http://www.cascadeaudio.com/prod/powersupp.html

Since it's basically a big inverter, you need one to be as clean as possible or you could get audio and video noise. Also, most 12V components aren't designed to run with much noise on the input, and some devices run weird with cheap power supplies connected to them.

Astron is the company that builds big cheper supplies, but I am a big fan of the Cascade.
I have a decent cheaper 12V regulated supply for the bench, but I bought a Cascade for just that application. Haven't had to use it yet.