Power PC speakers from Car Battery

[fastersolder]

Hi,
I have these Creative PC speakers: https://uk.creative.com/p/speakers/inspire-t10

I think i have v1.0 not 2.0 though.
I wish to run them from a 12v DC car battery.

On the back of the speaker it states 11.5v AC input.
Do I need to use an inverter to switch the batteries DC to AC ? or can they be run direct on the DC.

And should I be worried about the 0.5v ??
As an aside you can buy 240v AC to 12v DC power adapters, that I am being told are fine to work with the speakers, are they correct.
I have founf an inverter to do the DC to AC conversion, it is produces a square wave, should i be concerned ?
If I need to reduce the voltage by 0.5v, I understand I can do this with a Diode ? is that correct .

Thanks, any thoughts appreciated.

 

[Harald Kapp]

On the back of the speaker it states 11.5v AC input.

Really?
The manual states

These specifications apply to Creative Inspire T10 operating from the supplied 12V DC 1.5A power adapter.

So any 12 V DC adapter with a capability of 1.5 A or more should fit. Just watch the polarity.

The funny thing, however, is, that the German text states

Diese technischen Daten
treffen auf das Creative
Inspire T10 zu, das von dem
mitgelieferten Netzadapter
(12V Wechselstrom 1.5A)
betrieben wird.

where "Wechselstrom" is AC. But this is most likely an error in the German translation as in the other languages its DC everywhere.

 

[Martaine2005]

Can you post a photo of the back of the speaker showing the label?.

Also, if it is AC, adding a 0.6V drop using a diode will effectively be half wave rectified DC.
Incidentally, I do have several PC speakers, one set is AC. Creative labs with a sub. All the rest are DC.

 

[bertus]

Hello,

Some sets use AC to create a positive and negative voltage inside the set.
As you have a much higher voltage inside, the power may be larger.

I have a mixing panel from beringer that also uses AC input and has positive and negative voltages on the opamps.

Bertus

 

[fastersolder]

See image of back of speaker below attached, it definately states AC, I do not have the Mains power adapter for it, otherwise I would check the output of that.
This is the inverter i was hopnig to use with it:

100W DC-AC 12V To 12V Power Inverter Transformer Square Wave Signal Generator | eBay UK

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It is advertised as a'Square Wave' inverter.

I also have a Creative Labs I-Trigue L3500 (BA 1450) PC speaker set (I think they call this an 'active' rather than 'passive' speaker):

https://support.creative.com/products/productdetails.aspx?prodid=4912&prodname=i-trigue+l3500&page=0

which has 13.5v AC input voltage stamped on the case, and that is reading from the 240v mains power supply - which I do have for this one.
I have one of these off the shelf 12v to 240v inverters, a Belkin F5C400u300W:

http://cache-www.belkin.com/support/dl/p73751_acanywhere_man_uk.pdf

It produces a 'modified sine wave' ... I could run the Creative Labs I-Trigue L3500 with the mains adapter plugged in, but am concerned that it may damage the electronics in the speakers, I have the same concern with the 'square wave' ebay inverter above.

Or am I worrying unecesarily, and the circuits in these speakers will be fine to be powered this way.
I guess a car stereo system, or one of these that runs straight off 12v DC, with a passive set of speakers (I have a set of Sony Bookshelf speakers- SS CBX77s) would be far better:

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... and the battery last more, would you agree, the I-Trigue L3500 has a huge transformer, so whilst the belkin only draws 0.3a when not under load, I am sure the Creative's mains power supply will suck a bit.

 

[Martaine2005]

I wish to run them from a 12v DC car battery.

That module is unregulated and really only suitable for a constant voltage. If using the car battery out of the car, then it’ll be ok. On the other hand, in the car, the voltage could be as much as 14.6V.
I’d be inclined to open the speaker and maybe connect your 12VDC adapter directly if possible.
A pure sine wave is fine for electronics but a modified sine wave is very dirty. It could damage your speaker circuitry.

 

[fastersolder]

Yes I have a Bosch 95 Ah battery that is not connected to the vehicle in any way.

'That module is unregulated' are you referring to the 12 DC to 12 AC inverter, or the Belkin Inverter above ?

'It could damage your speaker circuitry' I was concerned it might.

This has 'Car' in the title, presume one of these will drive just ordinary AC speakers from a 12v Battery OK ?:

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[bertus]

Hello,

It states 12 volts DC at 2 to 5 Ampere.
Max input power is 12 x 5 = 60 Watts.
So the mentioned 400 Watts can not be done.

Bertus

 

[Martaine2005]

So the mentioned 400 Watts can not be done.

I think they added a ‘0’ or even two ‘00’.
No way is that 400W.

 

[bertus]

I think they added a ‘0’ or even two ‘00’.
No way is that 400W.

Those are chinese watts.

 

[fastersolder]

Yes, 400W LOL, Chinese Watts and Chinese typesetting error, the spec states:
RMS Power: 20W+20W
The upfront image has a big red 40w displayed, so shall we assume 40w.
Can you power this small amplifier from a car battery, and just connect a set of domestic shelf speakers,, or does the power need to come from a mains power adapter, it states 12v DC input.

 

[fastersolder]

Thanks for all your comments, but one last question, as I have ordered the 40w Amp:

Can you power this small amplifier direct from a stand alone car battery (ie not one under charge), ie without any further conversion of the batteries supply ... the Amp states it takes a 12v DC input.

Speakers spec is 4-16 Ohm, I have some Sony 6 Ohm Shelf Speakers I will try use.

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[Martaine2005]

Yes you can.
It’ll consume 3.33333A.
So depending on the Ah of the battery, you can have quite a long use.
Don’t let the battery get below 10V before recharging.