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Ok, I hooked a 200 watt amplifier up in the house, just for a little extra sound when I'm playing Need for Speed....I hooked it up to a battery charger, with a switch on the remote wire, everything's done right....except it's not in a car....Anyway, there's a hum coming through the speakers when there's no signal present, like when the game's loading or when it's switching songs. Is it just because it's hooked to the charger, or is there a way I can ground it to get rid of this?


Also, is there a way I can make a volume control for it? I've been using the game settings to keep it down, but I can only tweak the sound so much...any help would be greatly appreciated.

 
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the noise is probably coming in from the battery charger. Battery chargers only have to provide current, not clean current.

 
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Yeah, good point. Guess I'll have to go get an adapter or something...thanks

 
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you need a power supply...probly only like a 30 amp supply

 
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Good luck! There is a reason most people don't hook up their car amps in their houses - the voltage required to run them is only 12V. Use Ohm's law to see that this is a huge current draw.

There is really not a clean source of power available with that output for not a lot of bank! He's right about the charger not supplying clean power, however you would probably need a ground isolation transformer for this to work properly as well....

This would isolate the house wiring from the amp wiring, would work wonders!

 
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would the Schoche (sp?) Ground Loop Isolator from Wal-Mart work? I know it probably wouldn't work well, but would it work?

 
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Actually, that does work for certain applications. I'm not sure if it is the same thing that Radio Shack sells, but if it is than this would not be one of those applications.

Here might be what's happening:

1. Your amp is hooked up to the charger
1B. Your charger is hooked up to the wall outlet
2. Your PS2 is hooked up to the wall outlet
3. Your PS2 is connected via the RCA cable to the amp

The RCA jack between the PS2 and the amp may be causing your problem as well - a ground loop. Both ends of the RCA are typically shielded. Since the amp is DC, and connected to and going through the charger it may be at a different potential than the PS2, causing a ground loop (ie the hum you hear).

I'm not sure if the device you describe above has RCA's on both ends, or a mini phono plug on one end and RCA's on the other (Radio Shacks device).

What I was specifically referring to in my previous post was a device (transformer) that mounts between the charger and the wall outlet. This device "decouples" the charger ground from the house ground in essence. Providing a similar method of shielding against ground loops. These aren't cheap I believe, so the first thing I'd do is check and see if that device from walmart may work.

Coincidentally, if you have access to an ocsilloscope, you can see what the voltage coming out of the charger looks like - and see how dirty it may be. You should be careful if this is the case, since you may ultimately damage your amp!

 
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How about a Surround sound system from Best Buy or somthing?

 
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I've got this weird obsession with car audio...and if I can hook it up in my house without starting a fire, I will. It sounds cleaner than most house stuff, and it seems louder to me. Besides, there's something about being able to say you hooked up a car stereo system in your house.

 
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True......... Plus all your friends will say " How did you do that?"