voltage reducer enough for stereo amp?

[beyondhelpin]

Just ordered all my stereo equipment for the cart. It includes a Clarion 6210 D class amp. The amp is 85 watts per channel x 2. My voltage reducer is a 30 amp (48v to 12v). The cart has headlights, taillights and wipers. The headlights are 55 watts each I think. Do not know the draw on the rest of these each accessories.

The Clarion amp is very efficient. In the 90% range I think. Will not be using the amp section of the head unit so draw should be low there.

My concern is will the reducer be able to supply the power needed to crank stereo with the headlights on. My calculations for just the lights and stereo put it very close to 360 watts output of reducer. If I am pushing the reducer to its upper reaches what are the downsides of doing this. I dont know anything about reducers.

Hopefully somebody here does.

[1BDPRECEDENT]

I have a 30A voltage reducer which I was using to power a full stereo and all my other accessories. Running the headlights and stereo at the same time was putting a significant load on it. The output of the converter without the lights on was 12.4v, turn the lights on and it would drop to 11.9v. I tried switching the halogen lamps with L.E.D. lamps which totally eliminated the voltage drop but they did poorly at projecting the light out front. So I tried an HID route which the light output was even more than the halogen bulbs but the load was less. Even the HID lights were dropping the output of the converter to 12.1v so I added a 10A converter dedicated for just the headlamps and everything has been well. The more efficient the amp is the better off you will be, I am using a JL Audio XD series amp. The issue was more about voltage output as the no load output of the converter is only 12.5v max. This is usually the minimum voltage at which most amplifiers are happy operating on. In a automobile while the charging system is operating you usually see voltages of more like 14-14.5v which is where you get the peak performance from your amplifier.

[beyondhelpin]

Never even thought of the reducer putting out low voltage under a moderate load much less a high load. I wonder if it was that particular reducer or if is a systemic problem with all reducers. I will have to turn on the lights and check my reducer voltage under load. Also might check it with the batteries run halfway down. I have never heard of HID lights for the carts. Does anybody know if it causes premature damaged to the reducer if pushed hard?

[beyondhelpin]

Looks like after talking to manufacture I think I am going to go with a seperate battery. They had issues with the 200 amp initial draw on motor (16 hp) it repeatly shut down stereo. Found a place to mount a truck battery in the front of the cart. Just have to find a place to mount a marine onboard charge now.

[Token]

why a truck battery? if your only load is lights and a stereo there are smaller options..

[li'l tugger]

i made a cooler radio with a lawnmower battery. would run for HOURS with a decent size amp..50x2 and a couple 6x9s. would lighten your load if thats all you run on it.

[ncfenceguy]

I had a voltage reduce that was running the lights and a radio with no amp.

The problem I had with this particular set-up was, if you turned on the lights while the radio was playing, the radio would reset for a few seconds from the voltage drop. It was very annoying riding after dark. I didn't want to leave the lights on evey time I stoppd for a moment and didn't want the tunes interupted.

[li'l tugger]

Fenceguy..i wonder if a capacitor would help with that? I know we used to use them in big stereos to help surge load from big bass drops. Maybe a decent capacitor would carry the load long enough to keep ur radio from resetting

[ncfenceguy]

I thought about that but ended up swapping around some stuff with another cart and never went back to it.
Maybe that will help out some other members

[li'l tugger]

ahhh cool. i've been brainstorming along a similar path for my first build.. so its all info to me too..lol