How Long Can I Sit With Amp On

mcfatty · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 725 City: Cookeville

We recently got a Punch 500 for our tower speakers and to run the rest (4) in the boat.

The kids like to swim between sets and I like to relax to some music.

I don't want to worry about being stranded, but don't want to disturb the kids swimming starting the motor every 10 minutes worried.

Anybody got an equal setup?

BIGMAC · Posted: Feb 24, 2003 9:36 pm Post subject:

Get an extra battery (Optimas last) if you dont have one already.

ohsix · Posted: Feb 24, 2003 9:42 pm Post subject:

it would depend on how hard you're pushing it and how many ohms it's wired at but any deep cycle marine battery should do fine for at least an hour. just make sure you run the boat a while before shutting it off so the battery will have some juice.

mcfatty · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 725 City: Cookeville

Can I get by with out the extra hardware? Will it drain it that bad?

kevin · Newbie Joined: 12 Jan 2003 Posts: 28 City: Nor-Cal

second battery (optima blue top) + isollator = peace of mind. with this set up, i can listen to music for hours without worries. if the boat won't start, a simple flick of the switch gets us going again. for 200-350, it's worth it.

OttoNP · Addict Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 848 City: MI

You can figure it out based on how many actual watts your running. Take the number of watts and divide by 12 V, this will give you the number of amps your pulling. Most batteries specify how many amp-hours they hold. Optima's have 55 which is actually low compared to most other batteries, my battery has 70. Below is a chart of how many watts versus how long you'd have. You are probably only really running 100 or 50 Watts. If you wanted to really know you could measure how many amps your battery pulls with the stereo on.

Watts Optima Mine
500W 1:19 1:41
400W 1:39 2:06
300W 2:12 2:48
200W 3:18 4:12
100W 6:36 8:24
50W 13:12 16:48

Nick
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Coach Purses

RYDOG · Outlaw Joined: 13 Jan 2003 Posts: 163 City: NOR CAL

I run 3 amps off my marine battery and have never had a problem. Sometimes sitting for more than an hour.