Is my kicker keeping up?

[BeezNuts84]

Hello,
I recently bought a boat and found that the stereo is connected to a 240watt amplifier.
The sound quality is great with the amp and I like it, but I wonder how much juice it’s sucking while I’m trolling?
My kicker is a 9.9 Mercury and puts out (I believe) 6 amps of charge.
Would that be enough charge to cover my stereo, chartplotter and downriggers?
Is there a test I could do with a multimeter to be sure?

Thanks in advance,

Beez.

 

[ryanb]

Kicker only puts out 6 amps at full throttle, it's probably much less at trolling speeds. So that's about 72 max watts of power, at full throttle. Enough for you chart plotter and downriggers if you're not bringing them up every 5 minutes, but probably not your stereo unless you have the volume real low.

 

[disco]

Kicker only puts out 6 amps at full throttle, it's probably much less at trolling speeds. So that's about 72 max watts of power, at full throttle. Enough for you chart plotter and downriggers if you're not bringing them up every 5 minutes, but probably not your stereo unless you have the volume real low.

I've been riding Harleys for years and I've often said Harleys are very expensive, shiny devices built to convert gasoline into noise. Maybe you should put a Harley engine in there somewhere.

 

[sly_karma]

I've been riding Harleys for years and I've often said Harleys are very expensive, shiny devices built to convert gasoline into noise. Maybe you should put a Harley engine in there somewhere.

Harleys are like old cattle dogs: they both need an occasional ride in the back of pickup.

 

[ericl]

To use a meter you would need to measure current. SOME meters do this via a "current clamp". Otherwise, the circuit must be broken & the meter inserted in series with the power draw. 240 watts at the 12.7 volts your electrical system runs at equals 18.89 amps.

To convert amps to watts, multiple voltage x amps; so the charger outputting 6 amps x 12.7 volts (nominal) equals 76.2 watts. Next realize that the 240 watt spec on your amp is a big lie; it is most likely what is called a "peak to peak" measurement of watts versus the standard RMS (root mean squared) measurement of watts. Also, in audio if you double the power you only gain a 3db change in volume, which can barely be detected by the ear. I would expect that at normal listening volumes you are drawing 20 watts (1.5 amps) or so from the amp

 

[BeezNuts84]

To use a meter you would need to measure current. SOME meters do this via a "current clamp". Otherwise, the circuit must be broken & the meter inserted in series with the power draw. 240 watts at the 12.7 volts your electrical system runs at equals 18.89 amps.

To convert amps to watts, multiple voltage x amps; so the charger outputting 6 amps x 12.7 volts (nominal) equals 76.2 watts. Next realize that the 240 watt spec on your amp is a big lie; it is most likely what is called a "peak to peak" measurement of watts versus the standard RMS (root mean squared) measurement of watts. Also, in audio if you double the power you only gain a 3db change in volume, which can barely be detected by the ear. I would expect that at normal listening volumes you are drawing 20 watts (1.5 amps) or so from the amp

Ok great!
Thank you.
You lost me for a bit there, but I’m picking up what you’re throwing down.
Appreciate it.