I am wanting to really get into amplifer design...or atleast, repair. There are some books and resources I have in mind for it and I have studdied the very basics of transistors like biasing BJTs, MOSFETs and the differences between those two transistors and diff amp class topologies.
I wanted to start this thread so I can have a quick basic outline of amplifer section functions. I understand I need to studdy for myself to learn it but I know there are alot of people who could give some quick basics so I know what keywords and concepts to search for, it's the best way for me to learn.
So I have some basic questions:
Power supply capacitors - I have a 300w amp kit I put together that has two large capacitors and also see them on all amplifiers. My amp is a class D amp. What exactly do the caps do? I know in a rectifier circuit (AC - DC) they smooth ripple to a flat DC voltage, is the concept sort of similar to amps? I realize that music is not justa smooth DC so it's obviously not the same thing so what do they do in amps? I think they help to balance voltage or current when the power supply is beeing "stressed"?
Power supply transformer of amplifier - This pertains to large caraudio amplifers, most of these questions actually do. In a caraudio amp, the vehicles voltage is 12-14.4v, do these amps require different power supply then indoor amplifers(a radio connected to an AC socket inside). Is the rail voltage of the amp output taken from the power supply? I have gotten into rail splitting with OP amps a little but I'm curious how the rails are "created" in caraudio amplfiers? I see and hear of the large custom toroid transformers in car audio amps and I always see two of them, how does using two work? Are they combined?
Are power supply toroid transformers tough to custom make? I have heard about handwinding them yourself and beefy ones are reaaaly expensive so it would be nice to be able to wind my own.
About transformers - The basics I know about them is that they invert voltage and current by a ratio. I don't understand how a transformer can step down from 110v to 12v, and the current is supposed to be inversely steped up by the same ratio if current drawn depending on load. Also, I understand that a certain current draw requires a large enough guage wire to handle it safely, but if I am on only using thin wire, with 110v on primary, drawing little current on Pri, the primary will convert the high voltage to a larger current on the secondary side where the primary wire couldn't handle the current, and does it mean the whole transformer is drawing little current in a step down transformer and still allowing a good amount of current drawn from secondary side(if the design allows it).
There are plenty of other questions but i'm writing too much already. Any pointers about how the different stages work, etc would be awesome!
I wanted to start this thread so I can have a quick basic outline of amplifer section functions. I understand I need to studdy for myself to learn it but I know there are alot of people who could give some quick basics so I know what keywords and concepts to search for, it's the best way for me to learn.
So I have some basic questions:
Power supply capacitors - I have a 300w amp kit I put together that has two large capacitors and also see them on all amplifiers. My amp is a class D amp. What exactly do the caps do? I know in a rectifier circuit (AC - DC) they smooth ripple to a flat DC voltage, is the concept sort of similar to amps? I realize that music is not justa smooth DC so it's obviously not the same thing so what do they do in amps? I think they help to balance voltage or current when the power supply is beeing "stressed"?
Power supply transformer of amplifier - This pertains to large caraudio amplifers, most of these questions actually do. In a caraudio amp, the vehicles voltage is 12-14.4v, do these amps require different power supply then indoor amplifers(a radio connected to an AC socket inside). Is the rail voltage of the amp output taken from the power supply? I have gotten into rail splitting with OP amps a little but I'm curious how the rails are "created" in caraudio amplfiers? I see and hear of the large custom toroid transformers in car audio amps and I always see two of them, how does using two work? Are they combined?
Are power supply toroid transformers tough to custom make? I have heard about handwinding them yourself and beefy ones are reaaaly expensive so it would be nice to be able to wind my own.
About transformers - The basics I know about them is that they invert voltage and current by a ratio. I don't understand how a transformer can step down from 110v to 12v, and the current is supposed to be inversely steped up by the same ratio if current drawn depending on load. Also, I understand that a certain current draw requires a large enough guage wire to handle it safely, but if I am on only using thin wire, with 110v on primary, drawing little current on Pri, the primary will convert the high voltage to a larger current on the secondary side where the primary wire couldn't handle the current, and does it mean the whole transformer is drawing little current in a step down transformer and still allowing a good amount of current drawn from secondary side(if the design allows it).
There are plenty of other questions but i'm writing too much already. Any pointers about how the different stages work, etc would be awesome!