Guys, I have read quite a few different things regarding how much power we can safely extract from the rear 12v battery without damaging the Synergy drive system. I would like to run a 300 or 400w RMS amp to power a subwoofer. I have read posts from people who say you can do this all day, and other who say this is a bad idea. Anyone have a definitive answer to this? anyone know what the deal is? Can the DC to DC converter from the high voltage pack handle the extra load? Thanks
400w is easily handled by the system. I've been running 600w for more than 2 years. I've run the system at full power for 3+ hours, plenty of times. There's a few people here running 1000w, as well. Got a need for power? The Prius says, "Bring it."
The 12V battery is very small, so it can be helpful to parallel supercaps to supply the amplifyer with peak power. (bad english, i hope its understandable) Mike
Ok cool, thank you guys for the input. Super caps would be nice...perhaps i'll just use a more standard type of audio cap...I used a 1.2F unit before with a 12" alipne Type R and it worked very well.
Caps are, for the most part, useless. A cap is just another strain on the elctrical system, it releases current and constantly needs to be charged during use. The Prius can handle the power output. Based on the information from the Prius UPS page, 74 amps is when the voltage starts dropping a bit. Using Ohm's law, P=V*I, 1021 watts constant is handled nicely by the inverter.
what everyone said about caps is true. you can always add a small deepcycle battery with an isolator and not have to worry too much about it. it would probably cost you about 100 bucks, if you get a good deal on a battery.
