Please 'Boom' Responsibly As most of you have noticed, the noise ordinances have become much tougher lately. Most of this is due to idiots, yes IDIOTS, who drive through residential areas with their windows down while their system is playing at full power. To make things worse, the music they listen to has all sorts of foul language that's not suitable for small children, (who may be playing outside). There are even a few people, who are even beyond idiot status, that play their systems at full power through residential areas after 10:00 PM (when many people go to bed). I don't believe that this type of behavior is good for the industry. If the fines get too stiff, people will stop buying large systems. If this happens, more people will get out of car audio (who wants a mediocre system). People get interested in things because they're exciting. A deck and four 6.5" speakers are not going to interest many of the younger car audio enthusiasts. If car audio enthusiasts keep annoying more and more people, the fines will keep getting tougher. All of this will only reduce interest in the equipment that fuels the industry. If you want to listen to your system at full volume, get out on the highway where there's little chance of bothering anyone. When you get to a red light, turn it down. If the only thing attractive about you is your 'system', you have some work to do. Bottom line... Think about what you're doing. Think about other people. It's not the end of the world if you have to turn the volume down for a little while. |
| Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter
(VOM): A multimeter is one of the most useful tools for
troubleshooting or installing a car audio system. The
picture below shows a generic multimeter. Most meters
have a rotary selector switch but a few have pushbuttons
to select the desired function. The meter below has a
rotary selector switch. You should also notice that it
has four terminals (below the selector switch) in which
you place the leads. Measuring DC Voltage Measuring Resistance and Continuity
Measuring Amperage: Most hand held amp meters have 2 ranges. The high range is generally limited to 10 amps. The low range is usually limited to less than one amp. Both ranges usually require moving at least one of the meter's leads. When measuring current, the meter is inserted in the circuit path. When the meter leads are in place to measure current, you must be careful NOT to connect the meter leads ACROSS any source of power. Most meters have internal fuses in the current measuring circuits for protection but you should still be careful.
Measuring DC Resistance of a Speaker: The demo below explains how you measure the impedance/resistance of a speaker with a DMM. Actually, you're measuring the DC resistance of the voice coil. Since the DC resistance is very close to the speaker's rated impedance, you can determine the speaker's rated impedance.
|
 |
If you find a problem
with this page or feel that some part of it needs
clarification, E-mail
me. This is a link to this site's home page. |
 |
