Audio Systems: power requirements, amp power supply, nav screens

Question
Mark - forgive me if this isn't a question that you'd like to answer however, I am in the display building business and I have built an interactive radio display for use in car dealerships. We have been building these units for 4 +years with much success. Recently we starting building these units with a Delphi Nav Screen radio and have been having power supply issues. We had been using a 3amp power supply to run a standard CD AM/FM Radio but the same power supply used for the NAV screens is overheating and blowing fuses. Is it a simple as getting a higher amp power supply or is tehre something else I need to consider?  

Answer
no prob. probably increasing the amps will help alot.  the manufacturer should publish specs (usually even right on the unit) that will show power requirements. it's also important to have the voltage right.  most modern equipment especially for car audio has its own switching power supply inside which may be as simple as a dc to dc converter.  if you have insufficient amps then there becomes an endless cycle of the the unit drawing more amps which causes your power supply to drop in voltage.  the unit's power supply responds by pulling more current to make up for the loss in volate which in turn ends up lowwering the voltage from the power supply more and on and on. this happens especially quikly if you have somethign rated for 15 volts and you run it off of 12, it will draw more current to make up for the voltage (assuming it has some type of internal regulator).  so make sure your power supply is equal voltage and more than enough current.

good luck!