OT - 12v Audio for the garage

[Ed Jack]

My garage is nearly tune-less... my 20 year old sears stereo is on it's last legs and cuts out frequently - mildly annoying when listening to music - extremely aggrivating when listening to a ballgame.

So I've been considering what features I'd like from my garage stereo.

Here's what I come up with -

</font>

• Turn on and off by a lightswitch, by the door, as I leave
  </font>
• Keep presets, FM and AM, even if power has been shut off
  </font>
• Display the time, I've had bad luck with clocks in the garage for some reason (at least that's what I tell my wife why I'm out there all night) </font>

So, as my topic alludes, I'm thinking that a car stereo does these things, only issue is that it's on 12v. I'm wondering if I can rig an old battery charger and a battery somehow. The issue being that you need to have trickle power to keep the clock and settings, and then you need more power when the lightswitch comes on to actually power the tunes.
I did some cursory searches on the web, but haven't found anything quite like this already set up. I did find some 12v power supplies for CB's etc. I can see using that, but how to keep a charge on the battery?

Oh, and of course, I'd like to keep the expenses realistic. [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img] [img]smile.gif[/img]

Any ideas guys?

[bigun]

you would need a battery and trickle charger to keep it charged.This will be your power source and will stay on all the time keeping your presets and clock running. Then you would have to wire in a contactor in to your lights to actully turn on the radio. You would need a contactor designed to use 110 volts to turn it on but use low voltage to do the work.

[Rhino Racer]

Just use one of those leftover 12V adapters like the ones for cellphone chargers, just make sure the wattage output is enough to power your radio, you won't need a battery, plug it to a switch/outlet wired so the switch controls the plug.

Use a separate 12V adapter plugged directly to an unswitched outlet for the memory and clock.

[Ed Jack]

that's what I was hoping, but does anyone know what a stereo draws? most of the 12v wall warts I've seen are down around 1000 mA, I know my stereo has a 10 Amp fuse, so it draws somewhere well under that... but how far?

[turtlejoe]

I used a 12V converter that I picked up at Radio Shack, but that was in 1982. My 63 Int'l Travelall didn't lock, so I kept my stereo in my apartment until I was headed on a roadtrip. Hooked up the stereo to the converter, brought my speakers in, and had AM/FM/Cassette in my room. Worked great.

One of these maybe?

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F009%5F001%5F005%5F000&product%5Fid=22%2D505

http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F009%5F001%5F005%5F000&product%5Fid=22%2D504

[turtlejoe]

You could also find a portable stereo/boom box (whatever flavor keeps the wallet happy) that has a clock and battery backup so you won't lose the presets. Convert whatever receptacle you'll use so it's controlled by the light switch and just leave the radio on. Voila, you've met your requirements.

Good luck!

[ July 01, 2004, 08:57 AM: Message edited by: turtlejoe ]

[tgreese]

Old home stereo gear can be found cheap. Look at ebay, Goodwill / Salvation Army thrift stores, and Hamfests. I'd think that anything with digital presets (tuner, reciever) would have a battery backup ...

[ironroad29]

here is mine ,i have about 60 bucks in it got it all from the pawn shop..lol
here is the speakers

and a small sub i have stuffed in the corner

[Ed Jack]

Turtlejoe, I actually went out and bought one of those last night, but now I'm having buyer's remorse; just seems like it's more $ than it ought to be.

I had another thought today. PC power supplies push 12v to spin hard drives. The old Dell one I dug outta my junkroom at work does +12V at 6 Amps. I gotta figure that'd be enough to run the radio. Maybe a wall wart pushing only 1amp can run the clock, and the PC powersupply can run the radio?

[tgreese]

Sure - except that they're switchers and have a lot of rf junk in the output. May not notice in a garage setup, or put an RC filter across the output.

You can get a rough estimate of the power needed from the claimed audio output, ie 24 watts ... P=IV, 24W/12V=2A. The audio output numbers are always inflated, so a few amps should be plenty.

[ July 01, 2004, 10:38 AM: Message edited by: tgreese ]

[Ed Jack]

well, I'm not much of an audiophile, and a good portion of the time I'm listening to AM radio... although my patience with what I'm hearing on that is wearing thin, if you know what I mean Tim. But I'm not sure I understand what you mean by "they're switchers".

[tgreese]

Switching power supplys converts the 60 cycle AC to a higher frequency so they can get increased efficiency and use smaller transformers. They make a lot more electrical noise your typical wall wart, for example. Wall warts are so-called linear supplys, which you may be familiar with. Noise doesn't matter for a computer, but you may hear a hissy background if you use a switching supply for audio.

[crawdady]

first you need to pick your parts out the antene can be any old car shaft the head unit can be a stock radio out of whats been upgraded check at car audio installers many have the stock radios CHEAP plain old am/fm cassete works fine next spend a few bucks an get the encased speakers next i mounted the radio into a gi ammo box mounted the ant.right on the box speakers to the sides of it i also put a noise filter in the power line because i drive truck i use this setup as my stereo in the differant trucks the boss was to cheap to even buy a am/fm for i cheated abit here and mounted my cb to the case coax for the ant now goes to a vicegrip mount holds am/fm plus cb thats clamped to the mirror brackets the powersupply is though a multi cigrette lighter that way i can plug in fuzzbuster cell ph. cb. heavy duty clips plus a cigerette plug i trimed the wires down zip tied every thing tight works great i have a deepcell marine battery thats on trickle charge all the time take a three wire extenion cord cut the ends off hook them to the battery two power one grounded use the cig plugs to hook up to the radio consant hotwire put a toggle in the other hot line routed by the doorway you hit the toggle on the way out

FOR YOU FOLKS THAT HAVE SHEDS WITH NO POWER/LIGHTS USE THIS WITH OLD BLOWN HEADLIGHTS HIGH BEAMS STILL GOOD I WIRED A FEW INTO THE RAFTERS OF MY SHEDS USE THE CLIPS TO CONNECT TO THE BATTERY OR THESE JUMPER BATTERY PACKS ARE GITTING CHEAPER USE IT INSTEAD OF A BATTERY I USED OLD 100FOOT EXTENION CORDS TO WIRE MY 12VOLT SYSTEM INTO THE SHEDS SPLICED INTO IT WHERE I NEEDED POWER OR LIGHTS P.S. IF THE LIGHTS TO BRIGHT USE A DIFFUSER PLANEL CUT TO FIT THEIR FAIRLY CHEAP AT LOWES/HOME DEPOT

[Green Giant]

Punctuation is a good thing
Crawdady's (???) is an old trick used by "hot seat" truckers. Can use any type of box, most I have seen were old milk crates. Mount an old radio, antennae, couple of speakers in the sides, and just set it on the seat and use alligator clips on any hot wire and ground.

Oh, and in my garage is an old bookshelf system upgraded with some huge floor speakers I found in a house after the tenants moved out. It has a remote that I keep on a shelf next to the door along with the A/C remote. Walk in, hit both remotes, and "cool tunes".

[ July 01, 2004, 12:02 PM: Message edited by: Green Giant ]

[mtn goat]

Just so you know, you can by low voltage transformers to change your house line to lower constant voltage....mainly used for lighting but I think it would work fine for a radio to!