Modern Stereo in 6 volt System..

[Packrat]

So, I would like something more than the ol AM in my 54 Chev, all the

inverters I can find are like $75.00 or more, and Im a cheap old goat,

how can I do this much cheaper? Anyone got one cluttering up the shop wall?

A place to get am/fm 6 volt? Cheap inverters?

I Cant find anything on a search at Radio shack..

Even JC Whitneys are about $65.00.

Ideas?

Packrat

1954 Chevrolet 210

1973 Harley davidson FLH

[Guest imported_JPIndusi]

An inexpensive approach, but not the most convenient, is to go buy a 6 volt lantern battery or 6 volt rechargeable battery and hook it up in series with the 6 volts from the radio + supply wire. Now wire a modern 12 volt AM/FM radio up to the resulting 12 volts and it will work. Just be sure to wire +6 VDC from car radio supply to the -6 VDC on the battery, then hook the radio to the + of the battery and you will have +12 VDC. Not elegant, but it will work. The lantern battery will need to be replaced after some time, but if you don't put out a lot of power to the speakers and don't use it often it's workable. A rechargeable battery will of course need to be recharged, but I assume you have a Battery Tender for your Chevy anyway.

Some day I will try to put together a schematic for a converter circuit.

Joe

[RoadsterRich]

For $65 can't you get a portable CD with AM/FM stereo these days? Most of them run off 6 volts and you don't have to modify your car beyond adding a jack for the power cord and hiding some of those small modern speakers, you could even used powered speakers for more oomph if you look around many of them run at 6 Volts as well. This would let you keep your 6Volts, get modern convenience, and you wouldn't have to putz with a converter...

Okay so shoot me... I always look at things the 'Odd' way... makes me unique (or is that Odd?)

And of course it assumes you are not planning to move your car down the road by blaring your sub woofers, rather than pushing down the gas pedal as god intended us to do... <img src="http://www.aaca.org/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Well just a thought...

Rich

[Packrat]

Thanks, I appreciate both ideas. I guess I would like to hide a small unit in the glove box or under the dash, or even in the dash with no mods to the dash of course. So, a car stereo (No loud boom stuff here, Jazz, some classic rock, some classical) would work better than a portable, and a portable unit using 6 volts from small batteries, is the amperage difference from a car battery enough to harm a portable radio?

I guess I can hide a 12vt MC battery in the trunk in an independent system, and charge it up once in a while?

I sort of follow the two 6vt bats idea, could you run that by me one more time? ALso, how do I keep them independent of the 6v system?

[RoadsterRich]

I was thinking more along the lines of the small portable 'personal players' like the old walkman style design, would easily fit in the glove box, and could provide moderate but not loud sound. They are small enough to fit in backpacks or purses, but too big for pockets. Amperage will not be a problem, voltage is. The unit at 6 volts will only draw the amperage it needs which would likely be a couple of hundred milliamps since they run off of AA batteries.

As to the two 6 volt batteries, there are a couple of ways to go. You can hook the two batteries in series (hook one side to ground and the other side to your radio). If you are using the car battery as one of the two batteries you hook one side of the battery to the 'hot' lead to the radio and the other side to the radio to provide the 'boost' from 6 volts to 12 volts.

Most modern car radios are negative ground 12 volt radios. If your car is positive ground and the radio is negative ground you will have to isolate the radio from the cars ground if you are using the car's battery as one of the two batteries supplying power.

For positive ground systems with negative ground 12 volt radio using car battery as one of the batteries:

1) Insulate the radio chassis from ALL contact with the cars metal (ground).

2) Hook your radio's 'positive' lead to the cars ground.

3) Hook your 'booster' batteries positive terminal to your negative supply cable from the accessory (or ammeter, fuse it!)

4) Hook your 'booster' batteries negative terminal to your radio's ground (typically the chassis).

For negative ground systems with positive ground 12 volt radio using car battery as one of the batteries:

1) Mount your radio so the chassis has a good ground.

2) Hook your 'booster' batteries negative terminal to your accessory (ammeter on older cars, don't forget to fuse it) connection.

3) Hook your 'booster' batteries positive terminal to the positive 'booster' battery terminal.

For one or two external battery (or 1 twelve volt external battery) and negative ground 12 volt radio:

1) (for two 6 volt batteries only) hook negative of one battery to positive of other battery.

2) Hook radio up, making sure chassis has good ground

3) Hook unused negative battery terminal to ground

4) Hook unused positive battery terminal to radio 'power' lead (fuse it!)

For one or two external battery (or 1 twelve volt external battery) and positive ground 12 volt radio:

1) (for two 6 volt batteries only) hook negative of one battery to positive of other battery.

2) Hook radio up, making sure chassis has good ground

3) Hook unused positive battery terminal to ground

4) Hook unused negative battery terminal to radio 'power' lead. (fuse it!)

Okay, I think I covered the permutations... someone double check me before he wires it in!

Rich

PS: If you need it I can draw pictures... poor pictures, but pictures none the less, I'm not remotely artistic.