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running a car stereo at house power

D

DXER1

Guest
I have an old car radio that some one said they had for me to play with since they got a new one. What all do I need to run this off of my homes power and will it use up alot of electricity? I already have a cable from an antenna that I have mounted in the back yard. Any suggestions and tips are greatly appriciated

DXER1<P ID="signature">______________
"I'm a gonna go to hell when I die!" Connan O'Brien

"yay boo, yay boo, it's lots of fun to do, if ya like it holler yay, and if ya don't ya holler boo!"

Connan O'Brien
</P>
 
> I have an old car radio that some one said they had for me
> to play with since they got a new one. What all do I need to
> run this off of my homes power and will it use up alot of
> electricity? I already have a cable from an antenna that I
> have mounted in the back yard. Any suggestions and tips are
> greatly appriciated
>
> DXER1
>
Hi,

A 12 volt DC power supply will do it. Try to get a regulated supply that will output about 4 amps. A "wall wart" or a battery charger won't work.

Surplus and new supplies can be found on e-bay or at electronic suppliers sites such as All Electronics. Search low voltage power supplies as a start. I have bought them for about $15. I have used both linear and switching regulated supplies successfully. The switchers are lower $$.

Just connect the + output to the radio's power input and light dimmer/memory leads through a fuse, and the negative to the radio ground wire or metal frame. I have done this for years with success.

Addendum about the light dimmer lead. This may dim the display on the radio. It may need to be connected to ground in stead. Experiment with it.

Neil
 
I would avoid the switching power supply as it could cause nasty interference in the AM band. A 1989-1994 Delco radio is a good one, especially if it has an AMST (AM stereo) button and 5 band EQ. The 1985-1991 and 1993-1999 Chrysler radios are decent too (with the 5 band or 3 band EQ and joystick). A 1AMP wallwart will work until you get a thump of bass, and then it will crap out, so go with a larger one. For true DX ability, a GelCel rechargeable radio will give you less noise. Also, adding a ground to your radio ground will help too!
 
> I would avoid the switching power supply as it could cause
> nasty interference in the AM band.

Anything is possible, but I have never had a problem with a switcher.

Neil
 
> Anything is possible, but I have never had a problem with a
> switcher.

Newer switchers run conversion frequencies in the hundreds of kHz. The harmonics can be ferocious on the AM band.
 
> > Anything is possible, but I have never had a problem with
> a
> > switcher.
>
> Newer switchers run conversion frequencies in the hundreds
> of kHz. The harmonics can be ferocious on the AM band.
>
Have you actually observed this interference? As I stated, I haven't.

Neil
 
Switcher interference

> > I have an old car radio that some one said they had for me
>
> > to play with since they got a new one. What all do I need
> to
> > run this off of my homes power and will it use up alot of
> > electricity? I already have a cable from an antenna that I
>
> > have mounted in the back yard. Any suggestions and tips
> are
> > greatly appriciated
> >
> > DXER1
> >
> Hi,
>
> A 12 volt DC power supply will do it. Try to get a
> regulated supply that will output about 4 amps. A "wall
> wart" or a battery charger won't work.
>
> Surplus and new supplies can be found on e-bay or at
> electronic suppliers sites such as All Electronics. Search
> low voltage power supplies as a start. I have bought them
> for about $15. I have used both linear and switching
> regulated supplies successfully. The switchers are lower
> $$.
>
> Just connect the + output to the radio's power input and
> light dimmer/memory leads through a fuse, and the negative
> to the radio ground wire or metal frame. I have done this
> for years with success.
>
> Addendum about the light dimmer lead. This may dim the
> display on the radio. It may need to be connected to ground
> in stead. Experiment with it.
>
> Neil
>

Hi again,

There have been posts here which anticipated problems with switching power supplies. What has been said about potential interference is true, but so is my statement that I have not had problems. Since your antenna is remote from the radio, you will most likely not have problems.

Here is my current situation. I have a 12v, 7a switcher powering a 2 meter transceiver, a switcher powering a video capture device, one powering a USB disc drive, one for my part 15 AM transmitter, and one powering my 10kHz. to 30 MHz. communication receiver. These are all on a shelf next to my switcher powered computer. I hear no interference on the communication receiver (using an outdoor antenna), and I hear no interference on my portable battery operated radio when used in the vicinity of the shelf.

I am not using open frame OEM supplies. They are all FCC certified under part 15 and all but the 7A unit are the "in the cord" type.

Yours and others' experiences may be different. Mine is as stated.

If one is concerned about this, go with a linear supply. $$$ if you can find one.

Neil
 
> I have an old car radio that some one said they had for me
> to play with since they got a new one. What all do I need to
> run this off of my homes power and will it use up alot of
> electricity? I already have a cable from an antenna that I
> have mounted in the back yard. Any suggestions and tips are
> greatly appriciated
>
> DXER1
>

How about using a marine battery.. keeping it inside of a battery holder like the ones used on boats and a trickle charger to keep the battery up. I don't believe you would have as much $$ in this set up as you would with a good switching supply and you would have plenty of current. This is how I ran my stereo at home when I was a kid. Any cheapo car battery would work but I believe a marine battery would last longer..<P ID="signature">______________
"What is this R.F. and How Does It Do That?.."</P>
 
> Have you actually observed this interference? As I stated,
> I haven't.

I have Sony AC adapter for my portable MiniDisc recorder that actually says in its manual "Not recommended for use with AM radio", due to the interference its switching power supply generates. It's a very small and light AC adapter for the amperage it puts out, but just as Sony warns, it renders any nearby AM radio totally unlistenable.

And I believe the AM radio interference "hash" caused by LED traffic lights is due to the same thing: a noisy and improperly shielded/grounded switching power supply, used to supply low-voltage DC to the LEDs. Many of these are so bad, they even cause audible interference on the *FM* band!

Anyway, I've found the best solution for powering a car radio is a gel-cell 12V battery. A typical car radio with speakers playing at a moderate volume level sucks up about 1 amp of current at 12 volts. If you get a 4 Ah (amp-hour) gel-cell battery, this means that theoretically, you can play it continuously for 4 hours before the battery goes dead. And likewise, if you get a 10 Ah battery, then you can play the car radio for 10 hours before the battery goes dead. The smallest car battery charger that Wal-Mart sells -- a 2/4/6-amp model which sells for around $20 -- will do the trick for recharging a 12V gel-cell.
<P ID="signature">______________
ImportantInfo.jpg

"This is the New York Emergency Broadcast System satellite channel. They took the crosstown bus."</P>
 
Unconventional but effective.

I have a bunch of ham repeaters running on 12 VDC in difficult-to-reach locations, like church steeples.

What I've found very effective and incredibly reliable is to use a small size glass mat automotive battery feeding directly into the radios. BUT instead of messing with a big charger, I use little wall-wart type "battery minders" to maintain the charge. The duty cycle (remember, receiver is always on; only the heavy transmitter load is intermittent) is such that the "minder" keeps a nice charge going without cooking the batteries. Major advantage in your application is that you have complete reliability even in time of power failure. Of course it DOES take a little space. I wouldn't mess with a lead/acid battery....or even a marine gel battery, however.
<P ID="signature">______________
Artificial intelligence is NO match for natural stupidity!</P>
 
Radio Shack. 12 volt supplies--not the wall warts. Look for something around 5 amps or bigger (depends on how loud you want to run it).

I use one to run a Blaupunkt receiver I use it to monitor our RDS.
 
> > Have you actually observed this interference? As I
> stated,
> > I haven't.
>
> I have Sony AC adapter for my portable MiniDisc recorder
> that actually says in its manual "Not recommended for use
> with AM radio", due to the interference its switching power
> supply generates. It's a very small and light AC adapter
> for the amperage it puts out, but just as Sony warns, it
> renders any nearby AM radio totally unlistenable.
>
> And I believe the AM radio interference "hash" caused by LED
> traffic lights is due to the same thing: a noisy and
> improperly shielded/grounded switching power supply, used to
> supply low-voltage DC to the LEDs. Many of these are so
> bad, they even cause audible interference on the *FM* band!
>
> Anyway, I've found the best solution for powering a car
> radio is a gel-cell 12V battery. A typical car radio with
> speakers playing at a moderate volume level sucks up about 1
> amp of current at 12 volts. If you get a 4 Ah (amp-hour)
> gel-cell battery, this means that theoretically, you can
> play it continuously for 4 hours before the battery goes
> dead. And likewise, if you get a 10 Ah battery, then you
> can play the car radio for 10 hours before the battery goes
> dead. The smallest car battery charger that Wal-Mart sells
> -- a 2/4/6-amp model which sells for around $20 -- will do
> the trick for recharging a 12V gel-cell.
>

Hey there
Tanks agian for all of the help with this topic. I had some idea on what to do but wanted to get another opinion before I started messing around

DXER1<P ID="signature">______________
"I'm a gonna go to hell when I die!" Connan O'Brien

"yay boo, yay boo, it's lots of fun to do, if ya like it holler yay, and if ya don't ya holler boo!"

Connan O'Brien
</P>
 
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