Car Speaker Portable Stereo

Skippy

Skippy

Active Member
Lifetime Premium Member
Hey Guys,

I've been wanting to do this for a while, and some speakers have popped up for sale here so I thought I should get it going already.

I've just got some major questions that'll stop this if the answer is no or otherwise.

Firstly: Can a Headunit from a car get adapted to get powered by AC? (240v) I know it'd have to be changed to DC for a start and have a voltage change. If not I'd have to run it off a car battery.

Secondly: The power plug for headunits, can you just buy the other end (car's end not HU end) or would I have to go searching wreckers for it and rip it out of the car?

That's mainly what I can think of, because once I can do this, I can power the speakers off the HU. Was gonna run 2x4", 2x6" and run 2x 6x9's off an amp.

The reasoning behind this? It'd be handy just do have something like this to bring out at parties and all that, it'll be all in one ply wood box so it'd be moveable and can be set up on a table. And also if I get a HU with AUX in then anyone can plug in their iPods/MP3's and if we want the radio we can do that too... Plus it'd be cool lol.
 
yes
here is a pic of the one i made when i was bored (and drunk too i think)
i still want to add a coat of paint to it to make it look nice
but i was bored and wanted a cool lookin sound system for my xbox one day so i whacked it together, its being powered by an old computer PSU and i just plug the input in the front and control the rest by the remote :p
before i put the sub/amp combo into my car i ran that on it too, but my 12inch alpine proved to be too much bass for what i wanted :p so im running 2x bookshelf speakers and 2x 6inch MTX speakers
but what i did was went to Jbhifi and asked how they powered their display head units and the guy pulled open the cupboard and showed my how they had it all setup :p
photo0047qe.jpg

photo0048yn.jpg

if ya want i can put up more info on how i did it, but my mate did a similar one using a bucket with a lid, 2x speakers, 1x head unit and a motorbike battery, great for a day at the beach :p
 
yeh, i think the units they were using to power the head units at Jbhifi went for close to $100 from jaycar, but i just opted for the cheap "grunge" option, more so to use the parts i had on hand instead of going out and buying new stuff
but if you cruise around google and search something like "car stereo computer PSU" you can find some really good tutorials, but if i do recall there is a small issue with the PSU running @ 12v and the car stereo running @ 13.8v or something similar, i personally havnt had any issues running it the way i have it at the moment, but then again i really dont care if the unit blows as its a crappy head unit that i just had lying around
 
Because this will be cool, a project for me to keep my mind on, and it'll be cheaper and more portable. kkthxbai.
 
mdclear said:
how is this different from just buying a sterio
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well i did it cause i was bored and had all the essential parts lying around, and it is a satisfying feeling building something odd yet functional :D
 
cesario said:
yeh, i think the units they were using to power the head units at Jbhifi went for close to $100 from jaycar, but i just opted for the cheap "grunge" option, more so to use the parts i had on hand instead of going out and buying new stuff
but if you cruise around google and search something like "car stereo computer PSU" you can find some really good tutorials, but if i do recall there is a small issue with the PSU running @ 12v and the car stereo running @ 13.8v or something similar, i personally havnt had any issues running it the way i have it at the moment, but then again i really dont care if the unit blows as its a crappy head unit that i just had lying around
Click to expand...

Nah should all run at 12V, because that's what voltage your car sits around when the alternator isn't charging the battery. Only thing is at 12V it'll like pull upto 15% more current (amps).

Here's a unit for $100 that puts out 20A @ 13.8V. http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID ... BCATID=647

It should run the head deck no worries, but I doubt it will run an amp as aswell.

The 40A version should be able to run a small amp but it will set you back $200.
 
Ryan said:
cesario said:
yeh, i think the units they were using to power the head units at Jbhifi went for close to $100 from jaycar, but i just opted for the cheap "grunge" option, more so to use the parts i had on hand instead of going out and buying new stuff
but if you cruise around google and search something like "car stereo computer PSU" you can find some really good tutorials, but if i do recall there is a small issue with the PSU running @ 12v and the car stereo running @ 13.8v or something similar, i personally havnt had any issues running it the way i have it at the moment, but then again i really dont care if the unit blows as its a crappy head unit that i just had lying around
Click to expand...

Nah should all run at 12V, because that's what voltage your car sits around when the alternator isn't charging the battery. Only thing is at 12V it'll like pull upto 15% more current (amps).

Here's a unit for $100 that puts out 20A @ 13.8V. http://jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID ... BCATID=647

It should run the head deck no worries, but I doubt it will run an amp as aswell.

The 40A version should be able to run a small amp but it will set you back $200.
Click to expand...


I could just run 2 PSUs one for an amp one for the HU. I've got 3 working PSU's at home, one 400w, a 450w and a 550w. I found some good-ish tutorials on the PSU to headunit thing, just get the yellow, black and green cables, Yellow is for headunit, black is ground for hu, then a black and the green a shorted together to run the PSU.
 
Why stop there...?! Go use all the mad-skillz found on here to wire up some '80s special lights in the speaker centres, which beat to the music!!
090508_sz_boombox.jpg
 
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