12v radio / stereo in a 6 volt car?

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

Any body have a CHEAP solution? The only real good up converter I found is $155.00. The cheapest I have found is a half ass thing on ebay for $59.00.

Any other way of doing it?

Any good electronics guys out there?




Owner of a 1950 4 door Commander

I'll Tattoo you anytime!

you can find me at

Lucky Linda's Body Art 952-445-3281
18 years in the tattooing biz

[rockne10]

If your existing radio is working, have you looked at RediRad?
The 6-volt unit is $149 but gives you the options of CD, Ipod, sattelite, etc.
http://www.rediscoveradio.com/

[Lothar]

Edsel
This topic has been discussed a number of times. Here's a link to a thread about a wild idea that I had to hook up two six volt batteries in series. Forum members dissuaded me from trying it, but we had a lively discussion about the different options for putting a 12 volt radio in a 6 volt car.

http://forum.studebakerdriversclub.c...TOPIC_ID=22029

My personal preference (though I haven't actually tried it yet) was Gordr's idea of setting up a 12 volt battery in the trunk, and charging it via a solar panel in the back window!

1950 Champion 4 Dr.
Holdrege NE

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be looking in to the solar charger. I might post what way I go for the info for the future.

Owner of a 1950 4 door Commander

I'll Tattoo you anytime!

you can find me at

Lucky Linda's Body Art 952-445-3281
18 years in the tattooing biz

[Lothar]

Edsel
Note that Gord suggested using a "gel" (AGM) battery, as used in emergency lighting and computer back-up power sources, if all you want is occasional radio use. One of these would be nice because it is sealed. I don't know how well they perform in extreme heat or cold. If you want to use a high-watt system, you would probably need a wet cell battery, which can outgas, spill or leak acid, etc.

1950 Champion 4 Dr.
Holdrege NE

[CHAMP]

I got my solar charger from J.C. Whitney.

GARY H 2DR.SEDAN 48 STUDEBAKER CHAMPION NORTHEAST MD.

[Dick Steinkamp]

I found these 2 gizmos in my stash...



They may not work on a positive ground 6V (see writing on the one on the left), but seems like something could be constructed to work.

Dick Steinkamp
Bellingham, WA

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

Hey Dick,
What would you want for them? They would be a big help.

Owner of a 1950 4 door Commander

I'll Tattoo you anytime!

you can find me at

Lucky Linda's Body Art 952-445-3281
18 years in the tattooing biz

[Dick Steinkamp]

Send me your address, Edsel and I'll send them to you. Keep in mind that they may not put out enough amps and it looks like they won't work on a positive ground 6V.

Dick Steinkamp
Bellingham, WA

[PlainBrownR2]

quote:

Believe or not, the item on the left is inhabiting the driver side inner fender on my truck, which is a six volt positive ground setup. Mainly it's just used to run the cigar lighter and the Sunbird boost gauge setup. The trick to making it work is since it's positive ground instead of negative ground the connections are reversed, which is what I did on the truck. After I installed it and got it powered, I put the main lead from the Archer box to a screw terminal type of bus bar, so I wasn't having all of these splits coming off of the lead. Once it's powered the best way to tell it's operating is the box will give an extremely high pitched, but extremely tiny high pitched tone(which I think is coming from just an overtly large transistor inside). What was interesting was once I got it working, the first thing I did was plug my cellphone into the cigar lighter, which started charging the cellphone. The only caveat is it's good for only 3 amps, so there's only 36 watts available. I'd check the radio first, but I know it may only power a radio and a speaker, but it won't powere any trunk filling stereos too effectively.

[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/55%20Studebaker%20Commander%20Streetrod%20Project/DSC00017-1-1.jpg[/IMG=left]
[IMG=left]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/55%20Studebaker%20Commander%20Streetrod%20Project/DSC00015-2-1.jpg[/IMG=left]
[IMG=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/Ex%20Studebaker%20Plant%20Locomotive/P1000578-1.jpg[/IMG=right]
[IMG=right]http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t102/PlainBrownR2/My%201964%20Studebaker%20Commander%20R2/P1010168.jpg[/IMG=right]

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

Well I'm not planning on powering a third world earth shaker. My rear windows are to hard to replace for that.

I just want a twin speaker average car stereo Not more than 20 watts a side. It sounds like these will work out great. If I get 4 ohm speakers it will be more than enough power for listening to that "devil music" and the creator of the down fall of society, rockabilly while I drive.

What is an old car with out Little Richard, Louis Jordan, and Hank Williams, and thank god, for Johny Cash.

Thanks for all the input folks!
Now where did those stinky, lazy hippies put my keys.


Owner of a 1950 4 door Commander

I'll Tattoo you anytime!

you can find me at

Lucky Linda's Body Art 952-445-3281
18 years in the tattooing biz

[TedsHawk]

I would think you could just mount a 12v battery some place(trunk probably) and run the radio off that. I used to have a AM/FM car radio mounted in the wall of my garage for years that just ran off a car battery on the floor. It was just an factory radio out of a 70's AMC. It ran for weeks on a charge. never remember it killing the battery, would just hook the battery charger to the battery once in a while to keep it charged. But maybe with all the electronic tuning going on nowadays it wouldn't work. but Radios really use very little power.

[Edsel G. Tattooer]

That Is option #2 But if A kind sole is bequeathing a up converter I'll give that a try first. Besides I am kind of a techie nerd and want to play MP3's from my car deck and it would be the best shortest cut to what I need to do.

( Do you smell that? I think that's the smell of a Hippie)

Owner of a 1950 4 door Commander

I'll Tattoo you anytime!

you can find me at

Lucky Linda's Body Art 952-445-3281
18 years in the tattooing biz