ASJboarder

I've been searching for a very cheap way to put in a simple AM/FM radio with a decent set of speakers in my basement that I don't have to worry about getting beat around a bit. I happen to have my old stock radio from my 96' Tacoma (says A56405 on the front) just laying around. I was wondering if anyone knows if it would be possible to get a half dead car battery and simply hook it up through that and a wiring harness to some speakers. Also, I was wondering if anyone knew what sort of wattage this thing has (so I know what sort of speakers to search for).

Thanks for any help in advance.

4runnermt

Yeah you could hook it up to a battery, but why not go to wallyworld and buy a ten dollar special?Boombox, that is.

Jimmeh

Most units will have the model number written on either of the top corners, or right above the screen/tuner bar. Put that into Google, and it will tell you the wattage.

Avsfreak1234

just hook the 12V power input into a wall socket. put a power inverter in the middle so if anything blows that will be it not your radio. then run the speaker wires just like normal and try not to blow them out! I dont happen to know if this will work but try it!

4runnermt

I think its a lot more trouble than its worth! I would just buy a cheapo stereo. Then you don't have to deal with a battery.

ASJboarder

I just figured since the thing was sitting here collecting dust, I'd give it a shot just to see how it would work. I was also looking for a little more power than a wally world boombox, that's why I was curious as to the wattage. So if anyone is able to find it (I googled with no luck) that would be great! Also, as far as the batter vs. inverter thing goes, how long would a battery last if it was hooked up to a car stereo only?

Bumpin' Yota

NO!!

A wall socket is 120vac! A car battery is 13.5vdc! You just attempt to "plug in" a 12v appliance to the wall and youll see a nice big explosion of that 12v device and possibly blow a fuze or breaker in your house at best...

Power inverters change the voltage from 120vac into ~14.4vdc

Bumpin' Yota

The battery wont last too long. Probably 4 or 5 hours at most. Honestly your best bet is to find a laptop power cord and read the small text on the inverter. It should tell you the ammount of voltage and current it will produce. (Voltage can be anywhere from 11.0v to 16.0v and you should be fine. 14.4 is preferred) Current wise you want something that will put out at least 5amps. Preferrably 10amp.

In order to do this you'll also need the toyota OEM wires that plug into the back of that deck. As far as power output, most likely 8 or 9 watts rms.

Beast

It is possible and not to difficult

hook it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ASJboarder

Getting only 5 hrs out of a battery kinda sucks, but I guess if it were easy I wouldn't have fun trying it. The laptop cable idea interests me, so I guess I'll have to find a spare one somewhere (any suggestions? ebay?). Since there is only 8 watts however, this maybe a lost cause. I was hoping for at least 20 so I could have a little kick out of whatever speakers i ended up with.

Bumpin' Yota

Most aftermarket decks fail to attain 20w rms, much less an OEM unit. This is why there are 25x2 amps! (I have and use one in my yota)

4Hummer

A simple 10$ Ac to DC inverter will do the Job from 120V ac to 12V dc.

Speakers will be a differant issues. House speakers wont run well on a stereo (but you can do it) differant ohm rating.

ASJboarder

Hmm...didn't think about that. So let's say I have something similar to these:

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-PAIR-SONY-SS...QQcmdZViewItem

What can I expect out of them?

Bumpin' Yota

Indeed! Most home speakers are 8ohm. Since Ohm is a measure of resistance to flow of current, and 4ohm is half of 8ohms, you'd only be getting 1/2 of the current going through the speakers with an 8ohm speaker vs a 4ohm. The voltage (ac) going through the speaker will stay the same. But because P=I*Vcos0, half current means roughly half power.

those are 8ohm and can handle up to 120w rms. In all honesty youd need a home stereo amp to push those or a car amp running off of a battery and a 120vac battery charger. But off of a OEM deck's power, you wont get a whole lot of output.

ldivinag

goto wallyworld and pickup a $16 trickle charger for the battery...

assuming it lasts 4-5 hours and you dont plan on listening to it for 24 hours...

or go green and pick up a a set of solar panels, at least 45 watts output and is that to charge and power the system at the same time...

Greg_Canada

Dude, it's not worth it.

Bumpin' Yota

Well it is worth it IF you already have all of the stuff lying about and around...then the cost is free!

For instance, I have a few good batteries lying about, a BITCHIN battery charger, 2 good HU's not in any vehicles and a nice set of MB Quart components sitting here.

Only reason I havent hooked any of it up is that im workin on Greg's kickpanels! lol and I dont have space!