Installing a car sterio into a camp trailer

[garfield]

Hi everyone,

I want to install a car stereo into my camp trailer and run it off both 240V/12V power. Can anyone help me with a link or diagram - drawing on how i can do this please?

I know how to wire a car stereo into a car, but don't know how to, or what i need to do to wire it straight to a battery.

all help and hints much appreciated
Geoff

[Barry_White]

Geoff

What you need to run it off 240 volt is one of these.

http://www.dse.com.au/cgi-bin/dse.storefront/46edeb2f081d23c6273fc0a87f9c06fb/Product/View/M9727

You would need to put a plug on the Radio making sure the polarity is correct and then just plug it into the adaptor and the adaptor into the 240.

With the 12 volt you would need to get a socket the matches the plug on the radio and then run the socket to the battery supply again making sure the polarity is correct.

[boban]

I'm not sure that 500mA would be enough to power a car stereo. Check the unit's specifications.

The idea is right, just the size of the power supply may need to be larger. I've heard of people using AT computer power supplies. They put out about 10-15Amps form memory and should do the job.

If you know how to wire it to a car, what is the problem with a battery? The only difference you will have is that you wont have an accessories wire or output (switched by the car key)

In that case the ACC (usually red) and +POS (usually yellow) wires are both connected to the battery's positive terminal and the radio is switched on and off manually using the radios own on/off switch. If you switch it off at the power source, you will lose the memory settings every time.

[Buzza]

Mains can cause a hum and other noises to occur to spoil your listening pleasure. This comes from most transformers. Years back, we used to wire up a car battery to a small 12V battery charger, and hook up a 12V CB indoors. When the battery ran down we just flipped the power on to recharge it. The battery seemed to prevent the hums coming through.

For a camper or caravan, I'd suggest going for the dual battery set-up available these days, with the secondary battery in a purpose built box in (or on the towbar) of the camper. SWMBO and I have spent years on the road in a van with one of these. You never need to switch anything, and after a couple of kilometres running along the highway, both batteries are fully topped up.