Hi,
I want to turn a car stereo into a radio for our house. What I really want is a good AM radio receiver, and it turns out that most car stereos have much better AM receivers than any other radio out there (trust me, I've tried everything from expensive "super radios" to running a wire antenna way up a tree). And I don't want to invest in satellite radio. I can't get any good AM reception in any of our in-house radios, but I get great reception in my car when it's parked right out in front of our house.
I happen to have an old car stereo and have thought that I could hook it up to a 12V transformer, an antenna and some speakers and see if this setup works as an AM radio for the house. What I need help with is wiring the radio for AC power. I have an old 12V wall wart transformer, and I think all I need to do is properly sodder the wires from the radio's wiring harness to the correct wires on the AC transformer, right?
(And yes, I understand that I risk shocking myself, popping a breaker or bricking the radio with this project - I've done other similar projects and had all those things happen before : )
Assuming my plan will work, which wires should I hook up in what manner? The wiring harness on the radio will have three wires that I think I care about:
(Other wires include blue/white amp turn on, blue power antenna, orange dimmer and a bunch of speaker wires, none of which matter for the power.)
Anyone have any thoughts on how those three wires should be soddered to the wall wart wires?
Anyone else have any other gotchas that I should be thinking about?
Thanks for any assistance.
I want to turn a car stereo into a radio for our house. What I really want is a good AM radio receiver, and it turns out that most car stereos have much better AM receivers than any other radio out there (trust me, I've tried everything from expensive "super radios" to running a wire antenna way up a tree). And I don't want to invest in satellite radio. I can't get any good AM reception in any of our in-house radios, but I get great reception in my car when it's parked right out in front of our house.
I happen to have an old car stereo and have thought that I could hook it up to a 12V transformer, an antenna and some speakers and see if this setup works as an AM radio for the house. What I need help with is wiring the radio for AC power. I have an old 12V wall wart transformer, and I think all I need to do is properly sodder the wires from the radio's wiring harness to the correct wires on the AC transformer, right?
(And yes, I understand that I risk shocking myself, popping a breaker or bricking the radio with this project - I've done other similar projects and had all those things happen before : )
Assuming my plan will work, which wires should I hook up in what manner? The wiring harness on the radio will have three wires that I think I care about:
- red switched 12 volts
- yellow constant 12 volts (usually hooks up the vehicle battery to maintain stereo memory)
- black ground
(Other wires include blue/white amp turn on, blue power antenna, orange dimmer and a bunch of speaker wires, none of which matter for the power.)
Anyone have any thoughts on how those three wires should be soddered to the wall wart wires?
Anyone else have any other gotchas that I should be thinking about?
Thanks for any assistance.