I've been wanting tuneage in my car for a while but I keep it on 6 volt. I'm thinking about getting one of these converters to run a stereo, amp, speakers, all that. Anyone do this, run into any issues? Wiring problems, generator load? CONVERTERS: http://www.pressenter.com/~cmeyer/
I bought an upconverter for my 6 volt car. It was a snap to install, one wire. Works good and does not draw at all. Everything was simple and straight forward.
My question would be, do you have to isolate everything when using a positive ground system? I've got a converter like this but I can't use it on my positive ground Mopar without insulating every component from the body due to the ground, big hassle. Another HAMBer suggested I could add a headphone jack to my stock radio and I could plug an MP3 player into it, that's what I want to do, less messing around that way.
Unless you get a converter that will take 6V pos ground and convert to 12V neg ground you will have to isolate everything from the car and radio grounds. Most people forget all about the antenna being grounded too. Check back with me (PM me) in a few weeks and I will have one ready to sell.
The converters I linked in my first post do 6V + and 6V - ground. I would probably just wire it straight to just an ipod input and amp. My antennae is just for show anyway.
Linked in my first post. There are more expensive ones out there. Combine with this info http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=243821&highlight=ipod Do you need an inline fuse from battery to converter?
My dad put a 12 volt battery in a battery box behind the spare in the trunk years ago, just for the radio. an occasional charge always worked fine for him. I now question/ worry about that grounding issue... well, so far so good. Dad also said back in the old days, guys would run alternators off of the driveshaft. sounds crazy to me....
A separate "stand alone" 12 volt system for your car with a second alternator/or generator and battery would be a possibility, even engine driven alternator as long as the polarity is the same, you could use the vehicle as a ground. The car would then be just a host. For your stereo it will work fine, but they are mostly only rated for no more than 10 amps. Stereo and speakers yes, amp nope, unless you buy one of those expensive ones that will handle the amp load you are desiring to run your stereo's amplifier.
" · Input Voltage: 4 to 8 Volts DC · Output Voltage: 13.5 Volts DC · Output Current 6 Amps" How many output voltage/amps is needed to run a decent amp?
If you want "THUMP" you will need 40+ amps for the amp alone. If you just want loud you'll still need at least 10 amps of current.
The alternator/driveshaft idea is sounding cooler http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=89519&showall=1 Or maybe running an alternator on the same belt as the generator?
Did you know that you can run a 6v positive ground radio in reverse? If your radio still has a mechanical vibrator and not a solid state one then polarity won't be a problem. Tubes don't care but solid state electronics do care. I ran the 6v radio from my 52 f1 in reverse and no problems. Can convert car to 12v neg ground then get a voltage reducer to run the radio. Can also get solid state vibrators that are the opposite polarity than what you have now. No need to mess with isolating the grounds. Of course the radio can be converted to 12v as well.
I am an electrical engineer and designed the unit mentioned in the first post. This design has been in production for over 5 years. I have a ISO 9000 contract manufacture build them for me. With over 400 units sold, I have had only one return, and the problem with that unit has not been determined yet. (it works on the tech bench) Converters are great for people that want to add a radio, LED lights, GPS or cell phone charger to their 6 Volt vehicle. When you go over the 100 Watt load range, it makes more sense to convert the vehicle to 12 Volts. 60 to 80 Watt radios are loud enough for most of us. The Positive Ground unit has a maximum current draw of 6 Amps or 72 Watts, the Negative Ground unit has a maximum current draw of 8 Amps or 96 Watts. With a Positive Ground vehicle and Positive Ground converter, you do NOT have to isolate the radio, antenna or speakers. I have many happy customers with Positive Ground vehicles and a Negative Ground radio working just fine. Send me an e-mail if you have any questions. cmeyer@pressenter.com
hi, welcome to the HAMB...look at the dates on posts, before you reply to them. If you look at the profile of the author of the post you are replying to, you can see the little tidbit . 6to12volt was last seen: Mar 21, 2009 . so it's really unlikely you'll get an answer from him.
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