Wiring items to car LIVE cables ??

[nipper76]

Hiya people

Just looking for some advice...

my mum has a Stupid van that you cant fit a stereo into, so she has adapted, and brought a mp3 player. then we couldnt use the car speakers unles we got a amp... so she got a ipod type speaker system.

now shes happy.... sort of.

it all runs on batterys

ok... she has a car charger for the MP3 player.. but not for the speakers.... that only has a Mains socket.

now could you adapt the in-car charger and wire it straight to a live feed.... I.E Chop the end off and use the wire with a fuse inline, and a switch, so she still has a lighter socket free, seeing as this device is going to be a permanant fixture??

and same again for the Speakers...... BUT dosethis work in the same way.... as they only have a indoor charger, not a car charger. would they still power up??

many thanks for any help

Dan

[teamster1975]

You can connect the MP3 player as you say, or even get a doubler for the cigar socket to save chopping the lead about.
You're out of luck with the speakers though as they'll be expecting 240v AC and you'll only get 12v DC off the car
You could always buy an invertor but that would be major overkill!

[steve_earwig]

Edit: Half of post deleted due to Teamster being quicker off the mark

Can the speakers run on the charger without the batteries in them? Maybe you could use something like this

[V6Exec]

Or there is this.

[steve_earwig]

You could always buy an invertor but that would be major overkill!

That's what I thought but then it's not anything like as expensive as I thought and it would save all the mucking about trying to get the right voltage/current, and the "does it work with the batteries out?" and "can you even get the batteries out?" issues. 150 watts? You could run a telly off that!

[DaiRees]

I've got a 300W inverter that I use for my laptop amongst other things, 'tis great. It was £30 but that was a couple of years ago, prolly cheaper now...

[teamster1975]

I've always wondered what the down sides are to using an invertor.
Does it drain the car battery in 10 minutes or something daft? Can it overload the alternator?

[steve_earwig]

A) for every 100W the device draws 10A.

[teamster1975]

A) for every 100W the device draws 10A.

Ta, I should have read a bit further

[Welly]

I've got 4 inverters in mine - when we go out as a family to shows or parks etc. we can run the microwave, a kettle, a small fridge and a hairdryer. We're currently looking at a compact tumble dryer for those times when the kids get wet or whatever.

[teamster1975]

We're currently looking at a compact tumble dryer for those times when the kids get wet or whatever.

Would your kids fit in a compact?

[mjb]

I've always wondered what the down sides are to using an invertor.
Does it drain the car battery in 10 minutes or something daft? Can it overload the alternator?

Running a kettle on a 3kW inverter will do, but nothing I do would (oscilloscope, charging phones, gps, laptop, cameras, batteries, etc). The downsides are: 1) not a proper earth 2) rough AC waveform on cheap inverters 3) hideous mess of cables in the passenger footwell when in use ;)

[teamster1975]

Running a kettle on a 3kW inverter will do, but nothing I do would (oscilloscope, charging phones, gps, laptop, cameras, batteries, etc). The downsides are: 1) not a proper earth 2) rough AC waveform on cheap inverters 3) hideous mess of cables in the passenger footwell when in use ;)

Sounds like a worthy piece of kit, especially for the laptop! Seems daft having to transform to AC and back to DC to get the correct voltage!

[steve_earwig]

There was this of course, goes up to 1000mA - that'll be 1 amp then, or 12 watts, a bit lame if you ask me but probably more than adequate for mp3 players etc. This 150Watt jobbie would give a hell of a lot more versatility though.

[teamster1975]

This 150Watt jobbie would give a hell of a lot more versatility though.

Totally agree, especially for £15!! I'll be getting one of those!