Comments for Addictronics

Comment on Stereo Cooler by nx3xo

nx3xo — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:32:33 +0000

the reason behind our cooler was for camping purposes. youd be surprised what kind of sound you can squeeze out of speakers even as small as 4inch. then again you definitely need to make up for the lows with a sub of some sort. the battery power you could probly do something a bit lighter, if your getting 168hrs out of a car battery i think maybe 60 hours would best for practicality and would lighten up the loud alot. a friend of mine works for a electric motorcycle company and i got my hands on the type of batteries they use. there output is 3v at 2.5 per cell which is about the length of two C cells. its a lithium ion type cell. having a small trickle solar charger on there couldn’t hurt either, just use the cigar lighter power out as your charge in as well. overall i think your build is extremely clean and nice. hope my input helps perfect any projects.

Comment on Stereo Cooler by Timay

Timay — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 23:39:39 +0000

no not actual ice, like cool packs, and i don’t think from just the cold it would make that much condensation. but on the backpack the only battery that i could use that was sealed and had fairly large amount of playing time i would think i would get was from one.
ive been looking at the cost of parts for this and was wondering how much this whole project cost you,

Comment on Stereo Cooler by admin

admin — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 07:15:48 +0000

@William- Hmm that may work, Or put a pc fan on the stereo that comes on when it does. I’ll have to look into the optima but i know that they are pricey (and awesome). Thanks!

@nx3xo – That sounds really neat and versatile. Yeah I guess I should look into venting/cooling. Everyone seems to be pushing it more than I was on myself.

@tbjr6 – heatpipes could work, it would certainly be a nice effecient way to move the heat from the stereo to the heatsink.

@jeff- It was extremely straight forward, there was even a sticker on the stero with a chart for each wire.

@Timay – no, no ice inside the cooler, it would get into the electronics or cause condisation on the electronics and could damage them. I’d love to see a small backpack version but you may have to ditch the golf cart battery due to weight among other things.

Thanks again for the suggestions and comments!

Comment on Stereo Cooler by Timay

Timay — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 03:30:25 +0000

as for the cooling problem, couldnt you put ice packs inside the cooler, then since it is insulated, it should stay cold (until they warm up) and it depends on how long you would be running it for. btw i always have wanted to build somthing like this, but i was going for a backpack design for extreme portibility with a golf cart battery =D

Comment on Stereo Cooler by jeff

jeff — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 00:41:28 +0000

I don’t know jack about car stereos, but usually i see them with big ugly harnesses on them. did you have to do much figuring out to get this wired up, or just found the power leads and thats all you needed?

Comment on Stereo Cooler by TBJR6

TBJR6 — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:15:43 +0000

heat pipes leading out of the cooler would be a good idea especially if you add the sub amp

Comment on Power Inverter by William

William — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:56:03 +0000

If your laptop draws only 65w you need 2 times that to charge it and run the computer. My laptop draws only 95w, but I normally use an inverter rated to at least 220w just for heat dissipation. Using a higher power inverter also extends the life of the inverter.

Comment on Stereo Cooler by nx3xo

nx3xo — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:46:10 +0000

it was a cooler a little shorter than yours. it had a plexi divider so you could use half as a functional cooler still. it was a split lid design. so one speaker mounted on one lid and the other on the side like your sub. is was an optima battery, red top. driving a standard car stereo 4x 100 amp. which only powered two speakers at about 40% power. you could get about 8 hours of play through it. the audio device was just an ipod plugged into the rca inputs on the amp. temps would exceed 120F. but do keep in mind these coolers are extremely insulated meaning there designed to keep cold in as long as possible. with that said your kind of screwed when you have the sun beating down on this cooler with no ventilation. so instead of ice melting over time you have a box heating up until your battery dies or the stereo shuts off from heat. the best alternative is to remote locate the heat-sink for the stereo amp so it is perm mounted in open air.

Comment on Stereo Cooler by William

William — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 21:39:15 +0000

You might try putting some sort of heatsink for the stereo. Like running some copper pipes containing fluid to the outside of the cooler to a metal plate on the outside. (just to create some more cooling if you were going to add an amp.) Other than that, you might consider using an Optima Blue Top (marine) battery. (they last longer and can handle extreme vibration and stress, more so than your stereo. And are non-spillable.)

Comment on Stereo Cooler by lulzdude

lulzdude — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:35:07 +0000

lol, I didn’t mean to actually float yours, although it would be bad ass floating down a river in an inner tube. I imagine it would be loud enough to wake up all the passed out people.