An Online Portfolio For My Electronic Projects
Stereo Cooler
Okay so I basically stole this idea after seeing it at a friends party. However, I think that I improved on it some. Basically it is a regular cooler with a car battery and car stereo / car radio built in. This write up should serve as a decent How-To build a stereo cooler (aka cooler stereo, party cooler, beach stereo, boom box cooler, etc).
It is perfect for car camping trips, tailgating, the beach, and basically anything not near a power source (including if the power goes out). I got an 88L igloo cooler for mine but any will do.
I chose to purchase most of my components online, starting with some 5.25 Boss marine speakers. I thought that mounting to the cooler was going to be difficult but after bending the supplied clips and inserting them behind the first layer of plastic it turned out extremely solid and easy.
The clip acts as a nut and washer behind the plastic.
Then I was able to mount the head unit and battery. I also threw in a 400w power inverter (far right) for small jobs and I’ll probably add a larger one later for larger tv’s etc. Above the inverter is a small battery charger and maintainer to keep the 115AH deep cycle marine battery topped off when at home. A simple switch panel at the bottom controls the charger, stereo and other components to the system.
Still to come is the marine subwoofer and amp, some 12v cigarette sockets and a solution to control the stereo via remote when the lid is closed. Just in case you were wondering why not mount the head unit through the cooler, I will be mainly using this car camping and It needs to be able to survive a heavy rain with no problems.
———————————–Update March 2010———————————–
This is the setup that I used for ~8 months. I have yet to find a good price on a 200-400 watt amplifier so I just wired the subwoofer as a rear speaker for now.
From West Marine I purchased a waterproof splash cover for the head unit. That allowed me to mount the stereo on the back side of the cooler for easy access. I lengthened the wires so that I can keep the sensor in the front.
The view from the front did not change. There is enough room on the front to move the current speakers to the sides and replace them with larger ones.
The cover is translucent and allows you to view the display easily while keeping any sand/moisture/water off.
Cover up.
The disconnect for the IR sensor that I moved to the front. This way the faceplate can be removed if needed without cutting any wires.
Here is the old “caddy” I used to help me cart the cooler around. It was made out of junk parts and was meant to be temporary but ended up being used more than I liked. It slid off and was ugly plus it was unstable.
So, I took the wheels off and made a K.I.S.S. solution. It only required ~$5 in bolts and brackets from the local hardware store. I reused the wheels.
Each wheel has its own bearing and is just bolted directly to the 2×4 with a washer to add spacing. The main bolt goes in through the drain plug and holds the 2×4 up to the cooler while the brackets take most of the weight. This ended up working even better than I had thought.
On the inside is a nut JB Welded to a washer which is glued to the cooler. When the wheels are removed you can put the cap back on the drain and no one would be the wiser.
First trial run. Very strong, doesn’t wobble or feel loose in any way. I can even stand on this end of the cooler (which also has the ~45lb battery) and it feels very sturdy. A nice handle on the end of the nut will have to be added in the future for ease of use. And perhaps a coat or two of paint.
View from the front. The wheels will probably stay on when no one will be sitting on it and on the beach, but can easily be removed just by unscrewing the one bolt going through the drain plug.
And from the back. Also the placement of the wheels give me more clearance when I pick up the handle to tote it along. That should be nice in the sand our outdoors in high grass/dirt.
At the beach, even in very strong winds it can be heard and sounds great (with appropriate volume levels considering any neighbors). Ipod on top plugged into stereo’s aux in.
Whats next?
- Tidy up the wiring and mount everything securely
- Fuse block and kill switch
- Switches, volt meter, 12v cigarette plugs, amplifier
- Cover for inside with mounted switches and volt meter
- Storage for cables
-Padded cushion top
- Cooling for stereo and the future amp
- Wheel(s) for transportation
Feel free to leave any questions in the comments or just Contact Me.
44 Responses
TM on 08-06-2009 at 2:30 pm
Just wondering….how do you ground the stereo? Do you have to connect the negative post of the battery to anything? Can you connect the negative wire from the stereo to the negative terminal on the battery? Thanks in advance.
admin on 08-06-2009 at 8:31 pm
Yep, directly to the battery. I went to Academy Sports and got two “Bus Bars” one for the positive and one for negative. Basically it is a strip of metal with screws in it.
Chiller on 08-06-2009 at 9:00 pm
I was just curious how long you are able to run this system off of the battery alone, and how loud does it get?
admin on 09-06-2009 at 8:51 am
With just the stereo going, you could run it loud for about a week (~168hrs) and it gets VERY loud. You could of course get higher wattage speakers and add an amp for the left right audio channels. The sound from this setup carries very far and is great for large outdoor parties / on a boat.. etc.
TM on 10-06-2009 at 8:22 am
About to build the same thing.
I’m using a MB Quart 2×60 (RMS) Amp and Two Kicker box speakers with 6.5 woofers and 2×5 horns that will handle 75 watts RMS (fyi).
I’m powering it with a deep cycle group 24 battery. Any idea on how long this setup will last?
Also, I’ve never had a deep cycle battery before….do you get an automatic charger and hook it up after every use?
Susan on 26-06-2009 at 11:32 am
What about cooling? Seems like the heat generated from the components would be trapped inside….
admin on 30-06-2009 at 8:38 am
@Susan, cooling is not a problem, all of these components are designed to take any ammount of heat, think about how hot your car can get in the summer.
Nick on 12-07-2009 at 11:26 pm
Does the receiver have any trouble playing mounted vertical? I have noticed that several stereos I have been looking at for my cooler say they can play “up to 30 degrees above horizontal”. I don’t see what else it could mess up but the c.d. player though.
admin on 15-01-2010 at 10:16 am
@ Nick, I was not using the cd player but have now turned it horizontal and mounted it to the outside so that the cd player is functional.
nx3xo on 12-03-2010 at 5:45 pm
Done this already, even with a simpler setup than this it causes excessive heat and will shut down the stereo or worse damage it beyond repair. you need to configure a way to suck in cool air and blow out hot. primarily directly on the stereo.
lulzdude on 12-03-2010 at 5:57 pm
not bad, although if you have the space it might be a good idea to build a box around the back end of the sub, that is of course, if you get an amp for it. either way its still a cool build. i did see someone do something similar with pvc and speakers on the end caps, was pretty damn loud espically on a river.
john on 12-03-2010 at 7:50 pm
if you looking for a cheap amp that just wont die the vr3 amp they sell at walmart
admin on 13-03-2010 at 12:10 am
@nx3xo
- No heat problems, Inside of a car dashboard in the summer is much much hotter than the inside of this gets. I’d love to see your build log.
@lulzdude
- Thanks, yeah I am planning on building a box around it but am waiting for the amp to make sure everything fits. As for floating it down the river, the waterproofing was mainly for rain, the large deep cycle battery may make it too heavy to float (especially level).
@john
- Thanks!
asdfasf on 13-03-2010 at 5:44 am
Charging a lead-acid battery creates hydrogen. Hydrogen and the oxygen in air is explosive. Charging the battery in the closed cooler is probably a bad idea. Charging the battery indoors even in an open cooler is probably a bad idea.
Scott on 13-03-2010 at 9:54 am
Solar Cells!
admin on 13-03-2010 at 11:12 am
@asdfasf I do keep it open when charging but probably should find a more ventilated area to do so. Thanks for info!
lulzdude on 13-03-2010 at 11:35 am
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.
William on 13-03-2010 at 3:39 pm
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.)
nx3xo on 13-03-2010 at 3:46 pm
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.
TBJR6 on 13-03-2010 at 4:15 pm
heat pipes leading out of the cooler would be a good idea especially if you add the sub amp
jeff on 13-03-2010 at 6:41 pm
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?
Timay on 13-03-2010 at 9:30 pm
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
admin on 14-03-2010 at 1:15 am
@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!
Timay on 14-03-2010 at 5:39 pm
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,
nx3xo on 14-03-2010 at 8:32 pm
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.
brian on 15-03-2010 at 9:06 am
Have you considered a large solar cell on the lid, or a rolled cell that you can take out and unroll on the lid? See website http://www.brunton.com for more info, might be cost prohibative, but you get the idea, a smaller one could be used for a cooling system/fan….
admin on 15-03-2010 at 11:50 am
I have but not on the lid, I am waiting to get a seating pad for the lid so that you can sit on it. It would probably also be better to have the solar panel remote so that you can place it in the most sun light. I hadn’t thought about the roll out type though. Thanks
702 Motoring on 20-03-2010 at 12:42 am
Really cool idea! I love it! Just need to add a solar power charger to the lid and you save charge time and power! :)
just my 2 cents!
Allen Jenkins
Moe on 20-03-2010 at 4:27 pm
any videos….
Matt Rosno on 21-03-2010 at 7:26 am
I did something similar last year and was very happy with the results. I did a 7 part series on making the PortaParty: http://mattrosno.blogspot.com/2009/04/portaparty-part-7-final-product.html
Alfredo on 21-03-2010 at 10:57 am
That is Awesome! How much did this project cost? I want to make one of these :D
Maury on 21-03-2010 at 8:59 pm
i know this is kinda old now so im not sure if youll still be looking for comments but i would suggest installing a solar panel on top to recover some of your charge while your out in the sun.. id definitely buy one
Don on 24-03-2010 at 2:26 pm
Where’d you source the battery? I’ve been unhappy with the prices I’ve found thus far.
As far as the solar charging panel possibility, I bought a pack of two at Costco for $20 that came with changable plugs – either a cigarette lighter plug or a pair of clamps. In your build I’d probably use neither but the included quick connects would make it nice. They’ve got a nice sturdy hard plastic casing.
admin on 24-03-2010 at 10:35 pm
Battery I got at Academy Sports. Thanks for the solar tip!
chris michaud on 29-03-2010 at 11:51 am
you could also rig a computer power supply for pluging into a wall while off battery supply…
chris michaud on 29-03-2010 at 11:58 am
i would also suggest the use of styrofoam out riggers for flotation if in fact you would use this device for floating down the river.
Ryan B on 29-03-2010 at 6:20 pm
so can u plug the charger in and run the system with having to disconnect anything (play and charge at same time)
thanks
admin on 30-03-2010 at 12:55 am
Yes, you can charge and run the system at the same time.
@ chris, I don’t plan on floating this but good idea. The computer power supply won’t output enough amperage to power the stereo unfortunately.
CountryAggie on 04-05-2010 at 7:55 pm
Do you happen to have a video you could post on youtube to show how it sounds? I made one out of a 100qt cooler with some marine speakers and such and still holds 116 beers! But a friend wants to build his own for cheap and I was wondering how your speakers sound because he can get them for about half the price of my Jensens.
Tiffany on 30-05-2010 at 3:06 pm
Okay so we have 4 6×9 speaker, a 12v car battery, and a Clarion CZ100 cd/mp3 unit. We feel we have made all the proper connections however the stereo wont turn on…and words on how to actually get the thing working?
p.s. no amp is being used.
SteveO on 03-06-2010 at 7:41 am
i’m building a simalar system myself (200W). I was told that I could use a 12v recharable battery like the ones used to charge a power wheel. Is this true?
Justin on 06-06-2010 at 5:53 pm
I just got done building one in a 48 quart ice chest. There is no need for a fan to cool down the head unit. I have run mine for a long long time to see how long the battery would last. It never gets too hot for the head unit in there. Like the admin said, heat inside your dash is wayyy hotter than inside the cooler. Admin, I used a lawnmower battery to power my 200 W and it lasts over 8 hours, however, if you play CD’s or have an amp(I don’t) it wears the battery out much quicker. I was wondering though where you bought your splash guard for the head unit and how much that piece was because the only one I found that will mount flush to the outside was $60 at BassPro.It was a Sony. I have to find one that you don’t have to mount through the cooler but only to the outside. Thanks for any help!
ryan brubacher on 19-06-2010 at 12:14 am
hey by chance did you use a deep cycle battery? or concersn with heat issues inside the box at the beach? thanks so much, im in the beginning of a build and I have a few dandy ideas..
ryan
admin on 19-06-2010 at 8:15 pm
I did use a deep cycle battery, There are NO heat issues inside the case at all, even I was not expecting that haha. At the beach the inside of the case stayed cooler than the outside air (in the sun). Good luck on your build!