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.

Here is the Coherer connected to my multimeter showing resistance.

A Close up shot of the Coherer shows the metal shavings (acquired by grinding on a piece of steel) are held between the two bolts inside the tubing. The piece of copper wire sticking out the side was just me playing around with different situations, materials, and whatever else I could think of. I do think that I have the metal shavings packed to tightly inside the tubing. I will try a less dense version later.

This barbecue igniter was purchased at the local hardware store with the rest of the parts. In my never ending curiosity I attached two pieces of heavily taped coat hanger wire to it. By bending them just far enough apart I could achieve a decent spark. By sparking practically everything in my house I was surprised at most. Certain silver and gold crackle picture frames would practically light up when sparked, I’m guessing the metal in the paint was conductive enough to allow this light show, check it out yourself sometime. Back to the project I then attached some copper wire to the bare ends of the coat hanger wire to get better range with it. That way I could be up to about 20′ away from the cohere and still see the results.

By attaching some more copper wire to either side of the coherer I noticed an improvement in the performance.

Here is a picture of the multimeter after spark. I have heard that if you use a small enough voltage through your coherer and measure the resistance that way, then you won’t have to reset it after each spark. Resetting it is basically thumping, or even gently tapping, the cohere to shift the metal shavings back to their previous state. When set off the metal shavings will micro weld themselves together, changing the resistance through the coherer.

Here is one video of the coherer in action. I noticed that the barbecue igniter makes the camera auto focus go haywire.

Videos

Notice when I tap the coherer that it resets back to no resistance.

I have no idea why the focus is freaking out.