12 volt radios

[bluedog225]

The local meth aficionados are cruising the neighborhood out at my place. They broke into my neighbors house and took everything they wanted. Not a great situation since I’m only out there on the weekends.

The only electricity I have is 12 volt right now. Hooked up to solar, it meets all my needs.

I’d like to have a radio playing while I’m gone. But strangely, there seem to be no old fashioned 12 volt radios made anymore. The type where I could plug it into a cigarette style plug. I can get tvs, fans, lights, and every other manner of gadget, but the radios are not to be found.

The closest I can get is one with a USB style plug. But they all seem to run off lithium ion batteries. And I’m not a big fan of leaving something like that running 24/7 from a fire perspective.

Seems weird that these are not still around for the RV and boating crowd. I’ve tried both distribution channels but no luck.

There are several work-arounds but they will all be kludgy. Maybe I’ll stop by a truck stop. They sell this sort of stuff.

[Paul Pless]

inverter?

[bluedog225]

Yeah. That’s the last resort. Though a little inverter running unsupervised 24/7 isn’t great either. Back in the day, I could find 12 volt cigarette plug radios all day long. I’ve got a little sangean with a 12 volt adapter, but the tuner drifts. Modern electronics have moved on. Maybe I’ll get a little tv and chalk it up to the cost of doing business.

[lupussonic]

s-l1600.jpg

I have 2 of these in 2 different buildings + 1 on my boat and 1 in my van.

Adult, no annoying flashy messages.

Not sure mine are this exact model, but you can get it with DAB, FM, USB input, and BT connectivity. Highly reccomended.

Around 100$.

Just hook up to some car speakers and you're good.

[Garret]

What Martin said. Any old car radio, attach a lighter plug to the power wires (or hardwire it), hook up some speakers, and plug a car antenna into it.

My brother, a number of years back, did that with a high quality car deck & really good speakers and he had a great sound system.

[bluedog225]

Agreed. I can build something pretty quick. Though I thought my building car stereo days were behind me.

[JTA]

You could easily adapt any number of car stereos to work. Or you could look in the RV market. For example Jenson makes a 12v stereo that is used in a lot of RV's.
Another option is a Midland WR400 Weather radio. The unit has AM/FM features, so you could tune in your local radio. It either runs off of 12vdc or 5vdc, I cannot find the spec sheet.

Jack

edit to acknowledge the car stereo idea was floated while I was typing my response.
J

[Todd D]

There are lots of car and marine radios on the market. They are made to be panel mounted and require external speakers, but you could always build a box for one.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

Something from an auto salvage yard?

[bluedog225]

Looks like they do make little rigs for boats and atvs for about $100. Or I can get a little 250 watt victron inverter for about the same. I’d be pretty confident that the victron will not burst into flames.

The salvage yard would be pretty cheap. Be like the old days, crawling around an old wreck and pulling the speakers.

[Garret]

Wouldn't your Restore have something? They seem to have a whole lot of stuff!

[bluedog225]

Small electronics are strangely missing. I’m told they have different flavors. Mine seems to be mostly construction stuff. Maybe goodwill.

[Garret]

Small electronics are strangely missing. I’m told they have different flavors. Mine seems to be mostly construction stuff. Maybe goodwill.

Or craigs list

[Breakaway]

The local meth aficionados are cruising the neighborhood out at my place. They broke into my neighbors house and took everything they wanted. Not a great situation since I’m only out there on the weekends.

The only electricity I have is 12 volt right now. Hooked up to solar, it meets all my needs.

I’d like to have a radio playing while I’m gone. But strangely, there seem to be no old fashioned 12 volt radios made anymore. The type where I could plug it into a cigarette style plug. I can get tvs, fans, lights, and every other manner of gadget, but the radios are not to be found.

The closest I can get is one with a USB style plug. But they all seem to run off lithium ion batteries. And I’m not a big fan of leaving something like that running 24/7 from a fire perspective.

Seems weird that these are not still around for the RV and boating crowd. I’ve tried both distribution channels but no luck.

There are several work-arounds but they will all be kludgy. Maybe I’ll stop by a truck stop. They sell this sort of stuff.

Most, or many, at least, boaters use satellite radio. No reception issues as you change course or get far from land.


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[Jim Bow]

Son in law has a GE Superradio III. Its a basic AM FM mono radio with a knob and dial. Nothing digital. He powers it at 12v from his car.

[David W Pratt]

I'm sure the aforementioned aficionados could get you a nice, one owner, car radio that would run on 12 volts.