I'm sure ya'll have spare decks and speakers in your stashes just like me. I figure it was a good short-term project to get me through the "winter" here. I did some surfing on the web and found some boom box builds and decided to embark on my own.
Here is the 3-in-1 power pack from Harbor Freight and its guts - a 17aH 12-volt sealed lead acid battery, a computer board, and various wires. ..
I decided to use as much of the power pack as possible.. the control panel, 12V power ports, USB charging port, worklight, battery charger, and the bottom of the power pack as the battery box. After hacking and slashing with an air saw, here's what is left of the case.
The various parts....I fabbed up a face plate (from an LMC patch panel) and epoxied the power ports to it.
The preliminary layout. The face is about 13 inches tall and 23 inches wide. I needed to buy an antenna since there was none in the parts bin.:
Built the box, cut and routed for the components. Then dummied everything up to make sure it all works. It's a $69 Kenwood deck with AM/FM/CD with USB interface... the speakers are $36 Boss component speakers (with crossover) from Walmart.com. The total cost is about $200.
Then it was blown apart for paint. Here's the nearly finished product. I've got some rubber feet and a nice carrying handle on order from a pro audio shop...
IT CRANKS!!!
Version 2.0 is already in the planning stage... I'm gonna add a cigarette lighter for the helluvit. And next time it'll be aluminum to reduce the weight. This puppy is a hefty 37 pounds!
