Looking to build my boys a boombox with stuff I have sitting in the shop.
I have an old vehicle head unit and speakers.

I have a little 12v battery
Mighty Max Battery ML12-12 - 12V 12AH F2 SLA AGM DEEP-Cycle Rechargeable Battery Brand Product https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00K..._api_i_ERdnFb8KF8M66

What do I need so I can run the thing off the battery but plug into the wall to recharge the battery and/or give power to the unit and bypass the battery if plugged in?

Or for simplicity sake should I just use a small charger with terminals and disconnect the battery to charge and plug the 12v power adapter in place of the battery?

I think a 12v battery trickle charger would work. Some of the ones on Amazon appear to have up to 6amp output. I don't know what the overall power draw is going to be on your portable stereo, but I would probably not try to power the stereo directly from the trickle charger. You may still be able to get away with trickling power into the battery while the stereo is playing, depending on the power draw.

I'd use a 1 or 2 amp trickle charger for that size battery, but that size battery may be too small to run the stereo for more than 30 minutes. How long can you run the stereo on a full size car battery (probably at least 50Ah) before killing it?

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I'd use a 1 or 2 amp trickle charger for that size battery, but that size battery may be too small to run the stereo for more than 30 minutes. How long can you run the stereo on a full size car battery (probably at least 50Ah) before killing it?

You must not have small children. 30 minutes would likely be the max it was used. They don’t really stay focused that long.

It’s a junk Chinese android unit. Nothing stated about power other than 12v.

I don't, but you didn't mention it was for your kids either. When I did, I used two of those size batteries to triple the run time on their John Deere Gator ride on vehicle. Nope, my 13yo boy, 12yo girl, and 10yo boy are no longer small. We still have the mini van though.

Well, at the minimum, 60 watts of stereo output would be 5 amps of 12v power consumption (amps x volts = watts). However, that doesn't take into account the power consumption of the head unit itself, plus power loss due to amplification inefficiencies.

12AH battery, probably only gives about 10ah of usable power. So, you could probably push 60 watts of stereo output for like an hour and a half, allowing for 30% overhead for the head unit and efficiency.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
I don't, but you didn't mention it was for your kids either. When I did, I used two of those size batteries to triple the run time on their John Deere Gator ride on vehicle. Nope, my 13yo boy, 12yo girl, and 10yo boy are no longer small. We still have the mini van though.

It says boys up there but guess I did not specify little.
I am very glad we no longer have the minivan.

May be a moot point though as I have been fooling with this headunit and it is on Android 8.1 and most of the apps say they need to be updated and when I try to update them it says the app update is not supported.
Not sure the Android version is upgradable on this thing either.
Also not connecting to my home WiFi but connects to my phones Bluetooth and phone as a hotspot.

So the project may he dead in the water any who.

Sorry, I completely missed it was for your boys.

That's a bummer. I always wanted to take an igloo cooler and install some of my leftover car stereo gear in it.