I started working in a welding workshop and most of the guys have a setero or old boom box for the radio and just some background rhythm to keep you moving through the day.
I have had in my possession a Philips Radio, CD and Tape player. I know sertain parts are out of action but it has been years, I think it was the CD, Tape would also be an option to replace/tap into for the Bluetooth connection. I am not sure it has Aux in. Maybe I could modify both, make say CD Aux in and Tape Bluetooth. It has a selector switch for which you want.
The stereo can be battery powered or plugged in. We of course use the yellow, blue and red industrial 110, 240v and three phase plugs. So I could aslo buy and re-attach or make two cables for it, one normal 3 pin UK style plug and the other blue industrial 240v.
The stereo has a radio tuner in it so that would be great for work if anyone else around has the radio on, I can just act as a repeater for the sound. But in other areas where it would be quieter I could have my own music on over the Bluetooth.
It also has a âMega Bassâ switch, you know crap early 2000âs effects. In a work shop all sound is crap and you have ear protectors on anyway, so I would like to keep these effects/switches operational. Will have to work out where they are in the sound chain.
I can solder, have a dremel and all that. So this could work. I just have no idea to where to start, so any and all help would be great.
Stretch Goals:
I wonder would it be possible to replace the C(?) cell compartment with 18650âs? Add a USB charger board. Could also possibly make it act as a bank too to charge my phone.
I have old android phones, a Galaxy Note 2 and a HTC One M7 which work fine, M7 needs constant power now, Note 2 is network locked and due to custom ROM cannot be unlocked so to me is useless as a phone. So I could look into incorporating them into it and making it into a self contained/dockable music box with touch screen and a ton of memory on the SD card for my music library. Could also be a music streaming thing then over WiFi if I brought it places.
Sounds like a fairly straight-forward project. For starters you could ditch the outlet power, mostly those systems tend to use 12 or 24 volts internally anyway, so you could throw in a battery pack (18650 Li-Ion or whatever LiFePo if youâre worried about heat) you just need the appropriate regulators inbetween the supplied power and batteries, and inbetween the batteries and your batteries and boombox circuitry.
From the circuitry (could be a bluetooth receiver wink wink) youâd then need an amplifier to rock the speakers.
Amps are simple to diy but those can also be bought readily available.
The booster that you mentioned is just a low- or high- pass filter to modify the amplitude of a frequency. Itâs also super simple in design if you look it up, but for a diy project you could actually just leave it out.
Check out GreatScottâs channel on yt, he plays around with this kind of stuff.
Yup yup. But I would like to keep both. I have an idea, but I will show the box when I get home tomorrow. It is set up how I like it all ready. It has a removeable 3 pin UK pulg all ready, so I just need another with the blue industrial plug, then I could switch them when ever just swap leads. I have seen the guys do them before, they are the same wiring as a normal 3pin plug.
The circuitry is easy enough I have seen lots of YouTube videos about projects like this. Like you say the Great Scott ones and indeed previous projects here on the forums.
For the booster I just want to have it there to preserve the functionality of the original stereo. I am sure all three inputs from the original go to the same amp/effects stage and then to the speakers. So I just get in at that point and carry on.
What about the power supply? Are you comfy to mod the 110/240 volt setup?
If you know electricity and electronics then itâs no biggie, but just âseeing guys doing itâ ainât an excuse mind you, stuff catch fire and people die when DIY people make mistakes when it comes to electricity.
The plugs are just plugs and in fact is just plug singular. The plug it has now is a regulr one you plug in at home (3pin UK) and a two pin one to the boombox.
The new plug I want on it is the blue 3 pin one.
So it is no problem or risk to modify them, everyone is taught how to wire a plug over here.
For the battery voltage change I have yet another simple plan. I take a USB charger/wall wart and take the board out if it. Put it inside the stereo where the power comes in and it handles the regular 220-240v to 5v USB, which then goes to a regular and also salvaged battery banks input. When plugged in it is automatically charging the batteries in it. And when turned off it can run off the now charged battery.
So I am not getting into modding 240v really at all. Just changing the plug ends and putting a few pre existing pcbs inside the boombox where the old C cell compartment is. And put in a few 18650s connected to the USB battery bank controller. Nothing new under the sun and certainly not anything risky.
If (and I am pretty sure you are) talking about the UK then you are wrong, you need to be a qualified professional to wire a plug, legally speaking anyway. If you burn down something using a plug you wired yourself youâre opening yourself up to a lot of liability.
I am an EEE student and even I am not allowed to wire a plug without it being tested by someone with a PAT qualification first.
Remember that the tape and cd circuits may expect different levels, and you may need to scale the voltage to match if you replace the tape. Usually itâs as simple as setting the output level to about 70% on the BT receiver if youâre patching line (+4dbu) level into an input expecting tape (-10dbu). Iâve never pulled apart a boom box, so I have no idea if that will matter in your case, but worth a mention.
