Factory Head Units Found at Flea Market...should i get them?...can they be of any use

[form109]

well...at a Flea Market on one shelf....there is about Eight...Various MFG Factory Head Units...(Probably Low Powered)..they'll probably be 1 Buck Each...but how could you use these outside a Car?

[Zero Cool]

Simple 12V power supply will run them. you will have to figure out the wiring of each. add an antenna and you have a small stereo system. they work good for garage, shop type systems.

[form109]

Originally Posted by Zero Cool

Simple 12V power supply will run them. you will have to figure out the wiring of each. add an antenna and you have a small stereo system. they work good for garage, shop type systems.

Thanks Zero Cool...BTW some of them do have a CD Slot....

also....12 Volt Runs them...but how do i make sure that too much current doesnt Flow...and Burn it out?...one of those Adjustable Bench PSU's seems good...but can anyone recomend a DIY Supply?

[ZippyTs]

Originally Posted by form109

Thanks Zero Cool...BTW some of them do have a CD Slot....

also....12 Volt Runs them...but how do i make sure that too much current doesnt Flow...and Burn it out?...one of those Adjustable Bench PSU's seems good...but can anyone recomend a DIY Supply?

Converted Computer ATX power supplies do wonders!!!

This is what I followed
If you do not need the other voltages just delete them. The supply i used has a 35a 12 rail!! Plus it cost me nothing

[tsmith1315]

Originally Posted by form109

...but how do i make sure that too much current doesnt Flow...

It will only draw the current it needs, so no worries as long as the 12V supply can deliver a few amps.

My favorite shop systems was a factory AM/FM radio with a pair of 4x6 Delco speakers mounted into cardboard boxes. It was done just to get some tunes, but worked so well we ended up keeping it for the year I was there.

Zippy's ATX power suppy is a quick and easy 12V, too. At ~11.9V, mine won't turn on some picky amplifiers, but should be fine for a head unit.

I'm looking for a Delco AM/FM only (no cassette or CD) if you happen to see one...

[ZippyTs]

I hit the flea markets all the time so i will keep an eye out for some.

Can always find that one guy selling a box full of faceplates and a table of stereos. Just dont ask where it came from

[form109]

I'm looking for a Delco AM/FM only (no cassette or CD) if you happen to see
one...[/QUOTE]

ill also keep an Eye out for one...

[poynton]

Originally Posted by ZippyTs

I hit the flea markets all the time so i will keep an eye out for some.

Can always find that one guy selling a box full of faceplates and a table of stereos. Just dont ask where it came from

Slightly OT.

I am that guy !!!! or was anyway.

Some 20-odd years ago, I used to scour the flea markets and auctions looking for 1950's car radios, especially the ones with tubes or early transistors.
I refurbished them and resold them at car shows etc for the enthusiast.

Many of the auction lots also had newer radios, tape players and so on which I was not interested in.
These I would take to my local flea market or carboot sale to get rid.

One Sunday afternoon, I arrived home soon followed by 4 members of the local police who wanted to know where I got all the car stereos from. Fortunately, I had receipts for 99% and they went away happy.



Andy


.

[tsmith1315]

Thanks guys!

[dangus]

Some factory radios had features worth looking for:

Chrysler radios with AM stereo; that required a synchronous detector, which may be worth retrofitting into home tuners or receivers for lower distortion AM (or AM stereo, if that's still being used anywhere.).

Any radio with diversity tuning for FM. Some Lexus radios, and various aftermarket radios. The clue might be two antenna jacks, if the radio doesn't boast about it on the front panel.


Anti-theft security codes could be a problem. A friend of mine was able to get around this on VW radios by glitching the power lead until the radio woke up in an unlocked mode.

Mounting a factory radio in a box with speakers would be a good gift for someone who's a fan of that make. Even ancient AM radios are worth using... add a 3.5mm input jack so it can be used with an external CD or MP3 (or build in a CDROM that has a play/skip button for standalone music playing).

If there's a choice, give preference to radios that come with the connection harness. That'll save having to scrounge one from a wrecking yard, and a factory wiring diagram may explain the colour codes and save a lot of head-scratching.

Final thought: cannibalize them for the rotary spring-return-to-center switches sometimes used for digital tuning. (And which sometimes have a push switch as well.) Connect them to a hacked input device for controlling stuff on a car pc (or desktop). They're a natural for volume control, FFWD/REW, etc, and not easy to find new. A Gravis Gamepad Pro encodes about 10 switches, plus two analog pots, and is a sufficiently horrible gamepad that it's no loss destroying one. Or just use the whole front panel as-is, wired to the gamepad board as a stealth controller for a car pc. Hide a USB, serial or parallel-port alphanumeric LCD where the tuning dial or display went.