I know very little about CD players and audio equipment but I want to learn and this seems like a fun little project. I don't want/need any wonderful sound or anything. Just something that works and doesn't break too easily. I think it would need to be powered via a DC power source. How would I go about creating a CD player? Not from scratch, I would buy the drive, etc and make it look cool. How would I be able to hook it up to a smaller solar panel system? How would I be able to find all the parts? What parts are even needed? Please help!
It could be ideally a low power consumption device. I am thinking of a Discman or something portable that can be operated from a solar cell. Best and easyest is to get a working device and create a nice new enclosure for it. I would not touch the mechanics and electronics.
I'd suggest starting with a computer drive and play into one of those thumb size DACs like the Dragonfly.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/diy-cd-drive-based-on-a-computer-cdrom.17910/page-47
The computer CD drive should be able to run off of 12V DC. Power coming from the solar panel will likely need to be stored in a battery of some sort, and may not need an inverter if you have the right kind of battery. This is so your CD player gets constant power and doesn't act finicky when the light changes. The battery can then power the CD and DAC.
Alternatively, if you want plug and play you could just purchase one of those 'battery' generators that accept solar power input directly and have built in inverters and just use that to power any cd player of your choice.
A 3rd option...
Easy and portable is to use a discman with re-chargeable batteries and keep the batteries charged with a small solar panel, but you might need a controller to prevent overcharging.
If there's such as thing as a rechargeable portable cd player, which would have the circuitry inside for that managing the charging and match the solar panel output to the charger cord input.
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/diy-cd-drive-based-on-a-computer-cdrom.17910/page-47
The computer CD drive should be able to run off of 12V DC. Power coming from the solar panel will likely need to be stored in a battery of some sort, and may not need an inverter if you have the right kind of battery. This is so your CD player gets constant power and doesn't act finicky when the light changes. The battery can then power the CD and DAC.
Alternatively, if you want plug and play you could just purchase one of those 'battery' generators that accept solar power input directly and have built in inverters and just use that to power any cd player of your choice.
A 3rd option...
Easy and portable is to use a discman with re-chargeable batteries and keep the batteries charged with a small solar panel, but you might need a controller to prevent overcharging.
If there's such as thing as a rechargeable portable cd player, which would have the circuitry inside for that managing the charging and match the solar panel output to the charger cord input.