Stereo installation 6Volt/12Volt

[celticml]

I am installing a am/fm casette in a 51 ford that is 6 volt operation. The stereo is 12 volt operation. I am mounting a 12 volt battery in the trunk and grounding it to the car chassis. This will be the power source for the stereo. The stereo shows a ground on one side of the speakers going to chassis ground. There is also a wire out of the stereo labelled earth ground. I am wondering first of all if the earth ground is necessary and if so where would it connect to. Also, am I going to have a ground loop between the 12 volt battery and the 6 volt battery? Not sure about all this. I thought it would be simple but started looking at it and just not sure now. Any suggestions? Thanks you.

 

[kevinkr]

I am installing a am/fm casette in a 51 ford that is 6 volt operation. The stereo is 12 volt operation. I am mounting a 12 volt battery in the trunk and grounding it to the car chassis. This will be the power source for the stereo. The stereo shows a ground on one side of the speakers going to chassis ground. There is also a wire out of the stereo labelled earth ground. I am wondering first of all if the earth ground is necessary and if so where would it connect to. Also, am I going to have a ground loop between the 12 volt battery and the 6 volt battery? Not sure about all this. I thought it would be simple but started looking at it and just not sure now. Any suggestions? Thanks you.

The installation instructions for your radio should make it relatively clear.. This must be a low power car stereo if it shows the speakers grounded as most modern car stereos use floating bridge outputs and should not be grounded.

The earth ground/chassis ground of your radio goes to the car's chassis, I would bring the speaker grounds right back to the radio ground even if they show them as being chassis grounded. Ground the battery to your car chassis and run a fused line from the battery + to the radio.

There isn't much more to it than this.. I do recall in the past seeing 6V to 12V switching power supplies for this sort of application advertised in antique car magazines and JC Whitney. (Caveat emptor said the Romans, well to heed here)

Perhaps Perry Babin has further suggestions..