can I use a jump starter kit to power car head unit for shop radio

Hey guys- first time posting in the Electrical section but could use some help as a newbie. I've recently upgrade the head unit in my truck and would like to use the old head unit as a garage/shop radio setup to power some speakers I have and also double as a bench test power supply unit. I have some questions regarding setting something like this up. I know that i'll need a power supply and was wondering if I could u use a portable jump starter kit for the source as it’s 12v power ? Would like to know if I could use something like this Harbor Freight jump kit/power supply. My dad has this unit in his garage and used it to test out some new flasher lights that he wants to put on his truck. I figured if it's good for that then possibly it could be used in my application. But I wanted to ask the experts first.

Here's a link to the jump starter kit unit and picture.
OR:

Thanks so much in advance.

 

It's possible, those have a 12v lighter socket. Not sure how much current it'll put out or for how long though, should be in the manual. How does that thing get charged? If the charger puts out less power than the stereo takes, it'll run the battery down even if it's plugged in.


At a shop I worked at we had a car stereo hooked to a battery which was on a charger. Worked great.

 

Was planning on connecting the positive and accessory wires to the positive (red) cable, and the black ground wire to the black cable on the unit. Wasn’t planning to use the cigarette lighter socket for wiring. Was that what you were thinking would be needed? Instead of just using the cables ?

And if so, how would u go about doing that ?

 

It might work that way. Some of the jump packs have smarts in them that keep you from hooking them up backwards and won't energize the big cables until they sense they're hooked to something with the right voltage and polarity.


I'd get a cigarette lighter plug and wire the radio to that. They usually carry them at Auto parts stores.

$8 YONHAN Cigarette Lighter Male Plug 12V Fused Replacement 2 Pack, Male Cigarette Lighter Plug Adapter with Leads & LED Light, 12v Plug Connector Socket 1FT 16AWG Extension Cable with 15A Fuse

https://www.amazon.com/YonHan-Repla...=cigarette+lighter+plug&qid=1585586881&sr=8-3


You'll want to hook both the power wire and the turn on wire to the center pin, and the ground to the other pin.

 

yup this will work and this is how I would reccomend it

 

Thanks guys- is the reason for using the cigarette lighter socket kit plug so that u won’t have to use the cables and it would be a cleaner way to wire? Just curious. I suppose quick connects or male-female connectors would work ?

 

Yeah, basically. Least chance of catastrophe. Whatever connector you want.

 

Thanks so much guys. everyone is so helpful on these forums and I greatly appreciate the help given my NEWB status! I'll report back and snap some pics of the product assuming I don't electrocute myself too badly lol.

 

Appreciate it guys. here’s a couple pics of the final project. It worked out great. Only thing is while I like the jump kit, I may take it back to get the smaller unit 3 in 1 bc it will fit in the behind the rear seat cubby and this one with the compressor won’t

 

Question: I wouldn’t mind having it to where even when i unplug the cigarette socket I could have some way where it would remember my settings on my head unit. Is there some way I could achieve this by Maybe a switch or something I could wire in line ?

 

Not real easily. You need some power to hold the memory in the radio. A 9v battery might do it, but you'll have to plug it in pretty quickly.

 

Well you've already done it, but look for a 12v power supply. It's basically a plug-in inverter. You'd run the power and ground wires from the the headunit to the power supply and the power supply plugs into the wall. A few years back I made an entire "system" on wheels with component speakers, amps and a subwoofer. It was my garage or whatever radio. Or what I have now are in-wall speakers that are run off a Bluetooth amplifier. It's cleaner and out of the way. And it jams on the rare occasions I can crank it (when the wife isn't home).