Old radio ideas

[MikeParker]

Thanks Phil. Do you have any details? That is definitely something I'm interested in.

[Alacrity]

I did call the ClassicCarStereos mentioned above by Alacrity, but the sales guy had no idea about power or settings and said that all the engineers who would know were not in the office and not contactable because of Covid!

Mike

I emailed them as I am planning to use this radio & this is their reply:

"Hi Geoff,

Our classic radios don't draw any power providing you connect the power supplies to a permanent power supply and switched power supply as per the instructions.

They have a non volatile memory so even if you disconnect the battery then all the previous settings will be remembered. The permanent power supply is used to power the internal amplifier and circuitry when the unit is powered up.

Hope this answer your question.

Regards,


David."

[Andrew S]

Can you buy any converters for modern units to make them non volatile

[Alacrity]

I replied to David from CCS to thank him for his reply & told him I had shared his reply here & he replied:

"Brilliant , thank you.

It may also be worth mentioning ( if your members aren't aware already ) that we have a 7 x 5 inch DVC speaker that can be fitted into the dashboard aperture and allows a left and right output from a stereo radio to be connected.
It is a bit fiddly to fit but sounds really good and means that you don't have to cut any panels in the vehicle to accommodate separate speakers .

Regards,

David."

May be of help to someone.

[MikeParker]

Alacrity,

Thanks for that. It would still be good to know the actual consumption on the permanent power supply with the unit off. I have been down this path before and been assured there was "no" consumption, but no consumption turned out to be 15mA. Will it work without the permanent power connected? I did contact them just now only to be told that David had been furloughed.

Mike

[Alacrity]

As I say, I emailed them & they respond to them. He states it draws no current, so maybe email them.

[MikeParker]

I have emailed them to make sure. But thinking about it, you could simply power the whole unit off switched power( i..e the "permanent power" as well as the switched power feed). They do confirm that the unit does not forget its settings through power down, so it should be fine.

[DJT]

Is this really a problem? In the past (when I was one of the working class ) I used to leave my Stag in the garage for up to 6 weeks at a time and never returned to find there was insufficient battery energy to start the car with ease. If it is a problem, why not use a trickle charger?

[MikeParker]

Dave,

My Stag generally does not get used from November through to March to avoid damp and salt. I can, of course disconnect the battery or use a trickle charger, but it would be good not to have to. The main thing about my current radio/cd unit is that it forgets everything when you disconnect the power. That includes display colour, knob colour, audio setup (EQ etc), station presets and so on. Cycle the power and it comes up in Demo mode as a multi-coloured mass of flashing lights. It then takes 5 minutes to set it all up!

[DJT]

Dave,

My Stag generally does not get used from November through to March to avoid damp and salt. I can, of course disconnect the battery or use a trickle charger, but it would be good not to have to. The main thing about my current radio/cd unit is that it forgets everything when you disconnect the power. That includes display colour, knob colour, audio setup (EQ etc), station presets and so on. Cycle the power and it comes up in Demo mode as a multi-coloured mass of flashing lights. It then takes 5 minutes to set it all up!

Mike,

That sounds the same as the one in my car. Had to reset everything last week after refitting my steering column as I’d disconnected the battery when I removed it before Christmas.

Don't forget that the clock, if fitted, will also draw current.

[Babord]

I have a Blaupunkt radio from the late 1960s/early 1970s that I want to use to replace the ugly modern unit that came with the car. The Blaupunkt does not work (problems with AF and RF circuits) so I thought I would throw away the insides and replace with a modern FM receiver board, amplifier and maybe also bluetooth, all fitted within the original unit. Aurora design offer a great range of products for this, but unfortunately you can only buy them as part of a fitting service from one of their dealers. In the UK this is £450 for the basic radio and extra for bluetooth etc. Crazy expensive given the cost of the electronics, so I have just ordered a few things from AliExpress to experiment with. This included a complete FM receiver on a board for less than €2! I also ordered a couple of bluetooth and Aux enabled amplifiers for a few more euros so I can connect and stream from an iPhone. No idea how this will work out but for the sake of a few euros I thought I would give it a try. Has anyone else already tried something like this?

[RobinLegin]

Any one using the old crystal sets with wire around the radiator?

[MikeParker]

I have heard good things about these, thinking of putting one in mine. https://www.classiccarstereo.co.uk/c...unt-dab-radio/

I have heard back from Andrew at ClassCarStereos about the "off" battery drain of their radios.


Hi Mike, We have carried out tests on our Classic 200 and Vintage 100 radios and can confirm that the standby current consumption is 2 ma. Hope this answers your question.
Regards,
David.

So, with an old battery at say 20AHr capacity that is over a year to flatten the battery. OK I think! I was interested also in a car radio with CD player. Apparently the Blaupunkt supplied by the same firm has non-volatile storage of settings and consumption as follows:

Hi Mike,

I have just got the information on the Blaupunkt head units and the current draw when powered off is less that 3.5 ma.

Regards,
David

So at least 6 months before your battery goes flat for those.

Credit to David at ClassicCarStereos for doing the tests. Not many suppliers would go to that much trouble.

Mike