lets say you bought a car deck but you want to test it out INDOORS.. what is the best way to supply power to it?

Could i just use a car battery and connect the positive and negative wires to the appropriate terminals?...

thanks

 

Best way is a real AC-DC power supply. It converts 120 into 12v (really most are 13.8, your car is above 14 when on). The better ones acutally regulate the power to exactly the specified voltage.

I personally have an Astron RS-7A, about a $70 unit, 5amps. Regulated +/- 0.05.
http://www.astroncorp.com/linear.shtml

Radio Shack carries some that are cheaper, should do what you want. A 3 amp (continuous) should be enough to turn the radio on and test at low volume.

For testing, the above units should be fine. However, if you want to actually use the unit, esp at louder volumes - many aftermarket stereos can pull up to 20 amps - so you'll need quite a large (and expen$ive) power supply.

When you do this, also remember that you'll need to hook up a postive and negative supply to the radio, and also hookup the 12v trigger that actually tells the radio that the car is on. Just attach that wire with the positve wire.

I would not reccomend using any car battery indoors. Too dangerous, even "gel cells".

 

Thanks..

I just want to test if the unit powers on..

I have a RCA universal ac/dc adapter.. will it work?

Here are the specs

Input of 120VAC 60hz 7W
Output: adjustable from ---> DC 1.5/3/4.5/6/7.5/9/12V

it also has a polarity switch which can be changed from (-) to (+)

It has multiple plugs also, including one for the rectangular shaped battery.

If this will work, someone please let me know how to connect this to my deck. so i can test powering it on indoors.

Thanks

 

That unit is probably too weeny, you'll prob damage it (most don't have any sort of current limiting). Why not just take it out in the garage and stick it to your car battery then?