![]() The second thing was the advent of transistors. Mid-1950's, two things happened: First, the automakers got smart and migrated to 12 volts, and at the same time most all of them went to negative ground. That's why the speaker plug for Ford radios had three pins when only two are generally used. About 1940 they began switching to permanent magnet types, and after the war most all radios had PM speakers - but some radios were wired for that field coil in case a replacement might be an older type. On home radios it doubled as a power supply filter, but most car sets just ran it off the 6 volts. Yes, that dynamic speaker drew between 2 and 3 amps all by itself! How far we've come! Older speakers used an electromagnet, and that "field coil" drew current. Pre-war car radios drew about 10-11 amperes. If you continue using your 6 volt radio on a 12 volt car, using some big dropping resistor, that radio will still draw the same current as before and will still require a 14 amp fuse.ĭoug had a very good write-up on these radios, but I'll add to it. But we're not dealing with the original radio, but an aftermarket stereo. Yes, most 6 volt cars use a 14 amp for the radio, and 12 volt equivalents use 7.5 amp fuses, and this is generally because a tube car radio made to run on 12 volts will typically draw only half the current. It would be nice to build a case for it and sell it, but not currently.ĭoug has provided some great information, but I would challenge one thing - the 7.5 amp fuse for 12 volts. There's an HPC Power Booster available that I use in my conversions these offer up to 65 watts on positive ground cars and don't interfere with reception at all, but unfortunately it's not a consumer product. You will also need a memory module, to provide 12 volts all the time. Also, these can interfere with AM reception, so try and mount it away from the radio itself and antenna wire. Be advised it doesn't offer much current you won't get any 200 watts out of it more like 30-35. It converts 6 volt positive ground to 12 volts negative. There are a few places that offer these Custom Autosound is one. If your car is still 6 volts, it gets a little more complicated. Be careful with which fuse, as the actual power to the radio generally uses this path, while the ignition just tells it to turn on and off. For battery, find a terminal on the fuse block that provides battery power. For the ignition wire, use the wire that went to the original radio. First question: is your car still 6 volts, or converted to 12 volts? If it's 12 volts you should be able to wire it according to the instructions - sounds like your set has a constant 12 volt wire and a switched wire for the ignition.
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