Rubbermaid Cooler Boombox : 4 Alpine 5.25's, Pioneer HU, 35AH Deep Cell Battery

[choicewhitemeat]

With summer coming up and especially the Indy 500 (I live in Indianapolis and it is the greatest tailgate in the world) I wanted to build a loud stereo for long extended hours at the pool and outdoor activities (aka drinking in the sun). I went online and did some research and all of the portable ipod docks and stereos were just too quiet and, quite frankly, too expensive. I had a bunch of extra car audio stuff laying around and I began to think of what I could possibly do with it. It was in bad enough cosmetic shape that it really wasn't worth selling. I immediately though why not a cooler boombox powered by a deepcell battery. I immediately got to work.

Equipment

• 4 Old Alpine Type E Series 5.25" Speakers. I had them left over from a while ago so they were free. I used some old kicker speaker covers to protect them
• 12V 35AH SLA/AGM Deep Cell Battery by Zipp Batteries. You can always go bigger but the bigger the heavier and this needs to be somewhat portable. This should give me around 10-12 hours on a full charge playing at full volume. Weighs about 25lbs.
• U1 Battery Box from E-Trailer. Keeps the battery held down and protected.
• Pioneer DEH-1300MP Head Unit. Had it laying around and had a AUX and a decent amp which is all I need.
• Cheap Rubber Car Antenna from AutoZone (Cost me around $12 dollars but I had to get a longer machine screw to mount it to the cooler)
• Marine Head Unit Cover. Not necessary but looks cool and protects the head unit. Found one cheap on Ebay.
• Motobatt Waterboy AGM Battery Charger. I originally wanted to do a solar panel but the cost was too high and they weren't really powerful enough to charge the battery. This is a trickle charger to properly maintain a deep cell battery. I learned so much about batteries during this process.
• 12 V Rocket Switch to act as an ignition switch
• Cheap Voltmeter from Ebay to keep an eye on the battery level
• ATO/ATC fuse block panel with ground panel. Keep all the wiring tidy and fused to prevent failures. Found a good deal on one from ebay.
• Assorted wiring and fuse holder along with electrical connectors I had laying around. Used KNU 8 gauge as the direct leads from the battery. Overkill but I wanted to keep the voltage constant.
• Cheap Big Cooler. Found one for $5 at the local Habitat for Humanity Restore. Awesome place and a great cause.

All in all, I probably spent a little more than I wanted to with the battery being the major purchase (around $65 shipped). I probably spent around $100 but already having the head unit and speaker helped out a lot. Here are the pictures





The hardest part was figuring out how to mount things in an insulated cooler. The plastic is thin and there is really nothing for screws to grab to. What I ended up doing was drilling holes and placing epoxy down into the holes to turn the foam on the inside hard. Then I simply used drywall anchors and srews (probably cost me around $5 from Lowes). Doesn't hold super tight like wood but nothing is budging. This is where I would like to do some research. I also cut down on cost by running the speakers off a head unit and not wiring a separate 4 channel amp. I was worried about how loud it would get but it sounds great and gets extremely loud without distorting.



This is where I needed to get a longer screw. The antenna is meant to be mounted in a hole in the sheet metal of a car. However the cooler is probably and inch and a half thick so the through screw had to be longer. Just went to Lowes and found a longer one. Worked out perfectly.



I was originally going to do two on the front and two on the top but ended up putting the rears on the side. I wanted to leave room on the top in case one day I do decide to get a solar panel trickle charger.





Battery Box and Fuse holder all mounted up and wired to the terminals. Also mounted the charger inside in case I need a plug in.







Head Unit and Marine Cover all mounted up. The head unit holds itself in really well. The wiring was temporary just to see if the head unit still worked.






Here is the switch and everything wired up and fused. I will be posting more pictures. I'm waiting on the voltmeter to come in and I will mount it below the switch. I haven't had time to test it yet because it'd cold as balls and nobody wants to be outside. The next step in the process is breaking everything down and painting it. Here is where I need some recommendations. I have a ton of automotive spray paint and I think I'm just going to do everything flat black. I really want to do fleckstone and make it looks "classy" but I'm trying to go cheap and that stuff is about $10 a can. I think I will stick with the paint I currently have. More updates to come. I may have to wait a little while to paint until the weather gets warm but I will keep a detailed pre paint process. I heard paint sticks to plastic extremely well so I think just a little alcohol, cleaning, and self etching primer will do. Does anybody think I should pre sand a little?

[Chris Hammer]

<p>That thing is badass good work..simple and easy. I like it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Don't pre-sand...pick up some plastic paint.  Krylon makes one that I like I think it has a plastic chair picture on the can.  It works well and seemed to work better on plastic for me then regular paint.</p>

[choicewhitemeat]

<p>That thing is badass good work..simple and easy. I like it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Don't pre-sand...pick up some plastic paint.  Krylon makes one that I like I think it has a plastic chair picture on the can.  It works well and seemed to work better on plastic for me then regular paint.</p>

I appreciate it man. You have no idea how many people have told me this is a waste of time and is a stupid idea. I can't wait till the first time I bring it out when people are bitching about no music. I know they make paint especially for plastic but I have a whole bunch of High Performance Wheel Paint by Rustoleum. I think it should do the trick as long as I clean it and prime it.

[Chris Hammer]

<p>That thing is badass good work..simple and easy. I like it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Don't pre-sand...pick up some plastic paint.  Krylon makes one that I like I think it has a plastic chair picture on the can.  It works well and seemed to work better on plastic for me then regular paint.</p>

I appreciate it man. You have no idea how many people have told me this is a waste of time and is a stupid idea. I can't wait till the first time I bring it out when people are bitching about no music. I know they make paint especially for plastic but I have a whole bunch of High Performance Wheel Paint by Rustoleum. I think it should do the trick as long as I clean it and prime it.

If its primed it won't much matter...its gonna look good. When I replace the head unit in my truck or come across a cheap one Imma do something similar. I already have the 6 1/2" mids /crossover and tweeters laying around.

[choicewhitemeat]

<p>That thing is badass good work..simple and easy. I like it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Don't pre-sand...pick up some plastic paint.  Krylon makes one that I like I think it has a plastic chair picture on the can.  It works well and seemed to work better on plastic for me then regular paint.</p>

I appreciate it man. You have no idea how many people have told me this is a waste of time and is a stupid idea. I can't wait till the first time I bring it out when people are bitching about no music. I know they make paint especially for plastic but I have a whole bunch of High Performance Wheel Paint by Rustoleum. I think it should do the trick as long as I clean it and prime it.

If its primed it won't much matter...its gonna look good. When I replace the head unit in my truck or come across a cheap one Imma do something similar. I already have the 6 1/2" mids /crossover and tweeters laying around.

Ya you have a lot nicer of a car audio system than me. I'm getting a new car here soon so I may do the same thing with all my kicker gear considering I will buy all new stuff. It would be really cool to make a rolling one with my 5 channel, L7, 4 components, and my bluetooth headunit. Would probably have to get at least a couple of 3100's to power the thing. I was really amazed at how the cooler sounded. It was a great acoustic environment.

[Chris Hammer]

<p>That thing is badass good work..simple and easy. I like it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Don't pre-sand...pick up some plastic paint.  Krylon makes one that I like I think it has a plastic chair picture on the can.  It works well and seemed to work better on plastic for me then regular paint.</p>

I appreciate it man. You have no idea how many people have told me this is a waste of time and is a stupid idea. I can't wait till the first time I bring it out when people are bitching about no music. I know they make paint especially for plastic but I have a whole bunch of High Performance Wheel Paint by Rustoleum. I think it should do the trick as long as I clean it and prime it.

If its primed it won't much matter...its gonna look good. When I replace the head unit in my truck or come across a cheap one Imma do something similar. I already have the 6 1/2" mids /crossover and tweeters laying around.

Ya you have a lot nicer of a car audio system than me. I'm getting a new car here soon so I may do the same thing with all my kicker gear considering I will buy all new stuff. It would be really cool to make a rolling one with my 5 channel, L7, 4 components, and my bluetooth headunit. Would probably have to get at least a couple of 3100's to power the thing. I was really amazed at how the cooler sounded. It was a great acoustic environment.

That would be cool put too heavy lol. some 5 1/4 or 6 1/2's and headunit seem perfect for a portable cooler boombox.

[choicewhitemeat]

Now my roommate is a civil engineer but knows jack shit about electrical engineering. I have the switch fused with a 10 amp fuse. Then I have the accessory wire ran directly to the red wire of the head unit. Should I have that fused as well. Just seemed like overkill. I figured the switch would fail before the accessory wire from the head unit. I have a glass 60 amp fuse for the 8 gauge lead wire and everything fused according to amperage. Basically should I fuse coming off the switch from the ACC pin? Also do I really need to fuse the Voltmeter coming off the accessory wire from the switch. I'm going to have it coming on and off with the switch and measuring voltage from the head unit yellow lead (might end up switching that to the fuse block).

I have a couple more ports coming off the fuse block so I may end up wiring an accessory outlet so people can use their phone chargers. When I was doing some research, I found some absolutely awesome rolling coolers with two batteries and multiple amps with subs and such. I might end up posting them when I find them.

[Chris Hammer]

Now my roommate is a civil engineer but knows jack shit about electrical engineering. I have the switch fused with a 10 amp fuse. Then I have the accessory wire ran directly to the red wire of the head unit. Should I have that fused as well. Just seemed like overkill. I figured the switch would fail before the accessory wire from the head unit. I have a glass 60 amp fuse for the 8 gauge lead wire and every fused according to amperage. Basically should I fuse coming off the switch? Also do I really need to fuse the Voltmeter coming off the accessory wire from the switch. I'm going to have it coming on and off with the switch and measuring voltage from the head unit yellow lead (might end up switching that to the fuse block).

I don't fuse the accesory turn on in my vehicle...if you already have it fused before the switch you don't need it after. I probably wouldn't even run any fuses except the one that comes on the head units wiring harness...but thats just me.

[bassfreake]

<p>That thing is badass good work..simple and easy. I like it.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Don't pre-sand...pick up some plastic paint.  Krylon makes one that I like I think it has a plastic chair picture on the can.  It works well and seemed to work better on plastic for me then regular paint.</p>

I appreciate it man. You have no idea how many people have told me this is a waste of time and is a stupid idea. I can't wait till the first time I bring it out when people are bitching about no music. I know they make paint especially for plastic but I have a whole bunch of High Performance Wheel Paint by Rustoleum. I think it should do the trick as long as I clean it and prime it.

dude don't listen to a word those ppl say that is so epic! lol now I want one :-P I don't have a bunch of speakers and audio parts just lying around though so I would have to buy everything to do somethin like this and that's money I don't have lol

[ThreehundredC]

there have been some pretty cool fiberglassed coolers at local shows around here , all u need is some paint