MP3 powered from bike - is it possible?

map · Mr Calendar Joined: 14 Jun 2004 Karma :

Just thinking if it's possible to power an MP3 player from the bike. The one I'm thinking of using is powered by an AAA 1.5v battery. The life of that is not that great (say non Duracell about 20 mins Shocked

).

So thinking is it possible to fit a dummy battery and then get 13v+ bike voltage down to 1.5v DC that'll also be smooth enough not to cause problems. FWIW to all those who'll now say bike battery/voltage is 12v, go put a meter on your alternator and read the output Rolling Eyes

Alternative I suppose would be a large remote rechargable battery pack connected to a dummy aaa battery in the player (if such a thing is available).

Had a quick look at the Maplins site but couldn't find anything useful.

Or is there an alternative player solution?
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finpos · World Chat Champion Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Karma :

The easiest thing for you to do is look in maplin/ebay for one of those things that you plug into the fag lighter socket on a car and is designed specifically to power electrical doofers like your mp3 player. They usually come with a selector switch for the output voltage (check it goes down to 1.5V) and a selection of connectors to plug into the mp3 player or whatever. If your mp3 player does not have power in socket, you can butcher the end of the cable to connect to a dummy battery as you've said.

An alternative would be to find a cheap car phone charger with a 1.5V output - may be a bit smaller.

Then all you need to do is get a fag lighter socket from a car accessory place, wire that into a swiched 12V supply on the bike and then plug in the power adaptor. Waterproof it and hide the whole lot behind a panel somewhere.

Possibly a bit bulky, but quick and dirty and it'll work.

Of course, it's a really bad idea to be listening to these things while you're riding, but I'd better not get into that.

fin.

sickpup · Old Timer Joined: 21 Apr 2004 Karma :

Use a drop down converter from a car based kit like this from maplins.