I got the DIY bug again and was thinking about making a portable radio in an ammo box.  Just thinking some things out right now....does anyone think its possible to put a car stereo receiver in an ammo box and have it able to be hooked up to car power via cigarette lighter, and home power via power cord?  As you can probably tell, all I know about wires, electricity, and hooking up car audio is absolutely nothing.

My end plan is to have a am/fm satellite radio with speaker and ipod hookup that I can plug and play in the truck, or in the house......all neatly placed into an ammo can for convenient portability.  Is this doable? What else do you think I would need besides the ammo can, stereo receiver, speaker, power cords, and lots of electrical tape?  Thanks all in advance for any ideas!

I saw one online about a year ago! I don't think it was commercially available but I sure would like to have one.

Tagged so I can be a copy cat!

Seeing as how they put a PC in one, I don't believe that car radio setup would be to difficult.  http://www.mini-itx.com/projects/ammobox/

 

One of my ham radios:

There is actually a thread going on in Survival Gear that is about stuff like this. http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=10&f=18&t=636280

That is what I had in mind.....how do you power that?  I am assuming you need something like a power converter between the radio and the plugs?  I am sorry for my noob-ness but I guess what I am looking for is a wiring tutorial or something like that.

I knew a guy that built a radio into a water-tight ammo can that was mounted on the front of his quad. hardwired with a battery back up, it was pretty slick.

Outstanding!  Checking it now....thank you.

Fairly simple.  That Pyramid box is a AC to DC converter.  It has a 12 v DC output which I wired to the radio.  I also have a pair of external DC terminals that I can use if I want to use an external battery or power supply.  Those are mounted on the front strip.

great....sounds like a good start.  Now, can I wire the radio to run off of 12v DC and 110v AC?  Also....do you think I need an amplifier or should I just hook the speaker direct to the radio?

I wouldn't bother with an amp, you're not exactly going for a hi-fi setup here.