A little background...I pulled the stereo and 6X9 speakers out of the Explorer prior to selling it. These are now sitting on my bench in the basement, collecting dust. The speakers are mounted in enclosures, sealed.

What I'm wanting to do is make a box for the head unit, add a power supply, and connect the speakers...all for the basement workshop.

I have 3 older desktop computers that I can pull the power supply units from.

Before anyone starts in...I know that smaller radios that already work off of 120 AC are cheap. I have those and they are too large for the small area I have to work with.

I think it would be cool to be able to get this working without putting out any money for it...since I already have the parts.

I know old computer power supplies convert from AC to DC. Which leads are 12-volt?

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

How To Make Your Own Bench Top Supply From a'n ATX PC Power Supply! (So Simple Anyone Can Do It! - YouTube

Pay attention to the short he inserted so that the power supply is in output mode.
use a meter to double check the output voltages

^ this, once you get it running, the 4-pin molex connectors should all be 12V.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

If I jump pin 14 to ground without a switch, I should be able to use the switch on the power supply to operate it, right?

__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Now I'm wondering if I can use the desktop box to house the stereo, and add quick connects to the back of the box to connect the speakers.

I figure this would be a good project for my son and I, and also a lesson in recycling for him as well.

__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Yellow wire is 12 volt, red wire is 5 volt.



Jumper the green wire in the 20/24 pin connector to any of the black ground wires and it should turn on.

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Yes'siree bob.

__________________
-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

There are some suttle differances between brands of how to make them work. Just find an article on converting whatever brand you have to a self standing power supply.

I just lucked in with no complications for mine at one time. For example some models want a load present on the five volt line before they will produce 12v properly.

Very rugged and economical items to use as a self standing power supplies.. If a guy cannot find one free he is not looking. Every junk computor has a self contained 12volt power supply inside. They produce other voltages at lesser amperages as well but few are of any use for the aveage guy.

They produce enough amperage at twelve volts to make a good car battery charger but unfortunatly the twelve volt output that is pretty well fixed stops them dead in their tracks for that application.

The more I think about this, the more I think it will work well for the space I have. Currently, I'm using the kids old Karaoke machine to pipe music through a bluetooth receiver connected to a tape adapter from my phone.

With this set up, I'll be able to have a more compact and smaller footprint for music, be able to load music on a thumb drive, plus the car stereo has a remote control.

I just told my son what I'm planning, and we're going to start later this afternoon. Hopefully I'll have something working well by tomorrow evening. If I do, I'll post pictures of it.

__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Depending on the size of the case, you may be able to gut it and cut the side or front for the deck. And if you leave the mainboard in place, you may be able to use the power button on the PC to turn it all on.

Sounds like a fun project.

I decided not to wait, and started a little bit ago. I chose the Dell Optiplex GX270 as the platform to start. Everything was easy to remove, only need remove one screw.

I found an online manual on how to remove the plastic cover from the chassis, and getting enough hands with screwdrivers inside is a bit interesting. LOL There 4 tabs per side that need depressed. I had one side loose, but while trying to get the other side, it came back down and latched back on...I decided to take a break, before I brake it.

Since it has a rounded front cover, I'll recess the stereo from the front a bit, since I want to mount it directly to the chassis in the front.

Once I get the plastic cover off, I'll be able to remove the front control board. I hope I can remove it without breaking any of the tabs...but I have a glue gun I can use if it breaks.

The existing power button is a soft touch switch, so I don't think it will work. I may be able to locate another switch at Radio Shack whenever I get around to going back up there. Their selection in the stores is nothing like it was when I was a kid messing around with electronic projects, making crystal radios and such.

The chassis has a switch that shuts off the power supply when the case is open. I had to remove the board to make room for the DIN size stereo going in. I'll add an additional cooling fan on the back to keep it cool, as long as it doesn't give too much feedback or static.

__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Well, I finally got the plastic cover off of the chassis, cut the DIN opening in the front, mounted the stereo and power supplies, and TRIED to cut the plastic on the front. I say tried, because it's not easy to cut plastic that is actually three different pieces snapped together without making it look like garbage. Not to mention that the front is curved with ribs supporting it on the back side, and at the farthest point of the radius, it's 3/4" from the face of the stereo.

I may go the hillbilly way and keep the plastic off and cover it with black duct tape. It is what it is...nothing more than a chassis and power supply for a 12v stereo, nothing more. Add to that the fact that it's for my basement workshop...I really don't care what it looks like, I'm not going to enter it in a beauty contest.

However...I do have a piece of 1X6 oak plank that is just sitting in the basement. Who knows? It may find itself to the front of the chassis, trimmed properly, and stained when I decide I have the time to do it.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Ok...green to black provided power to operate fan on the power supply. Since this is a Pioneer head unit, the red and yellow from the stereo are combined into one red power wire. Red is switched and yellow is constant for Pioneers.

So the yellow Molex wire is 12+, and the one next to it is it's ground, correct? So, in theory, I only need to hook up the red power wire from the stereo to the yellow molex, and black to black...right?

The stereo has a 10A fuse on the back, but I'm putting another inline fuse just in case.

I remember some cheaper stereos in the late 80's and early 90's needing to ground with the antenna wire to power up...is this still necessary today?

I would use a multimeter on the wires to double check voltages, but we haven't found it since the move here...

__________________
1987 560SL
85,000 miles