Mobile Audio Cooler (pics)

I think this is GRM simply because I don't know anyone who hasn't wanted louder tunes when working in their garage, when tailgating for races, or hitting the beach, and since all the parts were sourced from cars (sans cooler) I figured this is an appropriate venue. After tailgating the last two seasons with a friend of mine who built one with marine equipment for the beach with a full headunit, I wanted to 'take it up a notch' and have one of my own, so the journey began.

I used leftover stereo equipment my brother-in-law, brother, and I all had from high school so most of it is dated but it still works great. That means a 4 channel 40x4 or 40x2 + 100x1 amp, a 200w RMS 4OHM 10" sub (driven at half power due to the amp), all the wiring including rca lines for a car headunit (now running into a mini stereo jack off an iPod).

Wiring and connectors were stuff I had laying around from the Merkur and Fiat wiring jobs and heat shrink on all connectors. I finished it off by zip tying and wire looming all of it and then securing the lines to the sides. I also used a swan connector on the negative terminal as my on/off switch, and I wired the remote straight to power so I didn't need a second on/off switch but I guess if I wanted to get fancy I could have wired the remote line with an external switch to kill it (something to think about). I run the rcas out the drain plug in the rear so there was a minimal of cutting.

I reinforced the sub hold in with a couple pieces of plywood to make a really big half washer. The only things I did buy were the 5.25" Sony 35W speaker set from Walmart for $35. I'm using the battery out of the Fiat (81 Amp Hr) while I'm not using it so the battery is free too. I'm all in a total of $70 including the $30 Coleman Cool Max rolling cooler. If you were to build this from scratch you're literally looking at $400-500. The upside is it's the loudest thing on 2 wheels, and the battery lasts for hours. The downside, well you need to add weight to the top so it hits hard, I'm thinking a bag of sand...

The inside:

The best part, it still holds beer...

How did I miss this in June?

Nicely Done! I might have to try this. We are always looking (or is it listening) for louder tunes when on 'safari' in Wisconsin!

What kind of time do you get out of the battery between charges? You could stick a solar panel trickle charger inside of the cooler, get where you're going, and just set it on the top.

Update:

I've since added a metal cover to the sub to protect it:

I also helped a buddy of mine copy the cooler, since it was from scratch I have the total layout:

1) Cooler $30 (Walmart)
2) 5.25" Sony Xplode Speakers $35 (Walmart)
3) 80 Amp Hr battery $60 (Walmart)
4) Legacy 4 Channel Amp 2000W Bridgeable $90 (Amazon)
5) Wiring Loom $7 (Harbor Freight)
6) Swan Connector $5 (Walmart)
7) Battery Terminal $3 (Walmart)
8) Plywood and Wood Screws (Free, laying around)
9) Power Cable $20 (Walmart)
10) Speaker Wire $20 (Walmart)
11) Electrical Connectors $5 (Harbor Freight)
12) Heat Shrink $7 (Harbor Freight)
13) 2x RCA Splitter $15 (Amazon)
14) 20' RCA line $25 (Amazon)
15) Subwoofer metal cover $10 (Amazon)
16) RCA to mini-Stereo converter $5 (Amazon)
17) 10" Subwoofer $25 Amazon

Total Cost $363. Could you spend more, easily, could you spend less, yes it's possible, but that's a bit less than my initial estimate of $400-500.

BTW can someone move this over to the 'Builds Section?"

Make this one of the cars on a motor cooler train!

I'll get a pic up later tonight, but the originator of this madness and I devised a plan last year to make our tunes louder by daisy chaining mine to his, well then my other buddy got involved, and now we have surround sound at the tailgate pumping out in the neighborhood of 3000W between 3 - 10" subs, 4 - 5.25" speakers, and 2 - 6.5" speakers. The field we tailgate on both loves us, and hates us

As for power consumption, I've gone 10 hours without a hiccup (longest personal continuous run-time). The Originator has a 120 Amp-Hr big marine battery in his and he's gone a weekend on the beach without charging 8-10 hrs/day, my other buddy that copied mine with a cheaper Walmart battery went 2 days as well on the beach without a charge.

I like the idea for a trickle charging solar array, that would be awesome!

Who will be the first one to take one of those really big coolers and put a 1/8 bbl with CO2 tank and partition half for the sound system...?

How loud do you need your music, anyway? Going deaf is no fun.

In reply to stuart in mn:

WHHHHHAAAAAAT!? I couldn't hear you over my awesomeness

Wait, doesn't the heat from the amps keep warming up the beer?

stuart in mn wrote: How loud do you need your music, anyway? Going deaf is no fun.

I beg to differ, I seriously enjoyed going deaf when I was in my 20s and 30s. Lots of AC/DC, Van Halen, Ozzy and unmuffled engines. I had a blast.

It's later in life it's no fun...at least for the wife. It doesn't bother me too much.