Comments on: How to Build a Stereo Cooler

By: Tony

Tony — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:06:33 +0000

I built one following your instructions and I am loving it!! You explained things very well! One question I had was about charging. Do you have to disconnect the amp from the battery to hook up the charger or do you just clamp the charger up w/ the amp still attached? Thanks a bunch!
Tony

By: Jake B

Jake B — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:38:29 +0000

Awesome job! I followed your steps and made my own. The cheap 12V battery lasted 8 hours during our float. Not bad, but I ordered a cheap Solar battery charger/maintainer and it’ll blast all day now! Thanks again for the help!

By: K YoH

K YoH — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:51:32 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-9sy–GgQ4

GADGETS ON THIS BUILD!!!!

By: Jessica

Jessica — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:18:42 +0000

Nice write up. Pioneer and Kenwood always make decent products (IMO). You can’t really go wrong with either brand. Pioneer and Kenwood products are also inexpensive.

By: Keith Sibson

Keith Sibson — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:03:14 +0000

Never had an incident on the rapids, though obviously there’s a risk there. Couple of tips: use a medium large cooler so that it fits snugly in the bottom of the tube with a low center of gravity and won’t move around, and/or use bungee straps to hold it down. Most important of all though is that you hold the battery down securely. I use the cargo strap technique, but whatever works for you. Finally, the cooler lid should have a latch, the stronger the better and ideally locking (you will probably have to buy hardware for this). It’s difficult to completely water seal a cooler, but these steps will at least protect it long enough for rescue.

By: Darrel

Darrel — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:37:49 +0000

i am building one for an up coming river trip and was wondering how they hold up to the rapids?

By: Keith Sibson

Keith Sibson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:29:32 +0000

All, the comments on this page are getting too numerous to read so I’ve created a forum/board where everyone can post and discuss:

http://www.keithsibson.com/stereo-cooler-forum/

Please check it out and please post pictures of your cooler builds, thanks all!

Cameron, I responded to your question on the forum.

By: Cameron

Cameron — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 02:10:07 +0000

I am using a Pioneer head unit with (2) 6.5″ speakers and no amp right now. I understand how to wire the speakers but I’m confused on how to hook up the head unit to the battery. I see the the pos. wire and the ground wire. I also have acc. wire. How would I hook this up to turn the head unit on?

By: Christy

Christy — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 17:43:04 +0000

On March 22, 2010 Todd sent a link to a river radio he had built, that is the most amazing one I have ever seen. I would love to make mine just like Todd’s, is there any way to contact him about his radio???

By: Keith Sibson

Keith Sibson — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 16:46:22 +0000

Chris: funny you should ask that because I’m planning to build exactly that in my new cooler for the summer. The key is going to be waterproofing, and using smaller components so that I can still use a cooler small enough to fit well into a tube.

Mike: Brandon is spot on, you can “bridge” the channels for a sub; the manual that came with your amp should also have more detail.

Andrew: you definitely don’t need a head unit, you can use either or. Several people have commented that they get enough power just from having a head unit with no amp. My initial build used just the amp. You’ll need a cable that changes headphone output to RCA plugs.