Low Wattage radio

shortfatguy

I need a am/fm/noaa radio for my camp that draws low wattage. My current boom box draws 30w.

What do folks have? Anything with style?

mike95490

Re: Low Wattage radio

I guess it depends on how Loud you need it. C. Crane has some pretty low power radios, but they are pricey. http://www.ccrane.com/

Brock

Re: Low Wattage radio

I have a Sangean (cc radio plus)
http://www.ccrane.com/radios/am-fm-radios/ccradio-plus/index.aspx
in my office which is really nice. I run it on 4 NiMH D cells and it last 6 months easy with 2 days a week use and in NOAA mode. On alkaline you should get between 2 to 3 years on a set. You can power it from 120vac as well, but I prefer NiMH's

I am sure there are less expensive options. I also have two GE Superadios. They sound great but don’t have a NOAA alert. Maybe get one of those and a dedicated NOAA little radio? I know some of the FRS radios now have NOAA alerts built in.

niel

Re: Low Wattage radio

i think mike hit that one on the head because nearly any other radio capable of receiving those things will draw less because they won't have the large audio amps x 2 being your boom box is stereo.

mike95490

Re: Low Wattage radio

If you need boom box, room filling sound, look into purchase of some of the old 70's speakers, Big Cabinet, non-sealed sound box (reflex), easily get room filling sound with 1 watt/+90db. Much more efficient than 80db/W sealed boxes, but larger.

"Speakers range in efficiency or sensitivity from about 85dB (very inefficient) up to 105dB (very efficient). As a comparison, a speaker with 85 dB efficiency rating will take twice the amplifier power to reach to same volume as a speaker with 88 dB efficiency. Similarly, a speaker with a 88 dB efficiency rating will require ten times more power than a speaker with a 98 dB efficiency rating to play at the same level. "
from http://stereos.about.com/od/stereoscience/a/amppower.htm

High Efficiency Speaker Asylum Need speakers that can rock with just one watt? You found da place. http://www.audioasylum.com/cgi/etv.mpl?forum=hug

niel

Re: Low Wattage radio

so why didn't you tell him that going from 85db to 105db is a x100 differential? don't matter too much because it is still based on 1 watt of audio, but that would still generally indicate that smaller wattage levels will yield more volume to the ear for the 105db speaker over the other 85db speaker.

icarus

Re: Low Wattage radio

I use a Pioneer Car radio, with cd and Ipod adapter,with a Sirius radio adapter. It fills a 4 good speakers from an old boom boxes. The whole shebang burns under 1 amp @ 12vdc. With just the radio it burns ~.5 amps.
The other advantage is that it has great long range reception. I used to use a Grundig Yb 400 which was a nice portable but it didn't fill the room.

We live 100 miles from town and coupled with a directional antenna I get FM from almost 200 miles away. A fanfare vertical omni directional gets good reception for about 100 miles.

I was told that car radios have much better capture than most other radios, and I have found that to be true.

Tony

niel

Re: Low Wattage radio

it may be a good idea to get a seperate noaa radio and only use it when you need to as you can't listen to it while listening to your favorite am/fm radio stations anyway on your present boom box. odds are, even if you could listen at the same time with the boom box, the loud music could drown it out. even with seperate radios this could be the case.
the car radio is sometimes a good idea, but it is not a portable device. also, not many will be willing to go to the store with a dmm to measure the current draws on different radios and that's if there's a provision that you could do this without splicing into their wires.

Moe

Re: Low Wattage radio

Midland WR-300 Weather Radio w/AM-FM, and Date and Alarm Clock

Weather Alert overrides AM/FM
Operates off 12VDC or 120VAC w/AA battery backup
SAME codes and selectable alerts
External antenna capable