Whenever I'm in the car listening to my favourite CD, it always happens; my batteries go dead. To solve that problem, I built this extremely simple regulator circuit. It steps down the 12V from the lighter socket to 9V which is used by the CD player. Different CD players (I have a Sony Discman) may require different voltages, so just use the correct regulator. All the 78xx series regulators have the same pin out, so the circuit is universal.

Portable CD Player Adapter For Car Circuit diagram:




Parts List

• The voltage your CD player needs will determine which regulator you use. For 9V, use the 7809. For 6V, use the 7806. For the unlikely 5V use the 7805. Remember that whatever regulator you use, you will need to heat sink it. The metal case or metal cover on the case makes a great heat sink.
• I built the circuit in a small case with the long wire to the cigarette lighter plug coming out one end, then another, slightly shorter wire going out the other end to the CD player.

• Triple check your wiring. You would hate to ruin an expensive CD player because you reversed one of the connections or hooked the regulator up backwards.

This tremolo effect circuit uses the XR2206 and the TCA730 IC which is designed as an electronic balance and volume regulator with frequency correction. The circuit is use full for stereo channels and it also has the ability to simulate the Lesley effect aka rotating loudspeaker effect.

How does the Tremolo Effect Circuit works:
Balance and volume settings are done with a linear potentiometer for both channels. If this potentiometer is replaced with an AC voltage source, a periodic modulation of the input signal can be achieved. This AC voltage source comes from the function generator IC XR2206. This IC generates square, triangle and sine wave signals but for this project we use only the sine wave.

IC Tremolo Effect Circuit diagram:


The modulation voltage can be varied with P1 from 1 Hz up to 25 Hz. Resistor R3 sets the operation level of the sine wave generator. R5 and R6 set the DC voltage and the sine wave amplitude at the output. C2 is a ripple filter. The square wave output of the XR2206 drives T2 and a LED to optically display the frequency.

The modulating voltage reaches pin 13 of TCA730 via P3 and R10. This input functions as the volume control or in this case the volume modulation. The degree of the balance modulation (Lesley effect) can be varied with P2. A regulated power supply using 7815 IC is recommended. Do not use a non-stabilized power supply since the current variations would influence the modulation negatively.