mounting a marine radio vertically

[bprender]

I am in the market for a marine radio. I set aside space for one in my small sailboat, but the dash/control panel I built is more of a wall. There is not enough clearance behind the wall to mount the radio horizontally. <br /><br />It would be like normal, only turned 90 degrees on its side.<br /><br />I want to know if I can mount it vertically, on its side. Will that interfere with the cd operation? I suppose the cd player type would be the common loading type found in most cars. <br /><br />Thanks guys

 

[18rabbit]

Re: mounting a marine radio vertically

Often the only issues with vertical mounting of electronics in a case has to do with ventilation and meltdown. It is important considerations for things like amplifiers as the transformers can dissipate a lot of heat. The case is designed for the temp difference inside the case to cause convection airflow to remove the heated air thru the vents. Turning a case on its side may not allow the airflow to occur as it should.<br /><br />Meltdown has to do with, well, meltdown. If something goes wrong inside the case and things in there start to burn, will the melting discrete components (pc boards, etc) stay inside the case? If you look at your computer will not find any holes in the case below the power supply or any pc boards. A computer’s case is designed to prevent flaming residue from dripping outside of the case and onto carpeting and starting the room burning. If a computer should catch fire, the fire stays contained entirely inside the case. You will want to look at the sides of your radio/cd to see if there are holes in the case there. If so, I would take this into consideration if considering mounting vertically.

 

[amirm]

Re: mounting a marine radio vertically

The manual should stipulate if the unit can be mounted vertically. Many units can be mounted that way but not all. As you suspect, the CD player mechanism is the usual calprit.<br /><br />Rabbit also makes good points in that if the unit is not designed to run in a vertical position and you still do it, heat could rise in a different way, leading to shorter life of some components (output transistors/IC come to mind). I doubt that there is risk of fire if you put the proper fuse in the though.<br /><br />Amir

 

[waterone1@aol.com]

Re: mounting a marine radio vertically

You are asking for problems with the CD drive. The spindle has to access the center of the cd to turn it, that may not happen in this case. The loading mechanism may also have a problem trying to eject the CD if it gets off center.