CarPC EZ controller or self-made circuit?

Hi guys, here's my story....I have a Mapower tiny pc carrying a VIA M series Motherboard (I think) w/C3 1Ghz processor and a 12 v power supply that came with the case (don't know what the specs are on yet but the AC-DC power brick outputs 12v@4A). I'm looking to set up my pc to turn on with a rocker switch (on/off) to give power to the 12v ps and also to send a "pulse" to the power button pins of the motherboard. I came across some "one-shot" circuits on this board using a resistor, cap and relay and was wondering if you guys thought I could simply get away by building this or do you think I would have to get one those CarPC EZ controllers? My thing with the Carpc controller is that I won't be supplying a constant 12v to the pc so will the controller work correctly? Thanks in advance for your advice.

why not just set the motherboard to "restore power on AC Loss"?

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Originally Posted by wizardPC

why not just set the motherboard to "restore power on AC Loss"?

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Can you explain this alittle more? Will this automatically turn the pc on after I shut it off? How about the initial time I want to turn on the pc?

That setting is meant to turn the computer back on when the power comes back after an outage. Basically, when it sees power, it turns itself on. If you shut the computer down, unplug it, and then plug it back in, the computer will turn itself back on automagically. This is effectively what you are doing with the rocker switch going to the 12v supply.

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Originally Posted by wizardPC

That setting is meant to turn the computer back on when the power comes back after an outage. Basically, when it sees power, it turns itself on. If you shut the computer down, unplug it, and then plug it back in, the computer will turn itself back on automagically. This is effectively what you are doing with the rocker switch going to the 12v supply.

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Wow, I didn't even know this MB has this feature...awesome info, thanks alot. Makes things ALOT easier! One other question, do you think the 12v power supply has a regulation circuit? If I wanted to just add a regulator to the 12v input, what would you suggest?

How can you enable this?

I'm intending to use an old PII 650Mhz laptop with a Pheonix Bios that doesn't appear to support this.

any idea?

check under the power options menu. it should be located there.

What a douf! I was sure it didn't have this but i just checked and it does. I've been using the :search: ;) but now i think about it - WOR is no good if the system is completely off - so maybe i will have to open it. :(

The CarPC Power Controllers do always need to be powered, but they work all the way down to 7 volts.

KyferEz