Car Computer in Stand by mode

**Evolution VIII** · 09-03-2006, 01:07 PM

Is anyone using their car computer in the “Stand by” mode? What is the computer power consumption?

**2k1Toaster** · 09-03-2006, 01:15 PM

Stanby works well for me, as I have an EPIA VIA board, so low consumption, and a deep cycle battery.

We can't tell you what power consumption is because you didn't tell us what you have.

But usually 1 day maybe 2 for most people with standby.

**Evolution VIII** · 09-03-2006, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Stanby works well for me, as I have an EPIA VIA board, so low consumption, and a deep cycle battery.

We can't tell you what power consumption is because you didn't tell us what you have.

But usually 1 day maybe 2 for most people with standby.

VIA EPIA SP13000 Mini-ITX Motherboard with embedded 1.3 GHz CPU.
1GB DDR RAM PC2700 Memory.

**2k1Toaster** · 09-03-2006, 01:28 PM

I say go for it, unless you still have a crappy battery. This will drain your battery considerably, and then when you drive it around you charge it, then considerable drain, and then back up, and down, and up, and down! Batterys don't like that unless they are deep cycle.

So:

iff (Evolution VIII has a Deep Cycle Battery) {
Answer = Yes;
} else {
Answer = No;
}

**Evolution VIII** · 09-03-2006, 02:03 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

I say go for it, unless you still have a crappy battery. This will drain your battery considerably, and then when you drive it around you charge it, then considerable drain, and then back up, and down, and up, and down! Batterys don't like that unless they are deep cycle.

So:

iff (Evolution VIII has a Deep Cycle Battery) {
Answer = Yes;
} else {
Answer = No;
}

C#
string Answer = (Evolution VIII has a Deep Cycle Battery) ? "Yes" : "No"

VB6
Dim Answer As String
Answer = IIF((Evolution VIII has a Deep Cycle Battery), "Yes", "No")

It's all funny…. However, the question of the day is: What tha @#%$ is the "Deep Cycle Battery"? My computer does not have its own battery. It's powered by my car OEM battery that is six month old.

If I only can leave my computer in stand by mode for no longer than two days it is not very useful to me. Sometimes I don’t drive on weekends.

Thanks.

**2k1Toaster** · 09-03-2006, 02:26 PM

A deep cycle battery is sometimes called a "marine battery", or "deep discharge battery" or a "YellowTop" or an "Optima". The last 2 are like what Kleenex is to Tissue. Everybody says, "can I have a Kleenex" even if it is some random generic brand of tissue. Basically Optima manufacturers batteries that are meant to withstand harsher punishments and barely degrade when being dishcharged and recharged all the time.

There are 3 main Optima batteries:

The one that you are probably interested in is either the red or yellow. (The colours aren't just for your pleasure, it makes it easy to tell which battery has what specs. If it is yellow, then it is obviously not the same as the red one. No more trying to scoure the battery for some mysterious manufacturer marking to tell what the hell it is)

Walmart carries them but I have heard that they are the bad ones. Could be rumor, but they are considerably cheaper there for some reason, so my suggestion is avoid the Walmart brand YellowTops.

So do this to your car!

If Standby is not good for 2 days, then you can use hibernation. Draws less power. Also you could get a SDC (Shutdown Controller -- built into most dc-dc psu's) so that it stays in Standby for 30minutes or a day, and if it doesn't wake up in that period, then power is cut to the system after that time. So For the weekdays, you start it so it stays in standby. Leave it Friday night. Come Saturday night, if it is not turned on, the SDC goes, "Well, I guess this bastard isn't going to turn me on this weekend..." and turns off all power to the computer eliminating current draw. So then on Monday morning, you cold boot it, and then T, W, R, F it is in standby.

Does that make sense?

**Snoobaru** · 09-04-2006, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Also you could get a SDC (Shutdown Controller -- built into most dc-dc psu's) so that it stays in Standby for 30minutes or a day, and if it doesn't wake up in that period, then power is cut to the system after that time. So For the weekdays, you start it so it stays in standby. Leave it Friday night. Come Saturday night, if it is not turned on, the SDC goes, "Well, I guess this bastard isn't going to turn me on this weekend..." and turns off all power to the computer eliminating current draw. So then on Monday morning, you cold boot it, and then T, W, R, F it is in standby.

Does that make sense?

Okay, this is what I was wanting to do with my system, except I was thinking that I had to use it in combination with HORM. But I don't like the idea of using HORM because I don't want to have to worry about enabling and commit/disabling it all the time. When I write something to the hard drive, I want it written "right now!".

Using your suggested method above (that is, without HORM), is there a possibility of the file system or OS getting corrupted? I just assumed that it wasn't safe to pull the power from a system that was in standby without properly shutting it down first, but my assumption may be totally wrong.

If it turns out to be perfectly safe to do so, I'd much rather use the method you've suggested here, rather than what I do now, which is to hibernate every time I shut off the car. I have the m2-atx power supply, and it's set to cut off the 5v rail after 2 hours. This would be perfect for those quick stops at the Pak-a-Sack. After more than 2 hours, it would just boot up like normal.

So, to restate my question, is it safe to just yank the power from a (Windows XP) system that's in standby?

Keith

**PORTUGAL** · 09-04-2006, 07:51 AM

I have my system in stand by and i never hdad problems starting the car.
I was on holidays and i left the car in stand by for 10 days, and the car started perfectly.