19" LCD, How should i power it?

**gokee2** · 02-17-2006, 09:38 AM

thanks for the enlightment vairu. i checked out your carpc worklog and sure is impressive. i see you went with micro atx which is what i want to be installing in my car. for your case, seems like you ended up ditching the one from foxconn. nice customization on the case. i plan on using an amd 3000+ venice cpu but im doubtin that will work cos of the power needed to run it off an OPUS 150 W. ma bro said AMD gets hot fast and i can visualize it running in a case of only 1 fan. lol. temp gets up to like 32 C idling. lol wells great install overall. did u finally bondo ur lilli?

**vairu** · 02-17-2006, 03:06 PM

I haven't bondo'd it in, as for now my screen is still installed like in those pics on the last page (recessed behind the dash). I'm glad i moved it there for the time being until i could bondo it in because now i know that i want to have it permanently recessed cause it helps with glare a ton.

Also, i don't have a micro atx. That was what my plan was but for now i chopped up my desktop PC and that's whats running in the car. These are the specs:

Full-atx Shuttle AN35n-Ultra (up to 400mhzFSB)
AMD Atholon 2500+ Barton
Volcano 12 HSF (this is a beast, keeps the amd nice and cold but it is kind of loud)
512mb ddr3200 Geil RAM
120gb Samsung 7200 rpm regular IDE drive
Nvidia geforce mx4200 (some older 64mb card)
8x DvD+-RW rom drive
USB GPS Antenna

My Opus 150w powers all that AND it powered my whole system when i still had my ATi Radeon 9600xt as my graphics card. And also a PCI wireless card.

The Opus is a beast man

**sssssss27** · 02-18-2006, 08:03 PM

Does your friend drive around with it on? It says you are in Florida and that's where I live, my dad was just talking about seeing someone on the turnpike with an LCD in their back window.

**vairu** · 02-20-2006, 11:38 PM

Yea he does ... he doesn't have the screen in full time, only uses it like the week of/after a show ... or when cruising with the club etc.

I'm not too sure if i want to have one in the back window as of right now ... but i do want to have a setup with a 19" flip-down from the roof (for the rear passengers). It will be a VGA monitor and i'll have to figure someway to have the computer hooked up to it and a PS2 @ at the same time ...

Something else that i would like to fix is when i plug in an additional monitor to my y-splitter it dims my lili 7" like 50%. I guess this is from signal loss from the VGA signal being split to 2 monitors? Is the only way around this to have a graphics card with 2 VGA outputs? Or maybe a VGA for the Lili and DVI for the monitor?

My ATi Radeon 9600xt has VGA, S-Video, and DVI outputs on it ... would this work? I'm just wondering if it can output from both at the same time, or if it will only just output via one of them.

**gokee2** · 02-21-2006, 08:35 AM

Originally Posted by vairu

My ATi Radeon 9600xt has VGA, S-Video, and DVI outputs on it ... would this work? I'm just wondering if it can output from both at the same time, or if it will only just output via one of them.

Good thinking vairu. I have an nVidia Geforce 6600XT thats got DVI, S-Video, and VGA. I have been able to get S-video and DVI to run at the same time but I have not tried using VGA simultaneously with DVI. My guess is that if it allows you to do that, you'd have to make one primary and other secondary (im sure you know what I mean). Your graphics card software should be able to let you play around with this too. Just give it a shot and see whats the result.

**konnichiwa** · 02-21-2006, 09:06 AM

i dismantled my 16" LCD screen last night and its like yours, with the inverter inside, i tested the wire to the screen+LCD Controller, 12v ^.^ ran it quickly off the 12v molex rail, ran fine for the 20mins i was testing.. before i connected it all back together and put it back in my office, still works fine

So.. i'm gonna put another DC-DC PSU in the front of my car (CarPC in boot) to power, USB Hubs, Disc Drives, and the Screen (witch will be replacing Dials (Speedo, Tach etc.) )

**vairu** · 02-21-2006, 02:56 PM

Sweet info!! If i bought another Opus 150w, what would i do with the small plug that connects to the mobo's power switch connects? The little 2-pin one? Because if that circuit isn't closed, when i turn my key on to give the Opus the 2nd 12v signal (yellow wire) the Opus still won't power on and run anything right? Is there some kind of small connector i could plug on the end of that small Green & White plug that will make it like pass-through? I'm sure there is an easy way around this.

It would also be cool to have 2 Opus's in the car in case the one for the PC goes under i can use the one for the screen as a backup

.

My favorite part about the whole thing would be not using an inverter. It still causes noise no matter where i put it, and it also creates the lines in my screens >_<; It's a cheap inverter but i'd rather just buy another Opus then spend a lot of $$$ on one of those sine inverters or w/e they're called.

**breaker021** · 08-03-2006, 11:51 AM

LOL - dragging this post outta the dead... I have an xB and I'm putting a 19" in it!! lol! It's going to be mounted right behind the driver/passenger seat tho!

More info and pics here!
To do or not to do: 19" screen for the back!

PS - I am going to test running it off of an inverter that I have... if i run into the same issues that you had, im getting an opus!

Don't worry about not being unique - i'm in new york city ;]
- sh00k

**vairu** · 08-09-2006, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by breaker021

LOL - dragging this post outta the dead... I have an xB and I'm putting a 19" in it!! lol! It's going to be mounted right behind the driver/passenger seat tho!

More info and pics here!
To do or not to do: 19" screen for the back!

PS - I am going to test running it off of an inverter that I have... if i run into the same issues that you had, im getting an opus!

Don't worry about not being unique - i'm in new york city ;]
- sh00k

Hey man, i saw your thread on your CarPC on SL, good stuff ... mine is actually fugged up right now so i'm building a lower-power-consuming PC with a notebook CPU soon, my beefy desktop that i chopped up to put under the seat just can't take the Florida summer lol. I actually switched up from a 19" to a 17". The 19 was just too big between the front driver & passenger. My 17" is roof-mounted right between the driver & passenger headrests and folds up if i needed it too, and can swivel left & right and tilt forward and backward. Just bought a regular LCD mount from WalMart, costed $70 though .. i drilled 2 holes into one of those beams (the one in front of the dome-light going towards the front of the xB). Been running fine since i installed it a few months ago ... since then i've been finishing my air suspension and camber though, so the PC has been dead under the seat for like 3 weeks now lol. I think i need a bigger battery though, my PC is pulling too much power through the 150 opus, that's why i want to build a smaller one.

**breaker021** · 08-10-2006, 10:10 AM

lol - i didnt even see this post until now... anyway...

how did you wind up powering the 17" you have in ur xB?? any problems with noise/whine in the speakers?

I was going to ask you - do you NEED NEED a PC in your car? do you think you can use a high end laptop with a broken screen? I figure that'd save you space, plus it's built for a rugged environment, won't draw that much power, etc... just a possibility. I saw someone selling a high end p4 laptop with a broken screen for like $340 here in nyc. i was going to get it myself but i've already spent a good amount of money on my car... lol...

Just some examples of stuff on the NYC craigslist under 500

http://newyork.craigslist.org/que/sys/192262494.html

http://newyork.craigslist.org/brx/sys/191950589.html

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/sys/191906941.html

Those are just some ones that i dug up real quick... just to get an idea of how awesome CL is... lol... Before I found my $2700 tablet for $600, i was going to get a laptop with a broken screen and built in DVD drive and mount it on top of that "box thing" beneath the drivers seat. It would have been mounted in a way where the dvd drive would open from beneath the seat in the direction of the pedals... I wanted to mount it maybe 1" or 2" ahead of where the seat ends, so i could get to the drive easily... but i rarely use CDs or DVDs now with my tablet so i didnt need that afterall... just a thought tho...
- sh00k