Question regarding Power setup of Car PC in Mazda 6

**DonnaLea** · 06-22-2008, 01:34 AM

I'm installing a CarPC into a Mazda 6. Planning to stick the PC under the passenger seat and display in the dash in the map pocket.

I'm at the point where I'm setting up the power for the devices. From my current reading this is what I've come up with. Please provide opinion on what you think of this setup shown in the diagram below. If anyone can suggest how to connect the wires to the battery in a Mazda 6 and where I might be able to run the wires through to the cabin, please let me know.

**v8 scimitar** · 06-22-2008, 06:14 AM

looks from your drawing that your using twice the number of fuses than you need to. You only use a fuse at the start of a piece of cable. As for cable size I could only give you sizes in metric which will be about as useless to you as gauge is to me lol. That said all this has been covered hundreds of times if not thousands so a search would be a good idea.

**DonnaLea** · 06-22-2008, 07:37 PM

Actually I'm in Australia, so metric would be quite useful to me. I got the 'gauge' measurements from other threads on these forums.

In regards to the number of fuses. I watched the video on the front page of http://www.mp3car.com/, and it makes a big point of putting fuses at both ends. Have I misunderstood what it was meaning?

Originally Posted by v8 scimitar

looks from your drawing that your using twice the number of fuses than you need to. You only use a fuse at the start of a piece of cable. As for cable size I could only give you sizes in metric which will be about as useless to you as gauge is to me lol. That said all this has been covered hundreds of times if not thousands so a search would be a good idea.

**meddler** · 06-24-2008, 08:13 AM

You only need to put one fuse at the battery and 2 at the distribution point. (ie. on the supply side), so 3 fuses in total.

**DonnaLea** · 06-24-2008, 07:01 PM

Thanks Meddler for the clarification.

**alphaae** · 06-24-2008, 07:59 PM

What did you pay for your screen you put in the map box I live state side and I've been trying to find one forever where did you get yours?

keep me posted about how your project goes I've been trying to work on a carputer project as weel for the last few months and I need all the help i can get.

**DonnaLea** · 06-24-2008, 08:11 PM

Originally Posted by alphaae

What did you pay for your screen you put in the map box I live state side and I've been trying to find one forever where did you get yours?

keep me posted about how your project goes I've been trying to work on a carputer project as weel for the last few months and I need all the help i can get.

I got it second hand for free actually which was pretty cool.

**DonnaLea** · 06-24-2008, 08:16 PM

I should note I haven't actually got the screen and PC installed yet. We have most of the parts not including all the power cords. I had a look at the battery in my car to see how to connect the power cable to it, but looking at the battery I'm not sure where I should be connecting it. Should I connect it straight onto the positive plug on the battery? Because it's rather big and enclosed.

I've included a photo below of the battery.

**Kosti** · 06-25-2008, 06:33 AM

Running wires through the cabin can be done by looking in the engine bay on the firewall for rubber grommets, there will be your entry point.

G/L with it.

Glad to see more people from down-under giving this ago.

Hey Meddler, should be going to Dorans this week for some fabrication and wiring up the carpc (finally)

**DonnaLea** · 06-25-2008, 07:54 PM

Thanks for the tip Kosti, that will help me figure out where to run the cable. What I still can't figure out though, is how to attach it to the battery source itself.