Simple carputer setup... would it work?

**bobthetree** · 10-18-2005, 10:59 PM

I was thinking about making a carcomputer in the simplest and most affordable manner possible and these components came to mind from ebay... Any thoughts on if this would work well would be appreciated.

Touchscreen Flip Out

Inverter

Cheap,Small,Fastish Computer

The ebay special for carputers! Should come out to arround $480 or so + wires and odds and ins.... any thoughts on this setup?

**Peoples** · 10-18-2005, 11:06 PM

first of alll.......

the inverter method has been covered plenty of times.
bottom line.
yes it will work.....but you are not going to be happy with it.

can cause line noise issues, can kill your battery/alternator quicker, not efficient, no shutdown controler.....etc

also, that shipping price on that inverter is insane.

**turbocad6** · 10-18-2005, 11:29 PM

one thing to realize with those half height cases is that you can only use half height add in cards.. not too big a deal unless you've got something in mind pci.... I think an inverter is ok if you wire it directly to the battery & only use it when the car is running.... after your system is in & dialed you could always think about upgrading to dc-dc

pIII is a good plan on a budget, good luck with it

**bobthetree** · 10-19-2005, 02:23 AM

Can I just use a laptop? Would it not present the power problems with the smaller wattage needed to power its plug? or are there cheap cd to cd changers for the car to laptop solution?

**arebelspy** · 10-19-2005, 02:30 AM

Yes, easiest solution is to get a laptop, set it on your passenger seat, plug in an auto adaptr to it from your cig lighter, and you're good to go.

Laptop is a good way to get started though, power button (remote startup) is usually the biggest issue, but do a search on it and you'll find plenty of info.

-arebelspy

**turbocad6** · 10-19-2005, 08:25 AM

personally I think a laptop is the better solution to a car install because of space, power consumption & durability

the best system for a mobile installation should start with mobile technology I think, but a laptop can be more work to install cleanly than just bolting down a box....

**bobthetree** · 10-20-2005, 01:55 AM

About powering an inverter directly from the battery.... If I were to do this it would mean that the inverter would still be powered after turning off the car. I know that I can get a shutdown controller for the computer, which is fine and well but I think that maybe I would rather just have the switch for the inverter from the battery go to the off position when I stop the car. My cigerette Lighters automaticaly go off when I turn off my car, so maybe there is a way to say "if(cigerette lighter has power) switch lead from battery to inverter on/else off" with a really simple circuit... Theres gotta be just some easy circuit to do this so I dont have to worry about leaving stuff on and I can power it from the battery.

**Haystack** · 10-20-2005, 05:58 AM

why not just tap into the cigarlighter circuit. A split of wires should do fine

**turbocad6** · 10-20-2005, 08:48 AM

depends how big of an inverter & how good your cigarette lighter cicuit & socket is, but it's butchery... it should ber to the battery, own cicuit

there are two solutions to having the battery to inverter going off with the computer....1 is the better way & that's to hack the on/off switch on the inverter itself....2 is to interupt the battery power wire with a relay.... if the inverter isn't huge a standard 30a relay will work... if it's a huge inverter that needs more than 30a then a solinoid type relay should be used, like a ford type starter soliniod.... these are good as a relayfor hours on end

....going to the cig lighter can be trouble in some cases & isn't reliable, not to mention most aren't going to go off with ign anyway, & even if it did, you would screw up your shutdown routine by just cutting power...some cig ltrs cut power on crank, most lighter sockets that stay powered through crank can drop voltage enough to cause problems with survivig crank, to the battery is the right way...... do it once & do it right......