Thread: 2 questions; about batteries and about in dash dvd

absolutely NOT necessary...for stereo equipment, you may need capacitors if your current electrical system cannot handle all the power you're trying to pull through it...stereo shop can help you out here. As far as the carPC, there are several power supplies that monitor battery voltage for drain. I've never had any problems and I've left the computer on for as long as an hour and a half (car off) with no problems.

Drawbacks: $$$, weight, wiring

as far as your drive goes, you're going to have to make something...you could probably start with a mounting kit and sleeve designed for an aftermarket radio that is vehicle specific.

Originally Posted by nate@s-curves

Dude a capacitor is not going to fix the problem you just described a new alternator is gonna do that and an additional battery will make a diference but is not neccesary, but is cool and does make a diference, but make sure the alternator can handle charging two of them.

I second that. A capacitor does not fix the problem of the alternator not being able to put out enough current. It can smooth out small surges in power needs. But if you're consistently drawing 100amps but the alternator is putting out 95amps, you're in trouble.

I've considered a second battery for my carPC. Here's what it (along with a battery isolator) would do for me:
1) When I'm working on it, I could leave it powered by the car (2nd battery) for hours without worrying about damaging my starter battery

2) I could leave the carPC in standby mode without worry. (I do this now, using only my stock cranking battery, but I use a low power S3 mode, I drive (recharge) every day, and I have a kill switch when I'm letting it sit for a while.

3) I could demo it to friends, whatever for a few hours without worry.

My main concern was 2, which I "solved" with the daily driving, low power standby, and kill switch. I suppose I still worry a tiny bit. For 1, I use a DC power supply when I'm in my garage. For 3, I have no friends.

I have just spent ages looking into the second battery thing and i have just put one in the trunk of my car.
My conclusion is that it is not worth it unless you plan to be using your system alot with the car off. Example: The system in my sig should be fine at normal volume to use for an hour with the car off, I have only added a second battery as i work directly out of my truck and i turn the music on in the moring and leave it on all day.
I start the truck about 10 times a day and normaly only drive for 15mins between stops.
I also never shut off my laptop, it just goes into standby when i arm the alarm.
With a second battery i know that i will allways get the car started even if i have left everything on until the battery goes dead and things 'turn off' by themselves.

for the next question, I have just ordered the xenarc 700idt, do a search as there is a little bit of info about adding a cd/dvd drive to a space that allready exists in the bottom of this unit. I am hoping i can fit it with a slot-load drive when i finally get it!

If you look around in a breakers yard, (i found a tray in a citroen) a lot of cars have trays that just drop into a din slot and i used one of these, cut the back out of it, dropped a slotload drive in, filled the gap with expanding foam, sanded down the mess and covered the front with some carbon effect stuff. Looked damm good for a 10min job!

NO!
Havent heard that is has been done, one post said there is the perfect space for a slim line drive to drop right in, another post said somthing about a circut board that had to be moved.
I am still waiting for my 700idt to arrive but i will be taking a screwdriver/hammer to it as soon as it drops through the door!
I am hoping i can fit a drive, a slim to ide converter and a usb to ide convertor all inside the xenarc casing (hoping!) and just wire it all to a usb chassis socket on the back of the casing so it all looks original..

Also, the xenarc comes with its own cage, just like the car radio ones.
You drop it in your din slot, bend back the tabs to secure it the the xenarc is supposed to be secured in with screws through the cage into the casing. Havent got a clue how you get the screws in once the thing is in the dash though?!?

BTW..I chose this screen over the one you mentioned earlier as they are much the same price and although the xenarc is not motorized the quality (both build and picture) seem to get much better reviews on this forum. This is important to me as my 4x4 spends a fair bit of time getting chucked about over the rough but i guess if you want the motor you might not need the robustness?

As far as i know.. xenarc are planning to make one with the drive fitted, not with a space for a drive that you can fit yourself. I think that is why the space is in the current model but i belive they are still working on some way to run it all through one usb connection so they have gone ahead and relased it as it is with no drive.
I had a chat with xenarc and the guy i spoke to thought that it would be a stand-alone cd/dvd player with an onscreen menu and rca outputs but either no vga or vga on a source select button. Not the sort of thing i want and there are plenty on the market (non vga) allready. he had no idea when it was due and that probbly means a year+