M2-ATX questions

**crooper** · 12-04-2006, 01:51 AM

I'm new to the CarPC thing, but pretty experienced with computers. I have all my hardware set up except for the DC PSU. I want to make sure I can pull the PC out of my car and use it in my house.

This is what I've done:
- gutted my MicroATX psu leaving the rear plug, switch, fan, and enclosure
- soldered the + and - power plug wires to the + and - on the M2-ATX, and the ground plug to the remote start/ignition
- soldered the + and - leads of a 12v DC transformer to a standard power cable, and tied the + and ground wires together to simulate ignition

I have the M2-ATX hooked to the power-on on the motherboard and plan to use the anti-thump wire, although it's not hooked up to anything right now. The jumper is on #2 or whatever was recommended.

My computer starts up and runs fine with a standard ATX power supply, but not with the setup described above. Do I need to change a jumper or something? Is my wiring correct?

My system:
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton
MicroATX motherboard with built in AGP video
Creative X-Fi
Wifi card
256 megs PC100
Maxtor 80 gig 3.5" HD
M2-ATX PSU
Xenarc 700TS

**2k1Toaster** · 12-04-2006, 01:59 AM

Did you say you soldered the MicroPSU to the M2? And grounded a constant 12v wire for ignition or something? I have no idea what you have done.

I need you to clarify what you have done.

**crooper** · 12-04-2006, 02:36 AM

I decided that using a standard ATX power cord connector would be a good way of plugging in the computer to the car, since the female plug has no exposed contacts and is pretty heavy duty. The power cord has 3 wires/contacts: +, -, and ground. I am using the +/- wires for DC + and - (ground), and the "ground" wire for ignition/remote.

My DC transformer has 2 wires: + and -. So I hooked up these to the + and - on the power cord, and in addition, the + to the ignition/remote wire.

The MicroPSU is out of the picture. It's just a shell to provide a clean way to hook up the power wire. Is that clearer?

So basically I'm asking, how do I wire the DC transformer to my M2-ATX so my CarPC will turn on? Do I need the ignition wire?

**sama** · 12-04-2006, 07:23 AM

use the yellow line from your ATX supply (12v) and connect it to both the IGN (white) and PWR (red) lines.

**crooper** · 12-04-2006, 03:01 PM

Cool thanks. I shoulda thought of that.

Do I need to change the jumper setting on the M2-ATX? I remember reading a post about using a banana plug to short the jumper when it's in the car.

**sama** · 12-05-2006, 05:36 AM

if you only want to do some testing, then don't stick any jumpers on there and it'll be in dumb psu mode. once you're happy with your setup, then you can set the jumpers to the way you'd like it to behave in the car. have a look at the manual for the different combinations.

bear in mind that the manual has only a few of the possibilities! search on here for a post by andre (the guy that made it) for the extra modes.