Thread: Need Help Can't Decided About Opus

if you are going to hook up a dc-dc, i would recommend that you wire it direct to the battery. you should place an inline fuse as close to the battery as possible, run the power to the PSU, and then run a ground wire to a metal surface of the car chassis or body. make sure you use a ground wire that is of the same size as the power wire.

running it off the leads from the cig lighter could lead to problems of pulling too much juice through the cig lighter circuit. you might be blowing fuses when you turn on the computer.

the inline fuse near the battery should be something like 20-30A. it basically protects the car from a fire that would result from a short circuit, if the wires ever got cut or crimped on something.

a nice feature would be an ignition switched relay that would only allow power to go to the PSU if the ignition switch was in the ON position or the ACCESSORY position. that way, the computer would only see power when the car is on. the same as your regular stereo. this can be easily done, but i dont have the time to explain it all right now...

~Mike

Opus has a start up and shut down controller built in. There are 3 power wires. Red goes to the battery. Black goes to ground. Yellow goes the ACC. A small plug with thin white and green wires goes to the power switch header on the motherboard. (I suggest adding a push button switch to the power switch wire) When you turn the key to ACC, Opus waits about 5 seconds and switches the computer on via power button header. When you turn the key off, Opus (by default) waits 10 seconds and shuts down the computer via power button header. The red wire has to be energized in order for the computer to turn on. If you want to bypass the start up and shut down controller, connect the red wire to the battery and use the push button switch that connects to the power button header on the computer. If you want to build a switch that lets you use the computer and stereo with out turning on the key, read this
Need help with a bypass switch.

The problem with the OPUS shutdown controller is that it doesn't cut power to the +5VSB line. It will kill your battery over the course of a few days if you have USB devices that use the standby supply or if you have wake on lan functions.

Jeff

I drew up a little circuit I think might work. The only problem I can see is that the IGN and BATT lines go hot at the same time when you turn the key.




mike

Originally posted by Michael Szilagyi
I drew up a little circuit I think might work. The only problem I can see is that the IGN and BATT lines go hot at the same time when you turn the key.




mike

Or you could bypass the OPUS shutdown and use mine..
http://home.attbi.com/~zootjeff/shutdown/

Here is the new mountable one.
http://skylab.org/~chugga/mpegbox/sh.../shutdown2.jpg

Time to Pulse (P1): 47 seconds - 9 minutes

dosent that seem a little long? Can it be setup to that as soon as I turn the car off the PC shuts down. It would also be nice to have a switch so that i can select between instant shutdown, or go to the delay specified by P1.

mike

Originally posted by Michael Szilagyi
Time to Pulse (P1): 47 seconds - 9 minutes

dosent that seem a little long? Can it be setup to that as soon as I turn the car off the PC shuts down. It would also be nice to have a switch so that i can select between instant shutdown, or go to the delay specified by P1.

mike

It is more like 5 seconds to 9 minutes, and there is a headder just for that purpose. you hit the little switch and it sets the timer to zero and instantly sends the button push..

Originally posted by zootjeff
It is more like 5 seconds to 9 minutes, and there is a headder just for that purpose. you hit the little switch and it sets the timer to zero and instantly sends the button push..

by this do you mean that it instantly shuts down when the ignition goes off, or it instantly shuts down when I hit the little switch.

mike

From what I have read, the Opus power supply will allow, upon ignition turning to off, the computer to shut down, standby or hibernate with the option to shut the computer down after up to an hour. Is that correct? Here's the text from their website:

Quote from Opus Solutions:
The ignition lead is monitored to start the PC when the ignition is turned on and to implement a safe shutdown procedure. It controls and monitors motherboard signals to provide smooth power-up and power down sequences. In addition, it also responds to shut down, stand-by and hibernate modes.
The power supply can be programmed to shut down the PC after a delay of up to one hour.

- Jeff