Leave my car on overnight

**migitcheetah** · 10-18-2009, 12:52 AM

ok so i know this might sound crazy from the title but i dont think it is. well not as crazy as you might think. but what i want to do is have a swich to turn the car on "to the on position so that my pc and radio and such can stay on all night while i transfer movies and music and do work from inside the house. and hook up the batteries to a charger so they charge all night too so they dont die. do you think this is posible. or do you think with my M4-atx if i buy the usb cable i can set it to not turn off at night and then turn it off remotly when i get inside and finish my work. or is it posible to hook up a switch from 12v to the pc remote line and when i want it to stay on turn that on so everything else turns off and the computer is only on and then when i get in in the morning i can turn the switch off and it will function like normal turning on and off with the car. still useing a charger at night to keep the batteries full. just a trickle charger.

what do you think. after writing this i kinda like the direct 12v to remote switch if that works. that way nothing else stay on and no one will know. let me know. i like people to agree with me and help me out. makes me feel special

**nobb** · 10-18-2009, 01:45 AM

I just leave my key in the ACC position to transfer my music or whatever. Maybe hookup the charger if it's going to be on for an extended period of time. But I guess you could always have sort of a reverse valet switch for people who dont park in a garage and dont want to leave the key in the vehicle. All you need is a switch that connects a constant 12v source to the ACC line.

**trader007** · 10-18-2009, 03:35 AM

i do this with a 20a automatic charger and my remote start aux feature. you really only need like 3a continuous, but i got a bigger one to allow me to bump my subs for hours too. having control of the on/off remotely is very easy when you have a remote starter in your car... or a car alarm with aux features.

**migitcheetah** · 10-18-2009, 06:46 PM

well i dont want to actually have the car on. i have remote start. all i want is the pc on. so i think the 12v and switch would work best that way when i park it will stay on and then in the morning when i take off i turn the switch off and it goes back to regular on and off mode.

**Curiosity** · 10-18-2009, 07:52 PM

Well, one option would be to use the remote shutdown command. Open a command prompt and type "shutdown \\carpc /s" and wait for any errors. File sync programs should probably have a shutdown when done option. That would probably help too.

**Bugbyte** · 10-18-2009, 11:38 PM

actually I couldnt read the whole post because there werent caps or spelling i got tired and fell asleep before i could figure out what the problem was so i had to put my head down and cut some zzzs before i could wake up and finish this post

**trader007** · 10-19-2009, 01:28 AM

Originally Posted by migitcheetah

well i dont want to actually have the car on. i have remote start. all i want is the pc on. so i think the 12v and switch would work best that way when i park it will stay on and then in the morning when i take off i turn the switch off and it goes back to regular on and off mode.

is there an aux funtion on your remote start? thats what i use on mine, it can turn the pc on at any time, and you dont have to leave the key in the car or anything.

**happy2bmobile** · 10-19-2009, 01:46 AM

I was thinking about doing this,
a mostly failproof way and it should isolate the charger and acc circuit while still charging
wire a 5pin relay and diode into the acc wire for your powersupply that connects the 87a pin (relay off into the car acc line with the diode facing the relay), the 30 pin connected to the computers turn on (acc) wire, then connect pin 86 to ground and the other pin 85 to 87, then to the positive cable on the charger along with another diode between the battery positive and the relay this time pointing from the relay to the battery.

But crap why not just use a two position switch with the common to the carpc acc lead and the other two going to the regular car acc wire on one and the other the battery directly or an always on wire elsewhere.
This would be one position computer always on, the other position thats connected to acc determined by the ignition key.

Soo much simpler too than the first way plus you can have the carpc on and not run all the other accessories that are normally on like the radio, subs, etc.

**Curiosity** · 10-19-2009, 02:23 AM

Not exactly foolproof. How much current does your PC draw and how long do you plan on keeping the PC on? And do you have jumper cables handy?

**trader007** · 10-19-2009, 09:13 AM

youre overthinking it happy. you dont want to use diodes for currents over a couple hundred milliamps.

my setup can run just the pc all by itself with just a push of a button on my keychain remote starter fob.

the remote start has about 7 different low current signal outputs, but im only showing the two that turn the pc on here. first, the ignition output acts just like your ignition key wire. i chose to use the signal wire from the 791xv so that way the pc will turn on with the engine when i remotely start it. alternatively, i can just use the keychain AUX button and the pc will come on, without anything else. and, should i be in the car and i just want the pc and the speakers on, i turn the key to auxillary position, that turns on the speakers/radio, then i hit the aux on my keychain and the pc comes on.

for the winter, or when things go weird, i use the kill switch to keep the pc from powering on when i dont want it to. in this case, i could use another output from my remote start to make this more convenient, but for now this is fine. this is a simple drawing, you should have diodes on the output of the 791's signal wires... and across the relay coil.. but basically its just that.