Help with what inverter I need!??!

**ninja6o4** · 03-17-2012, 01:56 AM

Originally Posted by RichyRoo

ok..

Netbook: 19v 2.1a
Router: 12v 1a
AppleTv: Not sure.. Google isn't much help.. I would of guessed 12v, but one source says 3.3v
Nas: 12v
Xbox: 12v 16.5a
LCD: 12v

I'll be building it all into the boot in its own housing. The nas I'll make a protective shell sort of thing for.. Ill figure something out for that but not too worried about it just yet.. Needs power first

Ok. Wiring it into power (battery) ground (also battery or car ground?) and acc (this is the turn on wire as such right? So could tap into head units one that goes to the amp?) I can figure out thats fairly simple.

As for wiring my devices to it; this is where I'm dropping the ball..

Say it's the laptop.. I'd get the power cable for it at the moment, snip the cable where it connects to the brick so I'm left with 1 end that fits into laptop and one bare cable? Then wire that bit into the Dc-Dc box?

Again, thanks for the help in getting me understanding this guys :-)

OK,
1. Your apple tv draws barely anything, according to this: http://images.apple.com/environment/...t_20110323.pdf
2. that is a huge amount of power the xbox needs. There are some conflicting reports as to what it truly needs, so you really won't know until you try it.

For your wiring...
What you're saying is correct. The brick is your AC-DC converter that you'd need in a home. Say you snip the cable on your laptop. All you're left with is the barrel plug and a wire that is +/-. Look at the device or brick, it will give you a diagram and maximum output voltage/amperage, which I assume says 19V / 2.1A. The bare wire that you are left with needs to be connected to a power supply that can provide 19V/2.1A. In this case, the Carnetix 1900 could power your laptop without any problem (rated at 18-20V up to 6.32A.) The diagram will tell you the polarity of the barrel plug, ie. outside is neg, inside is pos.

By wiring up the PSU, and your now bare wire to the PSU, it will provide power to your laptop upon turning your key to ACC/ON. This is the equivalent to taking your normal AC power plug and plugging it into the wall. You would still have to press the power button on the laptop itself in order for it to turn on.

The rest of your devices are 12V and relatively low power so you could wire it to the PSU +12V output and have it all power on automatically on ACC/ON. I would still protect your NAS with either a secondary battery or a manual switch of some kind if the PSU you choose is not designed to survive cranking the motor.

The xbox is a bit rough because of its potential power draw. You will need to find a second PSU to handle that load. Or, since it is 12v, you could wire this directly in line to the battery (no PSU) and measure the power draw. I would be very wary of doing this though, as the PSU essentially acts as a DC regulator to smooth out the power output for your devices. I would only wire it direct to the battery if it were a device designed for in car use (like a normal head unit)

**dmcdlrn** · 03-17-2012, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by ninja6o4

The xbox is a bit rough because of its potential power draw. You will need to find a second PSU to handle that load. Or, since it is 12v, you could wire this directly in line to the battery (no PSU) and measure the power draw. I would be very wary of doing this though, as the PSU essentially acts as a DC regulator to smooth out the power output for your devices. I would only wire it direct to the battery if it were a device designed for in car use (like a normal head unit)

I may misunderstand but I definitely DON'T recommend hooking the xbox directly to car power. Although it is 12 at engine off, it is 14.4+ running and will toast your xbox guaranteed. Perhaps you meant engine off just to test draw. If that is the case, I would still cut the xbox line and put my meter in line with the 12v side and run it off of the wall. If you have a clamp meter that is better as most meters will not handle that kind of amperage and certainly not for a long period of time. You will also need to use the xbox and watch the meter for a while as it won't necessarily take the most power on startup.

I'm going to suggest the 1900 for your setup and look for something else for the xbox. Perhaps wait until oldspark comes back as he might have some ideas on the high power 12v inverter. One could certainly be made (direction I would take) but my guess is you won't be into building circuits on a breadboard.

**RichyRoo** · 03-17-2012, 10:44 AM

Ok.. Now I'm starting to get it..

Let's firstly drop the Xbox as that's obviously a different issue that I can look into at a later date.

Been looking at that P1900 and figuring that out with everyones above information and still have one or two questions...

Firstly, amps.

Looking on there webpage it's says "The primary output is jumper selectable for 18V, 19V, or 20V operation and can provide up to 6.32 amps (125 Watts @ 20V )".. So, with the netbook plugged into this, does it work as in, aslong as the amps drawn are lower then provided, it's ok?

And then that leading onto question two:

I've got numerous 12v devices, so would I wire them all into the same secondary output wire from the P1900?... Which I think is 3amp. So how many things could I plug into it?? 3 - 1amp devices? Or, hundreds of devices, aslong as there under 3amps each?

**ninja6o4** · 03-17-2012, 10:51 AM

Yes, I meant just for testing draw. And yes, the 360 will draw varying amounts of power based on the game played.

I did a bit of googling and you have another major problem - 360's are very susceptible to shock and movement destroying your game discs. Most people, while they can do it, won't do it because it wrecks their discs. You might be better off going with an old school (and less power hungry) cartridge based console.

**ninja6o4** · 03-18-2012, 11:20 AM

Originally Posted by RichyRoo

Ok.. Now I'm starting to get it..

Let's firstly drop the Xbox as that's obviously a different issue that I can look into at a later date.

Been looking at that P1900 and figuring that out with everyones above information and still have one or two questions...

Firstly, amps.

Looking on there webpage it's says "The primary output is jumper selectable for 18V, 19V, or 20V operation and can provide up to 6.32 amps (125 Watts @ 20V )".. So, with the netbook plugged into this, does it work as in, aslong as the amps drawn are lower then provided, it's ok?

And then that leading onto question two:

I've got numerous 12v devices, so would I wire them all into the same secondary output wire from the P1900?... Which I think is 3amp. So how many things could I plug into it?? 3 - 1amp devices? Or, hundreds of devices, aslong as there under 3amps each?

ok, the easiest way to explain it (it was how I learned it): Volts are pushed to the device, while Amps are pulled from the device. Meaning: the device will draw the amps that it needs (2.1a), but the power supply will give the voltage it's rated for (18-20v).

Amps are cumulative, so you could plug in 3 - 1amp devices, or 1 - 3amp device.

**Ken Esq** · 03-18-2012, 05:30 PM

You can get an XBox now that doesn't have a HD (uses Flash memory) and you can load games from the DVD to the memory so the DVD really doesn't do much. You can also just buy many games through the XBox market and not have a DVD at all. Also the newer XBoxs use less power than the original models.

**RichyRoo** · 03-19-2012, 08:29 AM

Originally Posted by ninja6o4

I did a bit of googling and you have another major problem - 360's are very susceptible to shock and movement destroying your game discs

Yeah I can imagine.. But, Ill be using an old xbox that I'll hack anyway so will be using burnt discs

Originally Posted by ninja6o4

ok, the easiest way to explain it (it was how I learned it): Volts are pushed to the device, while Amps are pulled from the device. Meaning: the device will draw the amps that it needs (2.1a), but the power supply will give the voltage it's rated for (18-20v).

Amps are cumulative, so you could plug in 3 - 1amp devices, or 1 - 3amp device.

Excellent - That's what I thought.. kinda.

Ok so getting there now!

However, just hit a wall that put back to step one.. AppleTV take a standard figure 8 240v cable straight into the back of it! Arhhggg!

Cant find anyone that has tapped directly into it either

..

Back to an inverter??? Or even both a dc-dc psu for laptop and bits.. and then an inverter aswell for apple tv? (Could also plug xbox into that aswell)

**SNOtwistR** · 03-19-2012, 09:59 AM

For the big draw items I think you could use this http://store.mp3car.com/Mini_Box_Y_P..._p/pwr-046.htm and 2 http://store.mp3car.com/Intelligent_..._p/pwr-034.htm for a total of 20 amps total or use 2 http://store.mp3car.com/DSX12VD_140W..._p/pwr-025.htm for a total of 24amps Just a thought SNO

**ninja6o4** · 03-19-2012, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by RichyRoo

Yeah I can imagine.. But, Ill be using an old xbox that I'll hack anyway so will be using burnt discs

Excellent - That's what I thought.. kinda.

Ok so getting there now!

However, just hit a wall that put back to step one.. AppleTV take a standard figure 8 240v cable straight into the back of it! Arhhggg!

Cant find anyone that has tapped directly into it either

..

Back to an inverter??? Or even both a dc-dc psu for laptop and bits.. and then an inverter aswell for apple tv? (Could also plug xbox into that aswell)

Sounds like the AppleTV has a built in psu/regulator.

How hard did you look?

http://www.mp3car.com/maccar/148219-...t-started.html

**RichyRoo** · 03-19-2012, 01:18 PM

Originally Posted by ninja6o4

Sounds like the AppleTV has a built in psu/regulator.

How hard did you look?

http://www.mp3car.com/maccar/148219-...t-started.html

Yeah I did see this but it's the apple tv 1 which is different power from the new 2nd or 3rd generation models.. And on the second page there the thread has kinda just ended when asked how he got that 12v on the picture of the 2nd generation