wiring help needed! :)

**bulgogi777** · 08-05-2004, 02:14 PM

Hi everyone,

I actually have a few questions about startup wiring, and if I missed the answers in my searches I apologize in advance.

1) I currently run an inverter directly to the battery, and have my atx psu running to the inverter. I have a switch wired to turn the inverter off and on. This means that I have to manually turn on my carpc after I have power running to the supply. Is there a simple way to wire my inverter switch to send a pulse to the motherboard and turn on my computer automatically?

2) If I'm using hibernate mode, and shut the pc off via cutting the power (switch) will it load up using the previously stored hibernate information?

3) Is it bad to turn off the carpc by cutting the power directly?

4) If not, and my motherboard bios supports resume after power loss (I have to check tonight if my motherboard supports this)... could I simply cut the power to turn off the computer, then when I turn it on next, it simply loads the previously stored hibernate info?

Sorry for the plethora of questions, but any help would be much appreciated, thanx!!!

**riddle14** · 08-05-2004, 04:01 PM

don't have any answers to your questions except that i was looking for the same thing a long time ago and really couldn't do what i wanted to do so i went with an opus. life has never been better.

where in nw fl are you? im in milton

**bulgogi777** · 08-05-2004, 04:10 PM

hmm... hopefully someone will come along with the answer. for simplicity's sake i would like to just stick with the inverter setup, mine currently survives cranking and this way i can still have the comp on while the car is off (+ there's the $$ issue

)... anyways, i'm up here in fort walton beach, nice and toasty, hehe

**riddle14** · 08-05-2004, 11:27 PM

yes it has been a hot one here in the pensacola area. hopefully it cools down for the weekend.

**NovaKane** · 08-06-2004, 12:03 AM

I don't think you can wire your inverter to send a pulse, but there might be a card you can get, but I don't think that is the route to go. Because you will be spending money on a card, which money better spent on other stuff (perhaps and opus or mastero mk4).

If you are setting your pc to hiberate and you just cut the power i don't think it has time to hiberate. Maybe i am missunderstanding your question, but it seems that hiberate take a few seconds because it stores all your settings and data that are on your RAM to the hard driver, that way when it boots again, it will boot to the exact position you left it at. If you do have a swtich wired to your pc, and set that to hiberate, and after the pc hiberates (or shuts down), then you could turn off you inverter.

I don't know for sure, but hard shutting down your machine might be bad. There is a shut down feature on your computer for a reason, otherwise we would all just be pulling the plug...so i would not go that route either.

As for resume after power loss, i have never used it..so i don't know.

Hope this helps in some way.

Cheers, Avish

**DarquePervert** · 08-06-2004, 08:25 AM

Originally Posted by bulgogi777
2) If I'm using hibernate mode, and shut the pc off via cutting the [AUTOLINK

power[/AUTOLINK] (switch) will it load up using the previously stored hibernate information?

3) Is it bad to turn off the carpc by cutting the power directly?

2) Yes. That's the whole purpose of the hibernate mode.

3) Yes. Windows has to write back to files with data contained in memory or in the swap file, so you want to let it do that before it shuts down.

Any Win98 user who's been forced to do a hard power down and then loses their Active Desktop knows what I mean.....

**slushieken** · 08-06-2004, 04:05 PM

Resume after Power Loss: in the eventuality of a power loss; once power is restored, the computer will begin booting automatically (like an automatic power on once power is restored, but only after it has shut down from a power loss, not a manual shut down).

If this is disabled, the power will remain off once power is restored after a power loss, until someone pushes the power button.

You need to set your system up to where it will go to hibernate upon shutdown. At least this is my plan (I bet others have done the same.. maybe there is a better way?). I am going to set it up such that when the accessories power is cut, the computer power switch wire will be shorted momentarily.

On my home PC, I have it configured to go to hibernate when I press the power button. The same thing will hopefully happen in the car, but automatically.

**slushieken** · 08-06-2004, 04:33 PM

Actually just searched and the OPUS power supply, for example, does exactly this. It connects to the power button input on the motherboard and sends it the correct signal to replicate a power button depress. It will do this to power it up as well as shut it down, and if you set your OS settings right, it will do this into hibernate.

**nl4jy** · 08-06-2004, 04:40 PM

You're not providing yourself with the right equipment.
Inverters and PSU are not design to do automatation without a third element. I see where you're going at. But the problem lies is the middle section of your setup.

How are you gonna sustain the power require for a proper hibernation? If you just kill the power while it's hibernating. You'll have to boot up normally with or without the shutdown improperly nag. And doing it multiple times could put bad sectors on your hard drive as the head is moving and reading/writing, you kill the power.

I tried going the Backup-UPS route cause then the UPS can detect a power loss and begins to shut down the PC...Then it'll wake it up when power is restore... BUT I'm telling you straight ahead to save your money. This doesn't work well or it doesn't work at all. Reason. Inverters are not Sin Waves, but either Blocks or with a better 1, triangles, but many UPS will not function in this environment.

You can try those ITPS, tank batteries + other devices to provide a start and shutdown controller. But unless you feel confortable with soldier and messing with other wires. It might be difficult for you. It's not hard, but can be very time consuming if you have no idea what to do with it.

Or.. The last option...which is really an option for the lazy people (like myself) Buy an Opus or similar PSU. Of course, the Opus is highly popular among these type of PSU and you can even order 1 on this website. They even give you a nice stamp collection starter kit with it. ^_^

**slushieken** · 08-06-2004, 04:50 PM

I am someone who is pretty familiar with electronics, and to me it is still worth the cost of the OPUS. It does everything I was planning for, and no guesswork, design, ordering parts, testing, etc. etc...

I feel like I have just joined the Church Choir of OPUS but I have to say that it is probably worth it.