Auto powering a EEEPC

ssm05rsx · 04-08-2009, 09:10 AM

Hey guys, I have a few questions. I feel bad making a new thread where there are threads of this stuff all over the place

First off, I used to run my CarPC needs with a Acer Aspire One Netbook. Well, the motherboard blew and I just replaced it at my work with a new Asus EEEPC 1000HE and I want to get more in depth with this CAR PC stuff. But I have no idea what the hell I am doing and I don't want to screw anything up, so I'll be taking this slow.

Back when I had my Acer, I didn't have any auto power on stuff, I just always opened the glove box and just hit the power button every time I got in my car... since August, It is getting quite annoying.

I'll get some pictures of my Set-up, I have pictures on another thread but forgot to update it with the finished product.

My 2006 Acura TSX

Now the few questions I have are,

How can I power the laptop in my car?

Should I just Ebay a car charger like I did for my Acer? (BTW if anyone needs a car adapter for an Acer Aspire One, just pay shipping because I really have no use for it anymore.)

What methods can I use to have the laptop turn on when I start the car?
I saw like power-on modules, and don't know which one would be good for this little netbook so I need help. also so Wake-on-lan. Any other options?

Anything else I should look into for my CarPC?

BigBadWolf · 04-08-2009, 01:17 PM

Done the research and I it makes me sad to tell you that there is no way I have found to turn the EEE on when power is applied. It does not have the feature in the BIOS.

It does support Wake-on-Lan (WOL) so what I have done is make a loopback with a switch on it that fools the EEE into thinking that there is a network connection when I press the button. This works MOST of the time but not all.

The other option is to wire into the power switch and mount it remotely. If I was better with wiring, I know there is a way I could "hit the power switch" using relays when power is applied.

I power both my Lilliput and EEE from a single cig. lighter adapter which splits off into two because even at max draw together they only pull 2.5 amps (usual is around 1.7amps) which any QUALITY adapter should be able to handle.

alphaae · 04-12-2009, 12:21 AM

Noticed that you said you made a wol connection for your eee I have a 1000h and have been trying to figure out a way to start to of without soldering wires onton the power button can you post up some picks of you wol setup?

BigBadWolf · 04-12-2009, 09:27 AM

Here's how to do it.

There is no option for WOL in the BIOS, it just seems to be on by default.

Right-click My Computer, select Properties, then Device Manager in the Hardware tab. Find your network card, right-click and click Properties. Go to the Power Management tab and tick the checkbox next to Allow this device to bring the computer out of standby. Now go to the Advanced tab, change Shutdown Wakeup to On. Then change WakeUp Capabilities to ALL.

Get an Rj45 cable and cut one end off. Connect wires 1 & 3 (usually white w/orange stripe and white w/green stripe). Plug your cable in and reboot the computer. Now force it to sleep. When you touch wires 2 & 6 (orange and green wires) your EEE should wake up. Sometimes it's just not this easy and you have to experiment a little.

What I did was use a long piece of telephone wire soldered to wires 2 & 6 and put a push-button on them.

This works 7 times out of 10 but I have yet to figure out why it sometimes refuses to wake up.

alphaae · 04-12-2009, 09:46 AM

Hey thanks for the help I'll try yeah through the bios on the eee I didn't find a WOL setting. I'll try messing with this when I get home hope it works. I also saw a guy who made a loop back switch like yours using relay switches he wired it to his cars ignition and had it turn on his laptop automatically when he started his car looks cool search rj45 loopback in the forums

alphaae · 04-12-2009, 09:48 AM

Just a thought do you think maybe the button being pressed timing wise it's not long enough for the computer to recognize a link change? Maybe a switch would work better as in you decided how long the signal is connected until you know it's on. I'm now tech specialist but it could be worth a try. For the pros out there would a switch work better then a button

lacning74 · 04-12-2009, 10:56 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by alphaae

Noticed that you said you made a wol connection for your eee I have a 1000h and have been trying to figure out a way to start to of without soldering wires onton the power button can you post up some picks of you wol setup?

when i first started, i played around with a loopback switch just like BigBadWold describes, and it did start up my 1000h after i turned on the BIOS option and the network card properties in windows, but it won't work if AC power is lost at all. so unless you plan to keep AC power to the 1000h even when shutdown, it won't work.

i gave in and learned to solder. much more reliable. check my worklog.

BigBadWolf · 04-13-2009, 09:22 AM

alphae... a button can be pressed for as long as you want it to so a switch only helps if you're too tired or lazy to hold a button down for a few seconds.

lacning... you may have solved the problem I've been having. When I was running it only on battery, the WOL was pretty reliable. Ever since wiring up a regular 12v supply for my EEE the switch has hardly worked. Therefore when the car is running there is power but when I shut the car off, it's back to battery even though it's in sleep mode. The EEE must be seeing this transition and refusing to react to the wakeup call.

I need to confirm this before I give in and hack my new EEE by soldering to the power switch.