http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/ Inverters, DC-DC, shutdown controllers, etc en Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:10:04 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/ http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137436-stopping-headlight-flickering.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:59:38 GMT I have a pretty serious sound system, and when the bass hits, the headlights dim. This causes me to go through headlights and a month or two. Both my battery and alternator are fine. Would it be an awful idea to just get a 12 volt regulator and power the lights through it? I have a pretty serious sound system, and when the bass hits, the headlights dim. This causes me to go through headlights and a month or two. Both my battery and alternator are fine.

Would it be an awful idea to just get a 12 volt regulator and power the lights through it? ]]> Power Supplies PaulF http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137436-stopping-headlight-flickering.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137433-make-xp-think-its-running-batteries.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:23:48 GMT Hi Folks,

Been a lurker for a while, this being my first post, be gentle :|


I've had my carputer in for a while now and mostly happy with it. I use a M3-ATX PSU and while it works well, I have a nagging tweak I want to make...

I want to make XP think it is running off a battery and detect when the "ac" is connected and battery state etc.

The above is obviously (maybe not?) to do with ACPI but how do I actually interface with it? I have thought about using the the UPS service but that is pretty limited in the sense that it only tells windows that "I am on battery", "I am on mains" etc. No details battery level etc. Not exactly what I want.
I would _like_ xp / my carputer to think it is a laptop.

I am a dab hand at electronics / arduino etc etc so don't mind delving into the bits. Has anyone done anything like this?

I know it offers little benefit overall, just something I have been pondering...

TIA

Cheers,
Crispin ]]> Power Supplies Crispin http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137433-make-xp-think-its-running-batteries.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137404-can-i-wire-inverter-like.html Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:38:47 GMT i have a 400/800 watt chicago electric dc-ac power inverter i bought used on ebay. i cant find any specs on it or wiring schematics. im gonna put it in my car to run my laptop. i have a 400 watt amp running my subs. ive got a 4 ga. wire ran to it which is really overkill. so im wondering if i can... i have a 400/800 watt chicago electric dc-ac power inverter i bought used on ebay. i cant find any specs on it or wiring schematics. im gonna put it in my car to run my laptop.
i have a 400 watt amp running my subs. ive got a 4 ga. wire ran to it which is really overkill. so im wondering if i can get away with wiring the amp and inverter together on that wire...split it with a distribution block...then have 8ga wire going to each one.
as long as it doesnt pull too much current through the 4ga wire it would work i think. the reason i want to is i dont want to run another wire from the battery. and im just gonna run my laptop on it, not huge loads.

has anyone ever tried this? ]]> Power Supplies shakedown http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137404-can-i-wire-inverter-like.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137377-dsatx-wont-power-up-no-led.html Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:56:38 GMT Hey, I finally got my system all hooked up on my test bench and with the DSATX nothing happens. I tried with a regular AC-DC power supply from my desktop and it works fine, but when using the DSATX nothing happens. I tried with a switch on the ACC line and with it wired directly to the +12v... Hey,

I finally got my system all hooked up on my test bench and with the DSATX nothing happens. I tried with a regular AC-DC power supply from my desktop and it works fine, but when using the DSATX nothing happens.

I tried with a switch on the ACC line and with it wired directly to the +12v constant line (always on). I have pins 13 and 14 on the desktop power supplies 20 pin connector bridged so it thinks its connected to a motherboard. I checked the fuse and its good. The 4 pin header ot the motherboard is connected.

Mother boards a D945GCLF2 btw, works fine with a desktop power supply.

When I flip the switch to the desktop power supply that is powering my DSATX the LED on my mother board as well as the mouse light up for about a second then off. The LED on the DSATX never blinks or even turns on or anything.

This Power Supply was bought used so I dont even know if it works, I was told that it does but who knows.

Is there any way to know if the power supply just doesnt work and I should buy a new one?

Thanks,
Bryan ]]> Power Supplies BCasey http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137377-dsatx-wont-power-up-no-led.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137327-m2-atx-into-standard-home-power.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:56:57 GMT Not sure if there's a way to do this, but before I install my pc into my car I was hoping I could plug it in at home to configure everything the way I want.

Is there some kind of converter you can get to convert the M2-ATX into standard power in my house?

Thanks ]]> Power Supplies Yateball http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137327-m2-atx-into-standard-home-power.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137319-how-can-i-run-3-high-powered-usb-ports-car-battery.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:56:37 GMT I was searching for a solution to an issue with a project I'm working on and stumbled across this forum. Very cool stuff here, and although my project doesn't concern in-vehicle computers I was wondering if you could give me some pointers.

What I want to do is power 3 USB ports with a 12v car battery. Each USB port will provide 5v2a of power, which rules out some of the well-known USB devices like the Carnetix P5USB, which only provides the standard .5a per port. So what's the most straightforward way to deliver the desired amount of power to the USB ports from the battery? I don't have much experience with electronics, so ideally I can find a way that doesn't involve microchip programming or lots of soldering.

One thing I looked at was this compact power supply:

http://www.mini-box.com/picoPSU-90;j...4Pa38Ta38Ra3j0

If I cut the female ends off of 3 USB cords and connected their 5v wires to the 5v sockets on this power supply, would I get 5v USB power? With 3 5v ports attached to a 90 watt power supply, does that mean that each port would have 6a available? I plan to have only the USB ports connected to the car battery and nothing else, so I don't need most of the advanced features found on devices like the Jopel Designs ACPPS (http://jopeldesigns.com/acppsv1.html).

If this would work or you can think of something else that would I welcome your comments. ]]> Power Supplies HiVelocity http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137319-how-can-i-run-3-high-powered-usb-ports-car-battery.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137314-strange-m4-atx-problem-stranger-resolution.html Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:06:50 GMT Here's a weird one for you. I built a metal case for my carputer and mounted the M4 upside down in the lid. It would run perfectly as long as the lid wasn't all the way closed. When I closed it and tried starting computer the system would shut down in a few seconds without booting. I tried a lot of things. Here's a link to my worklog:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/work...ml#post1356289

I finally hooked a usb cable up and ran the M4 ATX utilities. It says I have firmware version 2.0 (I only thought they were up to 1.3).

The PC booted correctly even with the lid on! I removed and connected the USB cable a half dozen times and it always worked with the USB connected, but never with it disconnected.

So for you folks having problems with your M4-ATX acting possessed and starting/stopping strangely, either try not using the power on cable, or try connecting a USB cable.

Ron ]]> Power Supplies RonsRed88 http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137314-strange-m4-atx-problem-stranger-resolution.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137297-configuring-opus-standby-1hr-then-power-off.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:19:30 GMT The manual has me stumped....lol

I'm moving over to W7, and I want to use Hybrid Sleep. I want to keep power to the 5V rail for 1Hr or so before powering off completely (after 1Hr, it'll resume thru the Hibernation data).
Can anyone assist me in the jumper config?

Is "Shutdown delay" the amount of time the PSU waits before triggering the ATX power switch?

Or is it the delay it waits before killing the 5V rail standby power (but triggers the ATX power off as soon as the IGN is removed?)

Thanx ]]> Power Supplies WuNgUn http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137297-configuring-opus-standby-1hr-then-power-off.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137287-determine-fuse-rating.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:15:59 GMT Folks, I have a Carnetix P1900. I'll be running a Mac Mini and a Lilliput EBY701. The Mini power adapter runs at 120W @ 18.5V and the EBY701 needs less than 10W @ 12V.

If my calcs are correct that is about 7.32 amps. That seems very small compared to what I was imagining it would be.

Can someone confirm that this is correct? I am trying to determine the correct fuse and wire size running from the battery to my P1900 and from the P1900 to the Mac Mini and Lilliput.

Thanks. ]]> Power Supplies brownaa82 http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137287-determine-fuse-rating.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137286-resume-unlock.html Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:55:05 GMT I am in the process of planning out my system and I have not been able to dig up this with the search function so here goes. Scenario: I have been away from the car for a certain length of time on the PC is hibernate. As I am walking up to the car, I will unlock the car. This is when I... I am in the process of planning out my system and I have not been able to dig up this with the search function so here goes.

Scenario: I have been away from the car for a certain length of time on the PC is hibernate. As I am walking up to the car, I will unlock the car. This is when I want the PC to start resuming/waking up. I have a couple of spots to grab the signal. Either (a) the 12VDC pulse to the locks or (b) the 12VDC signal to the dome light which come on unlock. Neither of these signals stays there long (locks are momentary and dome light goes out on ignation start).

So I'm looking for one signal to resume it and keep it on until I turn on the ACC or IGN and keep it on.

I know I could use a series some relays, diodes and capacitive delays but I would be interested in what lessons learned/solutions that have already done. ]]> Power Supplies MTBBill http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137286-resume-unlock.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137255-my-experience-mini-box-maker-m2-atx-others.html Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:18:39 GMT seeing as we have a lot of members here that are newbies and do some research, i figured i'd post my convos with mini-box tech support regarding an issue multiple people have had.

this will give you guys a decent idea as to how mini-box deals with their customers, something probably as important as the power specs.


my first email:

dear sirs.

i would like your assistance solving this matter. I have an M2-ATX bought 03-08 from one of your authorized resellers (short-circuit.com, reciept available upon request.) i smashed my car before hooking the m2-atx up, and let it sit. upon booting the unit up for the first time recently, it worked fine, with the exception of a broken piece of ram not booting power to the 5V rail (actually i sent a quick support question to you guys, and one of your reps (Cristi Ciubotaru) never got back to me with an answer (support #54620).

i took the unit out and attempting to reinstall it went seaching for the correct way to install the motherboard on/off switch. upon only finding the +/- pin-out for my Via EPIA M10000, i guessed at its corresponding pin-out on my M2. the motherboard failed to boot in sequence, and would only boot when i pulled the connector off the J8 pin on the m2. furthermore the 2 pins on the J8 are constantly shorted.

some research on the internet has led me to the conclusion that when i guessed at the polarity of J8, i guessed wrong. my problem matches exactly that of user "cobase" http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/powe...-problems.html

in his case his unit was RMA'd and replaced.

i advocate that my unit, even though out of mini-box's one year warranty, should be RMA'd likewise and replaced. I feel this way because (i feel) the J8/J9 connectors should have been labeled on the either the installation sheet or manual, or maybe available on your website, or something. (in fact, your latest manual still fails to list the polarity of the pins) this is especially pertinent information given the fact that improper installation will toast your power supply.

interestingly enough, there's a big ol' disclaimer warning that reads:

The M2-ATX board has several wires that need to be installed in various
places.
When installing, always double check the polarity of your wires with a
voltmeter.

further confusing me is the fact that the J6 connector (which doesn't toast the power supply if switched) has its pins labeled, yet the connectors that fry the power supply if switched aren't labeled to ensure this doesn't happen.

i look forward to your response and a positive outcome for all involved.

-Christopher Larocque ]]> Power Supplies CTdubbin http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137255-my-experience-mini-box-maker-m2-atx-others.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137217-anyone-care-assist-figuring-out-power-consumption-my-processor.html Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:15:01 GMT Hi, I'm planning my first car PC and I was hoping to build the system around some spare computer parts that I have laying around. I have everything pretty much laid out except the power supply. I am planning on using a spare AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ I found but i cant figure out which version I have which I need to know to find its power consumption which will help me decide on a power supply. There are 3 different power ratings for this cpu (35W, 65W, and 89W) that I know of. I threw out the box and all documentation long ago, so all I have to go off of is whats on the chip itself. It has:
AMD ©2005

AMD Athlon™ 64 X2
AD03800IAA5CU
LFCBF 0650RPEW
Q1000542L60691

Any and all help greatly appreciated.
Thanks! ]]> Power Supplies cjrokke http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137217-anyone-care-assist-figuring-out-power-consumption-my-processor.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137193-battery-suitability-advice.html Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:37:59 GMT Hi Guys,
I'm currently planning a CarPC setup to go in in a months time, but I need my battery replaced this week, because it's shot. I'll be putting in an MCS Prebuilt (HERE) running off an M2-ATX, rarely run without the engine running. There is a non standard headunit, also acting as an amplifier, no dedicated amp, stock speakers and no sub. The engine is a 3.8L Aussie equivalent to a Chev, similar to an old Buick 3.8, and pulls a fair bit of power to the starter.

I don't think this means excessive power needs, but I don't want to under-resource my car, nor do I want to spend bucketloads on an Optima Yellowtop if un-necessary, and I'd rather avoid a second battery.

I need advice as to best battery selection. My mechanic is offering me an Archer Gel-Cell with 600CCA, 59AH, as HERE, for about $200 AUD, or a yellowtop Optima dry-cell as HERE will set me back about $400 AUD.

Which is my best option price/requirement wise? Will a second battery be necessary?
All advice appreciated. Sorry for blabbing on! ]]> Power Supplies hubbie http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137193-battery-suitability-advice.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137183-dsatx-wont-work-brainstem-s-plugged.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:01:40 GMT I have a DSATX i bought from mp3car about 2 months ago. Its connected to my dg45fc motherboard. The device works fine with no brainstem connected.. however if i install a brainstem the device fails to boot my computer. I have both the serial brainstem and the mp3car TTL 232R usb cable(with... I have a DSATX i bought from mp3car about 2 months ago. Its connected to my dg45fc motherboard. The device works fine with no brainstem connected.. however if i install a brainstem the device fails to boot my computer. I have both the serial brainstem and the mp3car TTL 232R usb cable(with brown/yellow swap) and both devices do the same thing. I'm not hotplugging either device. With either device connected, i get nothing but a little blip of power every ~30 seconds that i can hear through my car speakers (thump). No light comes on the dsatx. However, as soon as i remove the brainstem the dsatx comes back to life like normal. Jumping A2 + B2 dont seem to do anything. Whats the next step i should take?:confused: ]]> Power Supplies Sonicxtacy02 http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137183-dsatx-wont-work-brainstem-s-plugged.html http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137171-first-time-newbie-dc-dc-power-supply-regulator.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:42:20 GMT WHat's the difference?? I want to build a Carputer based on a Core2 platform so i know i need a pretty hefty power source. What i don't know is anything about power.

I see DC-DC power supplies and i see Regulators like the carnetx P series... i just don't know what the difference is though. Does the regulator also supply motherboard power, or is it to use with a regular power supply? Also, how does the whole thing get connected to the car's power? Is this right off of the battery via some 8AWG cable or does one use a cigarrete lighter adapter?

I know i'm probably asking alot, but if someone could just explain very quickly the PROPER way to wire up a carputer, i would be very greatful.

Thanks for shedding ANY light on this subject! ]]> Power Supplies convert_nyc http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/power-supplies/137171-first-time-newbie-dc-dc-power-supply-regulator.html