Sinabl

Well i've had my car PC (its a laptop) for about 4 months now and its been working great. I have it installed on the floor behind the drivers seat. I would like to move it to the trunk so as to the back seat available but my question is this:

-What are the disadvantages?
-Will there be heat issues?
-I live in Florida and may potentially move to Austin, TX (Both are very very hot places).
-Since its a laptop, wouldn't it pose a fire danger with the battery being in there in the harsh sun.

What do you think? What is my best alternative???

slvrsol

Mine is the trunk so so it is completely out of sight and I don't have to worry about it getting stolen since I lock my trunk. If you are worried about heat, you could use a notebook cooler.

Sinabl

what if its parked outside in the hot sun and the laptop is off. Would the battery explode?

shotgunefx

Hope not , mine has been in for awhile and I've never had a heat related problem (knock on wood), it was about 100 degrees out yesterday and had no problems with it at all.

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slvrsol

Then blame sony, not us..

shotgunefx

I actually was worried about that. My model laptop had some of the batteries recalled, but not all of them (and not mine). I was fretting (still am a bit), what happens if they just haven't gotten to it yet.

Seems like if the problem is shards of metal puncturing through and shorting out, a bouncy, vibrating car would speed things up.

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brad1011a

Some car trunks have a ventilation exhaust (my Camry did, and my van has one behind the rear side panel). If you could close off that area, and add an exhaust fan(s) (as I did in the side panel of my minivan-3 12V PC case fans), then when you start the car the hottest air will exit. And with a constant flow around the laptop it should be fine.

slvrsol

In that case, I'd want it as far away from me as possible.

slopop27

i am thinking the same things as everyone else, 90 degrees in TX sun, might be or is likely 110 - 120+ in the car. i was thinking a DOCKING solution but, then i suppose that KIND of defeats the purpose right? lol well, I am thinking that if it IS located in the trunk, docking station or not, it will be quite warm. My trunk has no ventilation paths. I was thinking of just that, creating some type of duct work that would cycle cab air. Talons, have a relatively smaller area anyway i suppose. To be clear with everyone i am still in the preliminary steps deciding what components to go with. I am looking for integration of car components ODB-II reading and media experience. My highest concern though at this point is the heat. i have 2 laptops that i could easily convert to be my car PC/cpu. one is an athlon Proc the other is an Intel Celeron proc both are 1.6Ghz 512Mb mem (Compaq 2100US laptops). Again, HEAT seems to be a topic that keeps coming up, so maybe they are not qualified to "play". Another option if i did use one of those laptops, there is a Factory bracket that had an AMP on it, under the front pass seat. I have been kicking around that idea although i do not know what other cabling and accessories, boxes need to be housed or positioned next to it. space is the focus here
thinking about solid state drives (flash maybe), then removable drives for the media, in dash firewire or usb slimline dvd/cdrom or burner not sure if i will need a dvd burner.
any ideas, obviously components and space is an issue, need to plan out entire system and then decide how to "locate" them conspicuously, right? ALL of which has to tak einto consideration the heating and cooling effects.
TIA,
Eric

slopop27

i am thinking the same things as everyone else, 90 degrees in TX sun, might be or is likely 110 - 120+ in the car. i was thinking a DOCKING solution but, then i suppose that KIND of defeats the purpose right? lol well, I am thinking that if it IS located in the trunk, docking station or not, it will be quite warm. My trunk has no ventilation paths. I was thinking of just that, creating some type of duct work that would cycle cab air. Talons, have a relatively smaller area anyway i suppose. To be clear with everyone i am still in the preliminary steps deciding what components to go with. I am looking for integration of car components ODB-II reading and media experience. My highest concern though at this point is the heat. i have 2 laptops that i could easily convert to be my car PC/cpu. one is an athlon Proc the other is an Intel Celeron proc both are 1.6Ghz 512Mb mem (Compaq 2100US laptops). Again, HEAT seems to be a topic that keeps coming up, so maybe they are not qualified to "play". Another option if i did use one of those laptops, there is a Factory bracket that had an AMP on it, under the front pass seat. I have been kicking around that idea although i do not know what other cabling and accessories, boxes need to be housed or positioned next to it. space is the focus here
thinking about solid state drives (flash maybe), then removable drives for the media, in dash firewire or usb slimline dvd/cdrom or burner not sure if i will need a dvd burner.
any ideas, obviously components and space is an issue, need to plan out entire system and then decide how to "locate" them conspicuously, right? ALL of which has to take into consideration the heating and cooling effects.
TIA,
Eric

JimmyFitz

If your car is parked in the sun with the windows up all day, it will be just as hot in the cabin as in the trunk.

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ghettodish

Cant you just remove the battery? You don't need it if the laptop is plugged in.