megagoo

is there any way you could explain in a little more detail how to do this. i dont know what a 555 timer is or how to feed it to a step down transformer..

thanks
eddie

moahdib

Ok here is my solution.

I modified mastero's shutdown controller to send a pulse signal to turn on my laptop when Vacc is first connected. Only thing is that you need to wire it to the push button of the laptop or to the docking station if you have one.
After that the shutdown controller works the same way.
Parts:
Mastero shutdown controller ( http://www.roshanindustries.com/mp3pumphouse/sdc.htm ) same one that me and Jeff Mucha came up with.
If you want more info on the controller along with schematics how to build it, check out www.carpc.tk under hardware.

Parts:
12V relay
1N4001 diode
1KuF capacitor
10Kohm resistor



Wire the capacitor and resistor to pin 85 as above and ignore the other wires for now... I'll tell you how to wire it to the Mastero controller.
The diode goes across 85 and 86 as pictured above.
pin 86 goes to connector E of the controller.
pin 87 connects to ground.
pin 30 goes to connector D of the controller.
87a is not used.

To find which wire you use on the laptop switch, follow the same instructions on mastero's page. The switch simply connects a + signal voltage to ground to turn on the laptop. Same way as for an atx mobo.

Here is my original schematic with the changes above...

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Fast car, fast PC. ;)

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My TL CarPC ver2

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Scouse Monkey

moahdib, nice one - am just planning ym laptop install and was planning on using the same shutdown controller and hpefully you have saved me some headaches witht he startup. I just have a few questions though:

1. If the startup controller send sa pulse when the Vacc becomes live then what happens if it goes off breifly - eg cranking? Will it send another pulse when the Vacc becomes live again?

2. I am hooking te controller tothe button on a docking port and wondered if it was more sensible for me to use replace the switch with a relay powered by the pulse so i am not feeding power into the electronics.

3. Am i understanding this correctly? When i turn my Vacc on the circuit will turn on a relay to turn on my inverter etc, this will also trigger the controller to send a pulse to mimic the switch being pressed.

4. Can the length of the startup pulse be changed by using a different resistor or variable one?

5. can a delay be introduced into the startup pulse to give an invertor/ps time to power up or can you just lengthen the dealy as in Q4 so ensure the laptop sees the ON pulse.

Sorry about the number of questions just want to have a good understanding of the controller.

Cheers

Andy

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moahdib

Nope. Read the detailed instructions on the controller... basically, the controller stays on for about 10 minutes before it completely shuts down.(or whatever time you set it to) AFTER you remove the key from ignition. During those 10 minutes you can do whatever you want... cranking the engine, turning on and off to the Vacc position, etc as many times as you wish. If the controller is on, no pulse will be sent. It only sends a pulse when the controller first turns on, after a previous shutdown.

You are not feeding power to your electronics. You are simply connecting one of the wires to ground. Thats how my dell docking station works.
If you want to be absolutelly sure, put a diode.

Correct. The contact to the power button only lasts 1 sec or so for me. You can set it to different timing as well.

yes. Just change the resistance on the pot.

Sorry I don't really get this question. If you're using a laptop you shouldn't have to worry about your inverter turning on before or after the laptop turns on as long as you have a battery in the laptop. In case you don't you'd have add another RC circuit to add another delay. As it is now, the inverter and the pulse is sent at the same time.

__________________
04 Acura TL w/ core2duo 2ghz laptop w/ 1gb RAM on a docking station.

Fast car, fast PC. ;)

http://www.arcdesigns.net/carpc/

My TL CarPC ver2

FSR Flash Skin w/ moving weather maps

Scouse Monkey

Moahdib, thanks for your thorough replies. What i meant in the last question was that because i was originally planning on running my laptop with a PCI sound card in the docking station i need the power to the dock to be on before the laptop comes out of hibernation/standby as the thing screws up otherwise (like placing a PCI card in your desktop when it is running and expecting it to work) and i was woried about the time it would take the invertor and AC-DC adapter to stabilise. I am jsut going to use a port replicator now with a DC-Dc converter and the latops own soundcard so i needen't worry now.

thanks for your help.

Andy

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If you want more answers on anything I have posted you can find me at digital-car.co.uk

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moahdib

wow i didnt know you port replicators had PCI card. =\ Never seen one like that.

__________________
04 Acura TL w/ core2duo 2ghz laptop w/ 1gb RAM on a docking station.

Fast car, fast PC. ;)

http://www.arcdesigns.net/carpc/

My TL CarPC ver2

FSR Flash Skin w/ moving weather maps

Scouse Monkey

Yeah it is the IBM Docking port II - has 2 extra PCMCIA slots (with separate controllers), AC-DC PSU, slot for DVD drive and PCI slot. Had a soundblaster running in it but i was thinking about using another graphics card in it. They cost over £300 new but i got it for £20 - bargain or what!!! Gonna use the smaller replicator though as i dont want to use an invertor as i don't want to put too much load on my alternator and the onboard sound will be ok for now. (plus i had problems with one of the channels being noisy on my sounblaster but i am not sure if it is a bad earth or of the card is just a bit old and knackered - been taken in and out of my desktop for 5 years).

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If you want more answers on anything I have posted you can find me at digital-car.co.uk

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BMW DZYN

could someone put thie conclusion of this post in laymans terms..?
How to make the diagram circuit, etc.?

phita23

AMEN!

turbocad6

depending on the design of the switch & whether you are willing to remove the top lcd section or not, you can actually have it be mechanically activated by an electrical solinoid, sometimes the simplest way is the best way, i did a panasonic toughbook install where the switch was on the right side & needed to be slid back. Just attached a small hook through a small pinhole & had a door lock actuator pull the switch back.if your laptop has a push button it would probably be activated by a cam setup to push it. I opted for a electrical button on my dash to operate it on that install, but you could easily integrate one of the many controllers avail. there are variations that are as ghetto as a bicycle cable & lever, but you can be more creative than that & get it to work perfectly if you are creative........

I do understand the desire to have it all electricaly & not mechanical, but in the end it's the functionality your'e after, & this really isn't a bad option in my opinion.

I'm planning on installing a centrino laptop soon & I will atempt a wake on lan or wake on ring, but if it becomes a huge frustraiting pain in the *** then I will fall back on mechanical activation or soldering to the swich board.........

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cyjad

I have tried the mechanical approach too.

I had a carputer which was an old laptop and I noticed that if I pressed and held the power button down that the laptop would power up just fine and not reset like some other laptops do. So, I just devised a way to have the power button always pressed in. When I started the car, the power adapter would get power, and the laptop would just start.

I noticed that some ibm thinkpads work this way too.

whatever

I'm using the mechanical approach. The old camera shutter release is a very ghetto way of doing things, but it does turn the pc on and off, just need to make a bracket to hold it next to the power button.
anyone have more detail on tone generator mention in eugenen's post?

eugenen

A 555 timer is a basic and popular small IC, its used in many circuits and is available most anywhere. You can pick them up at rat shack and a little book full f example circuits. It just takes a couple external capacitors to make its output stay on for a certain length of time or pulse at different frequencies. A telephone ringer puts out a 30Hz roughly 90v signal but phones were built really failsafe and will ring with just about any pulsing signal. You take your little 555 timer IC and find the frequency formula and select a couple capacitors to make it pulse at about 30Hz then find a small transformer say a 120v to 9v and connect the output pin of the 555 timer chip to one of the 9v leads on the transformer and connect the other 9v transformer lead to ground. Power your 555 timer circuit up from anything from 5-12v and it will pulse that voltage into the the low side (9v in this example) and the transformer will step that voltage up to around 100v which will simulate the telephone ring voltage. Some phones/modems are sensitive enough you don't even need the transformer, pulsing 12v is enough to trigger the ring detect.

blackflux

Let me ask what everyone else including myself wants to know. Is there something that I can buy where I don’t have to do any soldering or anything else that will work with a laptop/notebook?

eugenen

There are telephone circuit simulators, last time I prices one it was $200.