Xenarc acting strange once installed

Sivion · 08-01-2004, 02:27 AM

I recently fabricated my own face plate out of my factory face plate. I relocated the radio head unit to right below the monitor. Now that I got the computer working, I get all kinds of noise in the image. And oddly enough, when I turn on my headlights, the monitor loses sync with the PC. Also, it never stays sync'ed with the PC output anyway, the Xenarc keeps trying to sync to the PC like the resolution keeps changing or something. So I am wondering what I going on. Everything survives crank too I should add.

Also, another problem I am having (which seems to be intermittent, is that my radio gives out a static humming noise which increases with engine revving. But this is not always there. Once music is processed either in CD mode or FM mode, it is not there at all, unless I turn the volume to "0". Once I turn it up one notch the noise goes away. This does not stay constant however.

This is how I have my setup wired. I have an inverter wired directly from my battery to the trunk. There is a relay in-line with the inverter with a switch controlling the inverter. The switch is using power directly from the battery as well to deliver this switching power to the relay. The inverter is a 375 WATT Tipplite with a Micro-ATX case (300 Watt) powered off it directly. The Xenarc LCD is powered off a tapped line from the battery that is going to the switch that switches the relay on and off and uses the same ground (since the switch has a lamp, I have ground coming from the battery to it) as the switch.

Anyway, I have no idea what to do. I am going to take my PC from in the house outside and plug it in to the Xenarc and see if I get the syncing issue to rule out the Xenarc or the PC itself.

Oh, and the VGA extantion I have going from the trunk to the front is a SVGA with ferrite cores on each end...Supposed to be really good. *shrug*

The hardware in the PC is a GeForce 4 MX440, D-Link Wireless Network card, and the rest of the stuff is on-board. I do not have a CD-ROM installed.

I have read alot of grounding issues. And so far the PC and the inverter are only grounded to the battery itself. But so far I read nothing on strange power problems and syncing problems relating to ground...Only noise.

Anyone got any suggestions for me? I am really stuck!

Sivion · 08-01-2004, 12:04 PM

Anyone?

Demolition Man · 08-01-2004, 12:28 PM

crap, you got a lot of problems

well, since you moved your radio, it probably is not grounded anymore. that could be cause for the humming.

I don't particulary like inverters, because if there is a problem with it, it's a ***** to fix. plus you have two or three extra cables there that could be done away with.

the extra long vga cord could be suspect also. vga cable is known not to keep a signal. i have a 12 footer in my office running to the projector, that if you breathe on it wrong, it screws up.

some people have had good experience with ex-long vga cord and inverters, just not me. i suggest you unhook everything, and try one at a time. start with the radio, then the computer, then the display, and then unhook and do it in reverse. see what the weak link is

Sivion · 08-01-2004, 12:57 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Demolition Man

crap, you got a lot of problems

well, since you moved your radio, it probably is not grounded anymore. that could be cause for the humming.

I don't particulary like inverters, because if there is a problem with it, it's a ***** to fix. plus you have two or three extra cables there that could be done away with.

the extra long vga cord could be suspect also. vga cable is known not to keep a signal. i have a 12 footer in my office running to the projector, that if you breathe on it wrong, it screws up.

some people have had good experience with ex-long vga cord and inverters, just not me. i suggest you unhook everything, and try one at a time. start with the radio, then the computer, then the display, and then unhook and do it in reverse. see what the weak link is

Thanks for the response. The radio is grounded like it always was...Through the harness. Though, I wouls expect there to always be humming and what-not if that was the case. Plus I used the radio just laying on the floor before I installed it in the dash just connected to the harness for ground, and it worked fine all the time. Also, had it on the seat, on my lap...

Well, just tried to ground the PC chasis to the car frame and it got rid of a lot of noise, just not all. I also forgot to mention that I have the inverter mounted in the trunk with the PC. I haven't tried grounding that to the car chasis yet though. But I still get the loss of sync when I turn my headlights on and still noise is on the screen (just not as bad)

Oh yeah, and I would love to do without an inverter, unfortunately all the DC-DC supplies that I have seen are all under 200W and I need 300W.

Hmmm, anyone else?

Sivion · 08-01-2004, 05:05 PM

Anyone else got any info for me? Ok, I grounded the PC solidly to the car chasis. That seemed to definetely get rid of half of the screen noise as well as stop the LCD from losing sync with the PC. Now, all I have left is to get the damn noise out of the image.

Doesn't anyone else have any suggestions for me? Should I take the ground running to my inverter and ground it to the chasis instead of the negative of the battery?

live2themaxuk · 08-01-2004, 06:08 PM

image noise is coming through the power leads

quote :- The Xenarc LCD is powered off a tapped line from the battery

u need a way of filtering the power as its not always 12v and its a dirty 12v not a smooth regulated 12v

get a regulated 12v dc-dc adpater .

Sivion · 08-01-2004, 06:46 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by live2themaxuk

image noise is coming through the power leads

quote :- The Xenarc LCD is powered off a tapped line from the battery

u need a way of filtering the power as its not always 12v and its a dirty 12v not a smooth regulated 12v

get a regulated 12v dc-dc adpater .

I am not sure what you are talking about. Where can I get something like this?

Micco · 08-01-2004, 10:18 PM

Try CarNetix. I've not tried them yet, but this is what you are looking for I think.

nl4jy · 08-02-2004, 10:30 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Sivion

I recently fabricated my own face plate out of my factory face plate. I relocated the radio head unit to right below the monitor. Now that I got the computer working, I get all kinds of noise in the image. And oddly enough, when I turn on my headlights, the monitor loses sync with the PC. Also, it never stays sync'ed with the PC output anyway, the Xenarc keeps trying to sync to the PC like the resolution keeps changing or something. So I am wondering what I going on. Everything survives crank too I should add.

Also, another problem I am having (which seems to be intermittent, is that my radio gives out a static humming noise which increases with engine revving. But this is not always there. Once music is processed either in CD mode or FM mode, it is not there at all, unless I turn the volume to "0". Once I turn it up one notch the noise goes away. This does not stay constant however.

This is how I have my setup wired. I have an inverter wired directly from my battery to the trunk. There is a relay in-line with the inverter with a switch controlling the inverter. The switch is using power directly from the battery as well to deliver this switching power to the relay. The inverter is a 375 WATT Tipplite with a Micro-ATX case (300 Watt) powered off it directly. The Xenarc LCD is powered off a tapped line from the battery that is going to the switch that switches the relay on and off and uses the same ground (since the switch has a lamp, I have ground coming from the battery to it) as the switch.

Anyway, I have no idea what to do. I am going to take my PC from in the house outside and plug it in to the Xenarc and see if I get the syncing issue to rule out the Xenarc or the PC itself.

Oh, and the VGA extantion I have going from the trunk to the front is a SVGA with ferrite cores on each end...Supposed to be really good. *shrug*

The hardware in the PC is a GeForce 4 MX440, D-Link Wireless Network card, and the rest of the stuff is on-board. I do not have a CD-ROM installed.

I have read alot of grounding issues. And so far the PC and the inverter are only grounded to the battery itself. But so far I read nothing on strange power problems and syncing problems relating to ground...Only noise.

Anyone got any suggestions for me? I am really stuck!

"Weeeeeeeee eeeeeee eeeeeee" sound every time you accelerate is engine noise. Bad Grounding + Inverter = "Weeee eee eeee" from speakers.

What I used to do when I had a inverter is using a Ground Isolator. I know, I know... It's not a full solution. But it works great. I bought mines from Radio Shack. No more engine noise... Now I have an Opus so I could care less... I'll have to remove the Ground Isolator when I start reorganizing my carputer.

Same goes to your screen, you have noise in your power for the LCD. And this is also causing that sync problem. Sync occurs when there's a power loss too. And since your power signal is dirty. You'll see many syncs (Xenarc seems to be very sensitive about it)