19" LCD, How should i power it?

vairu · 02-13-2006, 02:44 PM

Ok, a friend of mine in my car club has a *****in LCD in his back window (see pics below). I'm guessing it's like a 20~21". This is a really old pic of his xB, back then he had it sitting on top of his sub box ... now it's flush against the rear window which is completely black vinyl'd out ... looks sweet driving thru the city @ night. His is the white xB 2 over from mine:

I'm not sure how he has his powered, it might be a different setup than mine cause he has it hooked up to a DvD unit not a CarPC (it's like chained off his in dash TV and headrest TV's). I'm guessing an LCD for VGA use is slightly different tho.

Here's what i have:

-ViewSonic VX910: http://www.viewsonic.com/products/de...xseries/vx910/

- 140w Inverter from Intec.
-VGA Y-splitter (Comp -> Lili, ViewSonic LCD)

What i'm wondering is, will it be safe to power this LCD view an inverter? I know that with like the 7" Liliput in my dash that when i had it powered via the cig lighter there was a slight chance that a voltage drop could occur and damage the "lamp or inverter" or something like that.

http://mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=48110

"A voltage spike on a DC-AC converter can cause flickering and damage to the lamp and inverter"

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I'm just asking advice from anyone that might know, i'm sure someone does on these boards. I just don't want a blown up monitor u know. Also, please don't post how "unnecessary" it is to have an LCD this big in the car etc. If i do install it it will most likely only be temporary for a show this weekend or future shows. Mostly used to show off the CarPC and/or a DvD from all the footage i've shot at previous shows that my club's been in.

Thanks for the help in advance. I'll post up how my friend wired his up when i find out.

EsKALad · 02-13-2006, 06:01 PM

honestly. i say stay unique and dont do it. your friend already did it. but anyway if you must. the best way to do it is with dc to dc power supply like a carnetix if its 12v.

vairu · 02-13-2006, 07:11 PM

Are all monitors 12v? And i'm not putting mine in the back window like he did ... It's hard to be Unique nowadays anyhow. And besides, if i don't put it in the car i would be like everyone else who doesn't have one ... i'm not doing it for uniqueness is what i'm trying to say, and to me personally, i consider things i do to my car unique based on what I see where i live on a daily basis (my friend does not live anywhere near me and the club is based from like 10 different cities around Florida ... there's only 2 of us in my town and between us we have some 'unique' shiz).

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My main concern is if it's a bad thing to power the LCD via an inverter, and will my inverter even have enough juice to power it. I know that i have used my inverter to power a PS2 and a 15" regular tube television in a minivan while on the highway ... i was impressed lol. Of course when the van was running in the lower RPMs the inverter couldn't power both the PS2 and the TV. But i would imagine that an LCD could use less power then a CRT monitor or tube television. I'm not sure if that's right but in my opinion i would 'guess' that. This is why i posted the thread to see if anyone who knew could help me out ^_^

Bugbyte · 02-13-2006, 08:15 PM

Look on the monitor. It should tell you how many watts it draws. If your inverter can supply that, you'll be okay but to ensure a good connection, consider connecting it directly to the battery rather than a cigarette power port or whatever.

To power it from a DC source, you'll have to open it up and figure out where to input the DC power unless it has a DC input.

grimor2000 · 02-13-2006, 08:20 PM

wow, that is a dumb place to put a monitor, where does he park? I've got a brick and need a new screen...

vairu · 02-13-2006, 11:27 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

Look on the monitor. It should tell you how many watts it draws. If your inverter can supply that, you'll be okay but to ensure a good connection, consider connecting it directly to the battery rather than a cigarette power port or whatever.

To power it from a DC source, you'll have to open it up and figure out where to input the DC power unless it has a DC input.

Thanks for the info. This monitor isn't one i'll be using permanently in the car, just to test out places to put one ... once i get one i will look into that. Also, i am going to run the inverter straight to the battery sometime this week. What gauge wire should i run to it? It will probably be like 5 feet from the battery ...

I did put the monitor in just sitting on some stuff in my hatch area, just to test out if it would work and how it would look at night ... it did in fact work with the car off and the CarPC was running as well. No signal loss from the Y-splitter and the 6ft VGA extension either.

In the background my 7" lili is blocked half-way from the front seat i think, or a rear headrest ... also the thing thats in front of the screen at the bottom left is my rear view wiper. I know the pic is ****ty ... of course in person it would look a lot more "crisp" ... and that is deffinitely not where it would be installed.

And grimor2000 ... i knew someone would say that, and it's what i thought as well ... but as of now it is the mounted equivalent of "hard-wired" in, so you would have to do a little bit more than just break the window and "grab" the monitor out. IMO it looks really cool in person, with the screen off even in daylight you can't tell it's there ... as i said the rear window is blacked out with solid black vinyl. Not practical but then again some people would say a CarPC isn't practical as well.

JimmyFitz · 02-14-2006, 12:22 AM

Write a PM to this guy: TheLandYacht
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/members/thelandyacht.html

He has a van with multiple LCD monitors like you are talking about. Check out his profile on here and the link to his web site. I saw his ride a while back. It is impressive. I think he uses inverters to power everything, but more than one of them.

ralfsmith · 02-14-2006, 01:07 PM

Oh its very interesting. Could you provide me more information ?

johntvery@operamail.com

johntvery@hotmail.com

vairu · 02-14-2006, 03:02 PM

Thanks, i contacted him.

Ralf u want more info about the guys van or?

MatrixPC · 02-14-2006, 03:36 PM

Get a 42" or bigger plasma/lcs and replace the rear glass windows with the screen. That is unique.

BTW, to power it, depend on the monitor. Some have an adapter that convert to 12V to feed the monitor. Some have an adapter/inverter build inside the monitor.
Like Bugbite said, read the sticker to see what is the wattage the monitor use and get an inverter/converter to match (at least).

vairu · 02-14-2006, 04:43 PM

That would be cool, but if i had $1000+ for a screen believe me it would be invested in other parts. Anyhow, this LCD wasn't purchased by me, i'm just borrowing it for the show ... down the road i might get 2 15" for the rear passengers and house them in the rear of the front the seats (maybe glass them in or something). Not too sure yet ...

I just wired my inverter straight off the battery via 8ga wire (maybe 6ft from the battery it was ran, probably less). I tried to turn on my 15" CRT flat panel off of it with the car running and it didn't come on lol ... so my guess is that LCD's use a LOT less power than CRT's ... cause i powered the 19" LCD off the inverter from the cig. lighter with the car OFF. This makes me feel better about running the LCD and not killing it. I'm just glad that the inverter isn't causing any "noise" problems like it has in the past (i guess it was too close to the HU or my CarPC).

I'm going to mess with it some more tommorow and try to find a good place to mount the LCD

TheLandYacht · 02-14-2006, 11:14 PM

OK. Lets see if I can address some of the questions.

First...yes, the entire system with the exception of the sound is run off a single 1200 watt inverter.

Does this cause any problems? None that I've seen yet, and I've been running a system similar to this with various configurations for going on 6 years now.

I do have some transient issues, but believe them to be more vibration related than something that the inverter caused.

Plan on replacing your inverter every 18 months or so if you're running them anywhere near (within 70% of) full rated load.

The monitor will either have a 3prong power plug like you do on the back of a standard desktop computer, in which case it either runs directly on 120vac (unlikely) or has a ac/dc converter inside the chassis. The more standard configuration, though, is to have some kind of proprietary plug (usually a small round plug) for the power...the cord between the monitor and the wall will have some kind of big honkin rectangular box in the middle of it. If this is the case, that's where the ac/dc converter lives.

If I'm reading you right, everything ELSE lives on 12vdc...am I right? If so, then the most reasonable solution is to find out just what kind of power this monitor needs (most likely a variation of DC...usually 12v) and buy a DC-DC power supply for that voltage or run a lead from your already existing dc-dc power supply that the computer uses if it allows for that.

The ONLY reason I'm using an inverter is that it was the simplest solution at the time and there are items in the van that use 120vac...since I was gonna need an inverter anyway, I decided to run everything off of it.

vairu · 02-15-2006, 12:07 AM

Thanks for the info m(__)m

The monitor must have the inverter built in (probably why it's heavier then i expected) because it uses a standard cable that would be used between a wall and a standard computer PSU. It plugs right into the back of the monitor with no brick in between. It would probably be easier for me to just run it off the inverter because finding a right DC-DC PSU and hacking the LCD (which i'd be real nervous about) would be more expensive in the end i would think. If it's not really needed then why should i do it u know. Also, at this point i will probably put the PS2 back in the car now that i "hard-wired" the inverter and it's not causing any noise problems like it was when i had it plugged in the cig lighter (and the inverter itself laying near the computer and RCA cable).

You have any pics of your setup man? I couldn't find any ... just curious to see other ideas out there.

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Let me get this straight tho .... from the car battery i have 12v DC? Which my inverter is converting to AC (how many volts? 120 like in houses?)? And then the inverter inside the monitor is converting this back to DC and probably 12v? Crazy

gnomad · 02-15-2006, 12:59 PM

Most LCDs with an external power brick take 18-19 VDC, and you should be able to drive them with a Carnetix P1900. (The P1900 would be dedicated to the LCD.)

-g.

vairu · 02-15-2006, 04:30 PM

Cool, mine has an internal one but i'll remember the Carnetix advise...

Also, i played with it some more today and it runs great even with the battery off ... only thing is i noticed there are a lot of like "waves" running through it ... like a TV with a semi-bad reception. I don't know what the word is for it but i notice that with the LCD on and the inverter on (obviously to make the LCD on) that my in dash 7" Lili (powered via my Opus) has the same waves ... it sometimes has these any ways but it is hard to notice .. with the 19" LCD on the 7" has the same waves tho. What is this caused by? The inverter causing "noise" Is that what it is?

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