Alternative to hacking up your power supply/cable to use p1900.

modulus · 05-18-2005, 04:44 PM

I just read about this guy who is powering his mac mini off of internal rechargable batteries..

If you guys are opening your mini up to hook up the power-on from the P1900, why not just wire an auxilary power port.

Have one for home, and one for car..

I haven't had mine open.. is there room for another power port next to the first one?

MikeH · 05-18-2005, 05:38 PM

modulus,

Great idea. Let me investigate. I may be more palatable to some than 'cutting the cord".

modulus · 05-18-2005, 06:57 PM

If I could buy a broken power supply, or a spare cable w/ connector for ~$10, I wouldn't care about wiring it up.. but violating the oem cable and then having to transport the ugly dongle annoys me.

I wouldn't mind cutting a hole in the back of the mini to install another port though. At least that can be made to be clean and professional looking..

molex.com has some nice search features, if I knew what anything was named, I'd provide you with a link..

kandyman676 · 05-19-2005, 02:19 PM

There was another thread about this rechargeable mac mini thing, but locked down.

Maybe this may be the answer for the sleep mode? Let it run off the rechargeable batteries when the power is cut and they charge meanwhile while its on?

The major thing to notice those about that project is the lack of the harddrive. Maybe an external firewire drive also?

modulus · 05-20-2005, 09:07 AM

I'd use a small 12V sealed battery in front of the DC-DC supply before I'd sacrifice drives for battery space..

The point I was trying to make with the batteries is that he's bypassing the normal power jack completely..

We could wire in another power jack, which could include the power-button splitter.. then just plug our own power connector from the p1900 to the mini via our own jack.

it's completely feasible, and in the long run, could prove more convenient than the apple power connector, since the apple connector will never have a 'power-on' feature..

MikeH · 05-20-2005, 09:33 AM

modulus,

I've looked at this rather closely. As you say, it IS feasible to bypass the rear panel power connector by soldering wires to the underside of the motherboard. My question would be, is this more palatable than cutting the wire on the "brick"? To do the mod in this article you must fully disassemble the Mac down to the motherboard, which means fully removing the DVD/CD/HDD/Fan assembly and removing the mobo from the chassis, then soldering power wires to some pretty small pads on the bottom of the mobo.

None of this is rocket science, but will people prefer this over the brick mod? I really don't know the answer. Perhaps we could get some feedback from the forum.

BTW, the article has missed the very important Grey wire.... That's why the unit won't turn on with this mod.

Bugbyte · 05-20-2005, 12:49 PM

Brick mod. If you solder incorrectly, you screw your computer. If you don't do the brick mod right, you cut it again and start over.

modulus · 05-20-2005, 02:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeH

modulus,
To do the mod in this article you must fully disassemble the Mac down to the motherboard, which means fully removing the DVD/CD/HDD/Fan assembly and removing the mobo from the chassis, then soldering power wires to some pretty small pads on the bottom of the mobo.

You're right, I didn't pay attention to the fact that it was the underside of the board to which he was attaching those wires. There are probably solder points on top that we could hook up to.. that would make it easier.

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeH

BTW, the article has missed the very important Grey wire.... That's why the unit won't turn on with this mod.

I noticed that.. but any connector combo used with a p1900 would provide for that, and for the power switch Y-cable..

Quote: Originally Posted by Bugbyte

If you solder incorrectly, you screw your computer. If you don't do the brick mod right, you cut it again and start over.

There's always risk in modding, and there will always be choice too.

sdashiki · 05-20-2005, 02:52 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by modulus

I just read about this guy who is powering his mac mini off of internal rechargable batteries..

Hey that was jacked from my thread, damn you.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/maccar/50396-mac-mini-runs-batteries.html

crazymadbastard · 05-20-2005, 05:54 PM

According to the Engineer at Apple, the Mac Mini should be able to operate anywhere between 20VDC and 10VDC

sounds like you can just wire it directly to your car?
hmm.

kandyman676 · 05-21-2005, 01:47 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by sdashiki

Hey that was jacked from my thread, damn you.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=50396

And you thread was locked since it was on the same topic:-P

Bugbyte · 05-21-2005, 02:05 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by crazymadbastard

According to the Engineer at Apple, the Mac Mini should be able to operate anywhere between 20VDC and 10VDC

sounds like you can just wire it directly to your car?
hmm.

Perhaps. MikeH reported that the Mini doesn't sleep reliably at 12 volts.

MikeH · 05-21-2005, 07:53 AM

Quote:

MikeH reported that the Mini doesn't sleep reliably at 12 volts.

Both Matt Taylor and I experienced the same sleep problem using +12V as the sleep voltage. When I get time I will experiment with this a bit more, but we now have 2 data points that say the "10VDC to 20VDC operating range" is not accurate. I can also report that MY mini will not operate reliably below about 11.5V, which means it won't survive engine cranking if connected directly to the battery.

modulus · 05-26-2005, 10:24 AM

Ok, forget all that other crap, I have been enlightened, and while it might be a bit more costly than other methods, this is the perfect solution:

The power supply is wired to the ignition, and thereby provides power to the mac mini whenever the ignition is 'on'

The power supply also has an ethernet port on it. Connecting the power supply to the mac mini with a network cable allows the power supply to obtain the mac mini's MAC address and IP. The MAC address and IP are stored in memory in the power supply.

When the vehicle's ignition is switched on, the power supply turns on, then builds the "Magic Packet" to invoke Wake-on-LAN.

I have already verified that Wake-on-LAN functions properly with the Mac Mini, and there's no reason that a device built into the power supply can't read the MAC address and IP subnet to broadcast to.

This will work, but requires a little more hardware, and some programming.

However, the benefits are obvious.
The mac mini doesn't even need to be opened, no power button y-cables, only the power cable must be 'hacked' at least, until the connectors are available..

Bugbyte · 05-26-2005, 11:27 AM

NOW you're talking! If it isn't too difficult (i.e. expensive) to add this to the unit, this would be a VERY nice feature bump to the P1900. Not to mention it would work on the PC as well.

Combine it with one of those little key fobs and receivers that transmit a pulse and you'd have a power supply with remote-on capabilities.

Mike H - if you were out of ideas for ways to enhance your product, here's one!