lockylocke

hi everybody, I am new to this forum and not a tech savy or anything. I just need some help on adding a button to start up my carputer in the back of my trunk. The button will be placed somewhere near the steering wheel. I did a bunch of searchs. All i found are just shutdown controllers. I don't want to mess with alot of thing. ..soo...what would be the easiest way to connect the computer's start up button to an additional button with some wiring??..Simply just one touch and i can turn on the computer..thanks

yonu

yes i used a momentary switch and a section of 24guage speaker wire and connected it to the bower button plug oin the motherboard works great

lockylocke

ok..but sorry i've not done this before so..just to make sure. This is how i do it right???...
i found two lines (white, white/red)to the power switch button (start up). I then buy a momentary switch and connect these two 2 wires together???..If this is how it is, thanks for everything.

cheer, (:

Bugbyte

Yes, as long as you aren't using an auto startup/shutdown power supply like an Opus or Carnetix.

They way you've described it, you're simply extending the power button wires that are normally used to start the computer from the switch on the case. Make sure it is a momentary switch.

By the way, the term for what you're looking for is a "valet switch". It's called that because you use it to keep the computer turned off when a valet parks or retrieves the car.

Your application is a little different in that you want to use the switch to command startup and shutdown. A valet switch prevents the auto startup/shutdown controller from telling the computer to turn on.

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Gagaza

If your computer already has a power switch you can try using that. Just mount it where you want, then run your wires. Also you can move your power and hard drive LED lights near your switch. Just as easy to run three sets of wires as it is to run one.

Anyway, I'm also a newbie that's not tech savy, but that's what I did and it's been working great.

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fromplanetbob

I installed this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...sPageName=WD1V

It's a wireless relay set up. I run power from (ALWAY ON) +12v from the car battery, then connect it to the Power and Reset buttons (I have an opus 150, so I just spliced in a couple more power lines to the existing power wires.

Now I can power on and off and reset my computer remotely. It works about 10 ft from the car, maybe more. For a case, I just got a nice travel soap dish from Wal-Mart ($1) made of plastic (so it won't interfear with the RF signal) and drilled a hole in the side.

Works like a champ and it's very portable.

mugu

I am working with another member of the forums on a laptop carputer install into his car. We ran into a similar thought. A power switch on a laptop (as on a normal desktop PC) is simply a circuit that is shorted out when the button is pushed. I wanted something that wouldn't break, and would not interfere with the portability of the actual computer incase it had to be removed. I then took a multimeter and ohmed out where the power switch touches the board to discover the fasion in which it shorted. I then discovered the modem port simply had a connector from the port to the interior. Basically I connected each of the contacts of the modem to each side of the power switch with a little bit of spot soldering. So now the machine can be wherever, and to toggle the power all you have to do is plug in a rj11 into the port, then short them out. Bang, long power switch. On a normal motherboard it is a bit easier, look on the manual and you can see which jumper is your power switch, and it is just a matter of running the wire.