ArcaneDreams

Yeah, you rip out that big bulky power supply, and simply mount the DC-DC supply in the case.

It will leave you with much more room inside your case.

And the DC-DC power supply has the same outputs as standard power supplies.
The main difference is that instead of having a standard power cable you plug into a house socket, it has a place for you to insert wires connected to your car battery.

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rybitski

It isn't that I can't afford it, it is more of a I set a budget and am trying to stick to it.

My setup and costs so far:
Compaq Ipaq 1GHz $7 (traded an xbox live 12 month kit that I bought at kmart on clearance for $7)
1/8" 25' cable $5
100' cat 5 $12 (used to make usb cable, could have bought less, but I will use it for other projects in the future)
Heat shrink tubing $5 (15' on sale at harbor freight)
15' VGA cable free (found it)
Volfenhag 1000 W amp $70
Kenwood 1000W sub $50 (Haggling in NYC)
Various connectors, solder, flux, etc free.

Things left to buy:
Screen ~$200
DC-DC ~$70 ?
GPS ~$40

ArcaneDreams

$150 spend so far is one hell of a budget. Most people will spend well over $150 on each component alone!!!

Lets say you can buy a inverter for $40. There is only $30 difference.

Now you have to decide if $30 is worth having an intelligent supply that will startup/shutdown on its own, prevent your battery from going dead, reduce your car's power consumption, ultimately produce better sound, ect, ect...

rybitski

I was already planning on buying a dc-dc converter after this whole inverter failure...

I was wondering if this converter is worth the money
http://www.short-circuit.com/product...120-WI-25.html

Just wondering what converter has the best "bang for the buck"

Sorry, but I"m very thrifty when I can be...

2k1Toaster

I wouldn't touch the PicoPSU's.

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rybitski

why is that?

FusionFanatic

it sounds like you've got an old AT system. the intellegent DC-DC PSUs are designed for modern ATX systems which draw most of their power from the 12v rail. it doesn't mean you can't use one, but you'll have to buy a high power model like the Opus320 or the M4-ATX. they are much more powerful than your old 75w AT PSU, but they are the only ones that can provide 15a on the 5v rail. the M4-ATX is significantly cheaper, but it's still more than double your PSU budget...

you can get VGA monitors (like the EBY701) for around $150 on eBay so that can free up another $50 towards a good PSU. you could also consider a different motherboard/CPU that uses less power, which will allow you to buy a cheaper PSU like the M2-ATX. the D201GLY2A is a good option, its cheap, draws very little power, and is more powerful than your old AT system.

whatever you decide, good luck

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soloxp

H ell i'll do you one better.

http://www.idotpc.com/thestore/pc/vi...&idproduct=359

Now you can't do better then that. $8 more

JimmyFitz

That Pico PSU is not a shut down controller (SDC). It only gives 6A on each rail, AND only when the input voltage is at least 12V. In your car the voltage will drop lower when the engine is off, especially when cranking up. Also you said you need 14A at 5V.

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2002 T-Bird, Via SP13000, Travla C158, M1-ATX, 1GB RAM, 120GB 2.5" drive, SlimSlot DVD-RW, XP, RR, Winamp, Xenarc 700TSV, HTC Touch PPC/Phone, BU-353 GPS/iG3, Elmscan OBDII, Griffin PowerMate, 2 Blaupunkt amps, Polk spkrs, 5 sec startup/S3 STR
~Jimmy

rybitski

Fusion, thank you for the response.
I was considering buying the M2-atx even though it only provides 8 Amps at 5 volts under the assumption that it does not use as much power as the power supply is rated for.

I tried searching for the power consumption of the Compaq Ipaq shuttle pc, but couldn't find anything.

I am considering splicing the 5 volt line to the mother board and hooking my multimeter up to it... This is why I wish I had a clamp meter... Any way the plan is to max out the cpu at 100% and see what the actual power consumption is on the 5 volt line...

any other suppestions? I would really rather not have to hack up the cables, but without a clamp meter I have no choice. (the meter must be in series and not parallel to measure power.)

Would it just be cheaper to by another mother board if the M2-atx cannot power my pc?

I guess the reason why I have so much trouble paying $150 for the power supply is because I practically got the PC for free...

Thanks to everyone for the help so far.

2k1Toaster

Well the PC was free but pretty hard to put in the car. So use it as a server or htpc at home and buy a small board. You can get the intel little valley and an M1/M2 PSU for less than the DS-ATX and the onboard celeron will be just as powerful as what you have, actually faster and use much much much much less power.

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Enforcer

Just a bulk standard



http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...erter&doy=13m5

Although I got it when it was on sale.

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FusionFanatic

I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try. if you insist on using that system, then it might be worth spending a little more to get an M4-ATX ($115) which is rated for 15A continuous (20A peak) on the 5v rail.


in the long run, probably; yes... I think you would be better off buying an Intel little valley (D201GLY2 or D201GLY2A) and an M2-ATX. the Intel little valley boards are a great deal right now (I just bought one myself 2 weeks ago ). you can't get much better for only $75, the total cost (from MP3car store) would be about $165 for both.


I understand why you want to use that system that you got for "free", but it's already proved to be a hassle to use it as a carPC, and since it's an unproven setup there's no guarantee that you'll ever get it working properly as a carPC.

you've already found out that it doesn't like the cheap walmart inverter, so your options are:
1.) buy a better quality inverter and hope for the best (this would be a complete waste of money IMO)
2.) buy an expensive ($115-$230) high-power DC-DC PSU that can provide enough power on the 5v rail to power your system. you'll have to make your own connector (or hack up the existing connectors) to convert the 24-pin ATX connector to your proprietary system's 10-pin connector.
3.) ditch the "free PC" and buy a more efficient, more powerful, and commonly used (proven) system for the same cost.

given those options, I would strongly recommend option #3

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rybitski

I have an Intel Micro atx Pentium 4 board.
Is it un-advisable to run a Pentium 4 (if I remember correctly they use alot of power)
I'm not sure of the power requirements... would the M2-atx be adequate?

Anyone out there running a pentium 4?

2k1Toaster

First off, uATX means nothing for power consumption. I have a full ATX board with a Via 2000+ cpu that draws less than 20W. I also have a nano-itx board with a P4 Northwood on it. Physcial mobo size, means nada.

And yes a P4 is frowned upon. But there are many flavours of the P4. Running a northwood is better than a prescott or "presHot" Running a P4-M is better yet. Running a Pentium M is even better. All give you the same performance in the car unless you are doing some 3D CAD renderings on the go...

And if you arent looking for small, then look on NewEgg, and you will see the big ol' Via 2000+ mobo. I think it is like $50. It wont be as fast as the celly on the little valley though since the via C3/C7 CPUs are spinoffs of celerons with lower transistor counts and lower production costs meaning more defects so are defective spinoffs of defects, since celerons are actually just defective pentiums (seriously, not making that up).

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