Need Help Can't Decided About Opus

FALLENNITE · 01-31-2003, 04:51 PM

I am interested in buying the OPUS dc dc power supply but i have been given little to no info on the installations of them. The one guy i talk to told me he connected them directly to the wires that powered the ciggarette lighter. Can you hook it up this way or do i have to run wires to the battery thur the fire wall in the car. IF ANYONE CAN PLEASE POST SOME THING HERE THANK YOU

mp3z24 · 01-31-2003, 05:36 PM

if you are going to hook up a dc-dc, i would recommend that you wire it direct to the battery. you should place an inline fuse as close to the battery as possible, run the power to the PSU, and then run a ground wire to a metal surface of the car chassis or body. make sure you use a ground wire that is of the same size as the power wire.

running it off the leads from the cig lighter could lead to problems of pulling too much juice through the cig lighter circuit. you might be blowing fuses when you turn on the computer.

the inline fuse near the battery should be something like 20-30A. it basically protects the car from a fire that would result from a short circuit, if the wires ever got cut or crimped on something.

a nice feature would be an ignition switched relay that would only allow power to go to the PSU if the ignition switch was in the ON position or the ACCESSORY position. that way, the computer would only see power when the car is on. the same as your regular stereo. this can be easily done, but i dont have the time to explain it all right now...

~Mike

cproaudio · 02-01-2003, 03:16 AM

Opus has a start up and shut down controller built in. There are 3 power wires. Red goes to the battery. Black goes to ground. Yellow goes the ACC. A small plug with thin white and green wires goes to the power switch header on the motherboard. (I suggest adding a push button switch to the power switch wire) When you turn the key to ACC, Opus waits about 5 seconds and switches the computer on via power button header. When you turn the key off, Opus (by default) waits 10 seconds and shuts down the computer via power button header. The red wire has to be energized in order for the computer to turn on. If you want to bypass the start up and shut down controller, connect the red wire to the battery and use the push button switch that connects to the power button header on the computer. If you want to build a switch that lets you use the computer and stereo with out turning on the key, read this
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...threadid=12532

zootjeff · 02-02-2003, 02:12 PM

The problem with the OPUS shutdown controller is that it doesn't cut power to the +5VSB line. It will kill your battery over the course of a few days if you have USB devices that use the standby supply or if you have wake on lan functions.

Jeff

Mikesz · 02-02-2003, 11:27 PM

I drew up a little circuit I think might work. The only problem I can see is that the IGN and BATT lines go hot at the same time when you turn the key.

mike

zootjeff · 02-12-2003, 12:43 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael Szilagyi
I drew up a little circuit I think might work. The only problem I can see is that the IGN and BATT lines go hot at the same time when you turn the key.

mike

Or you could bypass the OPUS shutdown and use mine..
http://home.attbi.com/~zootjeff/shutdown/

Here is the new mountable one.
http://skylab.org/~chugga/mpegbox/sh.../shutdown2.jpg

Mikesz · 02-12-2003, 01:30 PM

Time to Pulse (P1): 47 seconds - 9 minutes

dosent that seem a little long? Can it be setup to that as soon as I turn the car off the PC shuts down. It would also be nice to have a switch so that i can select between instant shutdown, or go to the delay specified by P1.

mike

zootjeff · 02-13-2003, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael Szilagyi
Time to Pulse (P1): 47 seconds - 9 minutes

dosent that seem a little long? Can it be setup to that as soon as I turn the car off the PC shuts down. It would also be nice to have a switch so that i can select between instant shutdown, or go to the delay specified by P1.

mike

It is more like 5 seconds to 9 minutes, and there is a headder just for that purpose. you hit the little switch and it sets the timer to zero and instantly sends the button push..

Mikesz · 02-13-2003, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by zootjeff
It is more like 5 seconds to 9 minutes, and there is a headder just for that purpose. you hit the little switch and it sets the timer to zero and instantly sends the button push..

by this do you mean that it instantly shuts down when the ignition goes off, or it instantly shuts down when I hit the little switch.

mike

jzgt · 02-25-2003, 11:52 AM

From what I have read, the Opus power supply will allow, upon ignition turning to off, the computer to shut down, standby or hibernate with the option to shut the computer down after up to an hour. Is that correct? Here's the text from their website:

Quote from Opus Solutions:
The ignition lead is monitored to start the PC when the ignition is turned on and to implement a safe shutdown procedure. It controls and monitors motherboard signals to provide smooth power-up and power down sequences. In addition, it also responds to shut down, stand-by and hibernate modes.
The power supply can be programmed to shut down the PC after a delay of up to one hour.

- Jeff

frodobaggins · 02-25-2003, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jzgt
From what I have read, the Opus power supply will allow, upon ignition turning to off, the computer to shut down, standby or hibernate with the option to shut the computer down after up to an hour. Is that correct? Here's the text from their website:

Quote from Opus Solutions:
The ignition lead is monitored to start the PC when the ignition is turned on and to implement a safe shutdown procedure. It controls and monitors motherboard signals to provide smooth power-up and power down sequences. In addition, it also responds to shut down, stand-by and hibernate modes.
The power supply can be programmed to shut down the PC after a delay of up to one hour.

- Jeff

The OPUS, upon ignition getting turned off, has an adjustable timer, after a set time, the OPUS will send an ATX pulse to your MB, depeding on how you have the MB & software setup, the computer will either shutdown, hibernate, or standby.

jzgt · 02-25-2003, 04:55 PM

Frodo,
So it will only standby, hibernate or shutdown? Not standby or hibernate and then shut down after a preset timer limit has been reached? Is that from practical experience with the Opus supply? Because I read their text to say that it has the capability to do all three and then shut down after up to an hour of idle time with the ignition off. Am I reading that incorrectly?

- Jeff

ShinkunoNamida · 02-25-2003, 05:40 PM

You can have it shut off after 10s, 20m, 1hr, 2hr depending on how you set the jumper. Your computer may have a setting (and in some flavors of windows) to shutdown the computer after being in standby for a certain period of time. The Opus behaves just like a normal atx power supply. with the exception of the automated atx pulse. The atx pulse can put the computer in standby, hibernate or shutdown depending on how your OS is configured. Hibernate is merely copies your RAM to your hard drive and powers down so you can restore the same state when you power back up.. there is no way to go to "shutdown" from hibernate since you are powered off.. but then.. it shouldn't really matter, right? Anyway.. booting from hibernate is MUCH faster than normal booting. Standby is a low power mode, your computer can be configured to remain in this low power mode for a certain period of time afterwhich it will shut down.

But, like I said, the Opus is pretty much a standard power supply that has circuitry for sending an automatic ATX pusle. It also has low power protection which will forcibly shut down your machine (in case the shutdown process hangs for one reason or another) which would be the equivalent of pulling the plug from the wall.

I am very happy with my Opus, and I'm glad I got it.

zootjeff · 02-26-2003, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Michael Szilagyi
by this do you mean that it instantly shuts down when the ignition goes off, or it instantly shuts down when I hit the little switch.

mike

It either instantly turns off when you hit the switch or turns off after an ammount of time set by the variable resistor knob. IE a few seconds or a few minutes.

frodobaggins · 02-26-2003, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jzgt
Frodo,
So it will only standby, hibernate or shutdown? Not standby or hibernate and then shut down after a preset timer limit has been reached? Is that from practical experience with the Opus supply? Because I read their text to say that it has the capability to do all three and then shut down after up to an hour of idle time with the ignition off. Am I reading that incorrectly?

- Jeff

You're reading it incorrectly. The power supply has a timer for when it sends the atx pulse. It does not have a timer to cut all power, unless battery gets too low.