n00b question alert! How to power a min-ITX system?

RDaneel · 12-03-2003, 01:49 PM

Hey -

Sorry for the basic question, but I am just starting to think about how to do my first carputer, and I'm considering the Casetronic Travla C137, which comes with a laptop style AC adaptor. The board is an M10000 with and comes with a 90W AC-DC brick. In order to power the whole computer what would I have to do? Is there an easy way to get a 120V lead out of the car to use the included adaptor, or is there a better way to go? Any write-up on installation would be appreciated!

Thanks!
RDaneel

deadweasel · 12-03-2003, 01:58 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by RDaneel

Hey -

Sorry for the basic question, but I am just starting to think about how to do my first carputer, and I'm considering the Casetronic Travla C137, which comes with a laptop style AC adaptor. The board is an M10000 with and comes with a 90W AC-DC brick. In order to power the whole computer what would I have to do? Is there an easy way to get a 120V lead out of the car to use the included adaptor, or is there a better way to go? Any write-up on installation would be appreciated!

Thanks!
RDaneel

A Tripp Lite DC-AC inverter will provide a house-type outlet in your car, from the cigarette lighter, although you will probably want to hardwire the unit to your car's electrical system to save headaches later. I don't know what type of board you have, so it's possible you could use a direct DC-DC power supply (such as an Opus), as long as you have the connectors available on the board. Sorry, at work so no time to surf around to check out what you have so I can be more specific. Hope I was able to help though!

RDaneel · 12-03-2003, 02:02 PM

Thanks again deadweasel (that's two of my questions answered by you in 24 hours!). The board is a M10000, and I will look into the Opus, though the Tripp Lite sounds like a viable option as well.

samc · 12-03-2003, 02:58 PM

the inverter option is "ok" but when it comes down to it it's easier to just get an opus. So if you can bare yourself the cost of the OPUS 150 or 90 psu then go for it. OH and you can make your own power supply, search for "sproggy."

Zip-Lock · 12-04-2003, 01:13 AM

Or you could get the PW-70a dc-dc power suppy. It is designed for the M10000. Read info on it here http://www.mp3car.com/products/pw-70a.html

I'm selling it for $50.99 here http://www.mp3car.com/products/buy.html

If you want a total solution then check out the ITPS too http://www.mp3car.com/products/itps.html

shakes · 12-04-2003, 09:47 AM

i don't understand this board ... people ask legit questions and get flogged with the search buddy ...

then posts like this pop up asking the most elementary questions that are answered a million times over and no one mentions the word 'search'.

RDaneel · 12-04-2003, 10:33 AM

Hey shakes - thanks so much for your positive attitude! It sure is ironic that your sig says "no stupid questions...", isn't it? The problem is that I did try the search, but it's hard to do that when you don't know product names or jargon. I guess that I could have guessed that "Opus" or "PW-70a" is what I needed, couldn't I? Putting in "power" gets you a million hits, whereas the simple question I posted got valuable answers from three people who didn't feel the need to be a big tough guy and tell me to search. Best of all, there's even now a thread with "power" and "mini-ITX" and "how" in the forum database, so future users can find it easily when they search.

Finally, aren't the first three words of my post title "n00b question alert"? I think it's pretty obvious to anyone that they are going to be reading a very basic question if they click on the thread. Why did you click on the thread? Just so you can be an a$$ and tell the new guy to use the seach function?

Thanks again for your constructive reply,
RDaneel

RDaneel · 12-04-2003, 10:36 AM

Zip-lock - thank you for the links. It looks as if the combination of the ITPS and the PW-70a is a perfect solution - it's enough wattage, it's regulated, and it controls the shutdown. My understanding is that with this setup you can pretty much ignore the fact that the unit is a PC, and operate the car as if you had a normal stereo or whatever. Pretty cool!

shakes · 12-04-2003, 11:26 AM

take it easy there paco ... did i say anything about you personally??? no ... i was meerly stating that the other people who post on this board really confuse me.

your post count (currently at 11) tells me two things ... 1. you haven't been here long enough to know how people tend to react to certain questions (even if n00b is in the title) and 2. you haven't been here long enough to know which users are generally helpful and which aren't.

So before you go telling me I don't have a positive attitude how about you stick around for a while and see if I am generally helpful or of i generally only post when i have something negative to say? search for posts i've made and i think you'll find i do more of the former. there are quite a few people who don't add anything positive to this forum ... but i am not one of them. You'll also find there are a handful of people (should we call them 'search bastards'?) who pretty much all they do is make posts with that farking search icon.

*I* did not tell you to go search ... *I* said i'm surprised someone else hadn't. See I hate that little search icon ... my opinion is if you're tired of talking about something that's been covered before just don't reply. I replied here because I had just come from a thread where a guy asked a VERY valid question and one of the search bastards posted telling him to search ... yet i see threads like this all the time and the same guys don't bother ... that annoys me.

I didn't say anything about your original question because i had nothing else to add ... i thought it was covered enough to at least get you started.

I agree it can be a bit tough to search on unfamiliar topics ... but when there's an entire forum on the topic of power supplies it wouldn't hurt to start reading every thread. You'd be surprised what you'll learn.

My reply was simply stating my confusion of other people here ... it had nothing to do with you ... so don't give *me* **** because *you* don't want to bother understanding what I said.

god where's that smiley with the double deuce when you need it

Quote: Originally Posted by RDaneel

Hey shakes - thanks so much for your positive attitude! It sure is ironic that your sig says "no stupid questions...", isn't it? The problem is that I did try the search, but it's hard to do that when you don't know product names or jargon. I guess that I could have guessed that "Opus" or "PW-70a" is what I needed, couldn't I? Putting in "power" gets you a million hits, whereas the simple question I posted got valuable answers from three people who didn't feel the need to be a big tough guy and tell me to search. Best of all, there's even now a thread with "power" and "mini-ITX" and "how" in the forum database, so future users can find it easily when they search.

Finally, aren't the first three words of my post title "n00b question alert"? I think it's pretty obvious to anyone that they are going to be reading a very basic question if they click on the thread. Why did you click on the thread? Just so you can be an a$$ and tell the new guy to use the seach function?

Thanks again for your constructive reply,
RDaneel

RDaneel · 12-04-2003, 11:38 AM

Shakes - that's cool if you really are being helpful, but you know that a post doesn't actually convey sentiment, and what you said looked like nothing more than a bad attempt at sarcasm. Saying you're surprised that someone else didn't say "search" is the same thing as saying "search" - at least without further explanation. Accept my apologies if that was what you meant... it's easy to miss meaning in a forum. Cheers,

MikeH · 12-04-2003, 07:19 PM

RDaneel,

I'm currently in the process of trying to put a DC/AC inverter in my car to power my M10000 in a casetronics C134 case. The inverter works fine, but puts a huge amount of noise on my audio lines. So much so that it is basically un-useable for playing MP3's. I bought a cheapy inverter ($30 for a 120W inverter @ Wallymart). I guess I got what I paid for. I'm going to try to return it for the more expensive version ($60 150W) which touted it's filtered sign wave output. My guess is that my el-cheapo is putting out some sort of very noisy square wave that's killing my audio.

I'm not familiar with the various "ATX plug-in" on-board power supplies (like the PW-70a), but my guess is that they won't fit in my C134 case (very tight). If you are using the C137, just check to make sure there is room above the supply. In the case of the C134, there's no room above the power supply. In fact, it's packed so tight, there's no room for ANYTHING else.

I'd check out some of the technical specs on the Opus 150W supply (www.opussolutions.com). His specs tell the story of what you should look out for when trying to select a power source for an automotive application.

Good luck n00b. This stuff is really fun.

RDaneel · 12-04-2003, 07:26 PM

Thanks, Mike! I'm trying to be less of a n00b every day... I have pretty decent experience with "regular" and HTPCs, but this is my first car project...

The Opus seems like a good way to go, or the ITPS/PW-70 combo. Both would be a bit of a waste in the C137 case, as you already get a PSU in those systems. Still, it would be nice to have the devices already safely mounted...

deadweasel · 12-04-2003, 07:32 PM

You know what, I have a hard time with the term "noob", because I keep getting images of little kids typing one-fingered on their keyboards everytime I hear it. EVERYONE is a noob at something. No matter what anyone says, there is SOMETHING they don't know. I know lawyers that could whoop my *** in legal issues any day of the week, but are completely green when it comes to something as simple as retrieving their email.

I hope people aren't getting tired of the "n00bs" showing up here. I think it's exciting that our hobby is reaching more and more people, and I can promise that I will do whatever I can to give any new guy (or gal) a hand to get their foray into mobile electronics off the ground and running.

I say "welcome all NEWBIES!"

MikeH · 12-04-2003, 08:01 PM

RD.

Quote:

Both would be a bit of a waste in the C137 case, as you already get a PSU in those systems

Yeah, but, according to Casetronics FAQ's...

Quote:

Which system can I power directly from the 12VDC source in my car?
We have a few models that use a DC to DC converter inside the chassis, however, we do not recommend customers to power their system directly from a car battery without regulating it first. The input for the converter is 12VDC +/-5% tolerance.

This means you either have to replace the one supplied by Casetronics, or pre-regulate to 12V+/-5%. It's unfortunate that they don't sell the case without the PSU.

Opus seems to have thought thru the requirements in great detail. They've had some unfortunate problems tho, with their 90W unit. Hopefully they have fixed that since it looks like a nice replacement for my C134 PSU.

shakes · 12-04-2003, 10:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by MikeH

I'm not familiar with the various "ATX plug-in" on-board power supplies (like the PW-70a), but my guess is that they won't fit in my C134 case (very tight).

look on mini-box.com for a pic of the pw-70(a) ... it's very small and plugs straight into the mobo.

if you have the skills or the ability to go dc-dc you should always choose that over an inverter for the exact reason you stated ... noise.