N00b Power Question

jamiewhittingha · 03-22-2005, 11:58 PM

hi guys. I have spent the past few months reading every thread I can about installing a PC into my Jeep grand Cherokee.

I work with PC's for a living so the PC side is nothing new to me but I am having some read issues with the power side of things.

For right now I am going to rip apart my laptop and extend the screen cable and mount my screen on a flip down mount on the roof with the laptop base unit mounted under my seat for easy access and upgrades plus it cuts down on wires running around the SUV.

The question I have is this.

The last owner of my Jeep had an AMP installed and was kind enough to leave me to power wires and grounding wire still installed. I have a power inverter which started its life with a cig lighter end which got hacked off last night and I tested the wires directly onto the battery to see if it would power it, IT DID YAY!!!. Now, I went to the back seat under the seat where the power cables run from the battery. I tried the same test and I am loosing a crap load of power somewhere as when I hook the wires up I got low power light and that nasty beeeeeeep sound telling me its not getting enough power. Does anyone know if the cable that was used to power the AMP could / will work to power my inverter for my laptop base unit?

Any imput would be great.

Thanks guys and I will have photo's of my setup soon.

Cheers

Jamie Whittingham

xdjxklusivex · 03-23-2005, 12:00 AM

im getting the same problem but i hooked mine upto a fuse under my dash... i think you need a capasitator not sure but thats what i think is the problem with mine possibly urs too

jamiewhittingha · 03-23-2005, 02:26 AM

I have a litle black box about three inch's from the battery hook up ring - I think its a fuse but I am not sure why I loosing the power as the cable is only about 10 foot long and the amp wiring kits wal-mart sell to power you amp from your battery are 40 foot long and they say it will power the amp just fine without anything else to boost the power along the wa - thats one thing that is really confusing me lol.

cheers for your imput I will look further into your suggestion

cheers mate

Jamie Whittingham

Matthew230 · 03-23-2005, 02:38 AM

Try with an alternative ground

sfay93 · 03-23-2005, 02:45 AM

What guage wire is it? If it is smaller than 8 guage there will be some loss there.

Matthew230 · 03-23-2005, 02:48 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by sfay93

What guage wire is it? If it is smaller than 8 guage there will be some loss there.

Not enough to cause loss of operation.

csnowman00 · 03-23-2005, 11:18 AM

no, dont wire it into the amp....because of the huge draw from the amp at times, it causes fluxuations of current in that wire, which you do not want your computer tied into. If you have an analog voltmeter (with the needle), check the voltage at the amp, you will see it move whenever the amp "hits"....

the perfered method is to run a somewhat heavy, FUSED wire from the battery to your inverter, see http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=45155 for my schematic on how to simply wire your inverter up.

personally, i would be alot more concerned about the extending of your screen wires, if you are hacking it form a laptop. make sure the power wires are seperated from the data wires (if you need more explanation let me know) and that the data wires are shielded at some point, this will keep your screen looking sharp with little interferance

Scouse Monkey · 03-23-2005, 11:25 AM

Yay! another inverter wiring thread..not answered one fo these for a day or two!

I would suggest wiring the inveter directly to the the battery using 8 gauge (depending on the power), possibly 4 gauge if it is an uber big one with a powerful PC running off it. Make sure you put a fuse on the +ve lead as close to the battery as possible and have the power to it switched using a relay (see other posts) unless you plan to jsut use the inverters own switch (do not leave inveters on as they will drain your battery over night). Or use a shutdown controller for full automation.

I know i have repaeated stuff that the other guys have said but i wanted to say it all in my own special way!

jamiewhittingha · 03-23-2005, 05:00 PM

Guys thank you SO MUCH for your imput. I know there are 100's of power questions and I read them all but could not find anything relating to using amp power wire. There is NO AMP on this setup. The power cords WHERE used for an AMP by the last owner but I dont use an AMP in my setup. I am ONLY using the power cord that runs from the battery to the back seat.

All my screen and data cables are protected so that I dont get interferance from power cords and what not. The other thing that was a worry to me was.

My power cable from the battery is |xxxxxxxxxx| thick and my invert power cable is only like |xxx| thick - would that be a problem at all do you think? by that I mean the size reduction in the power cables?

Cheers once again guys.

Jamie Whittingham

oh and I have no idea what gage wire it is - it LOOKS like the ones your by at Wal Mart in the AMP Wiring kits for 20 bucks.

jamiewhittingha · 03-23-2005, 05:51 PM

You also said not to leave the inverter running. Did you mean all together or just with something pulling power from it eg. My inverter is in a water tight - cooled enviroment inside my enighe compartment where I can only reach the inverter switch by popping the hood each time i nee4d to turn it on or off - if i unplug to the power cord inside my jeep so that the laptop is not pulling power all the time - would this still flatten my battery or should I be ok doing it this way? or should I extend a switch to my dash to turn the inverter on and off as needed?

cheers once again yall

Jamie Whittingham

jamiewhittingha · 03-23-2005, 08:56 PM

ok well i answered my own question lol after reading a post from like 12 months ago on here it said it would drain my battery so I ripped everything out and started thinging so I ran my power cables (cables designed for AMP's) inside the jeep and everything now runs great. I have my inverter next to my seat so I can use the invert's switch as and when I need . right now my laptop is mounted on my center util unit between my gear stick and hand break. Job done for now

I will post something in the show off your project section tomorrow when I can take some photo's.

thanks for your help ppl.

Jamie Whittingham

csnowman00 · 03-23-2005, 09:43 PM

so your power cable is |xxxxxxxxxx| thick, thats an inch and a quarter thick on my screen!

jamiewhittingha · 03-23-2005, 10:52 PM

lol sorry ok its actually about just under half an inch thick and my power cable on my invert is like 1/8 or maybe 1/4 inch thick but it did not matter. when I put the two together and taped the ends up it made the curcit and e3verything workds just fine

csnowman00 · 03-24-2005, 06:15 PM

hey, u got any pics of your install yet?

jamiewhittingha · 03-24-2005, 07:18 PM

yeah pics are in the show off your project section under 94 jeep grand cherokee install

cheers

Jamie Whittingham