1997 Expedition's first brain

Robert_L_Ross · 08-12-2007, 05:50 AM

LET THE CARNAGE BEGIN!!!

So I've been toying with making a permanent install for quite some time...used an IBM laptop as a temporary brain for a while. Found an old HP e-Vectra on Craigslist for $70 and decided to blow the cash and see what we could do.

So I have Windows XP on the 40gb hard drive (will upgrade the hard drive once I can find out the max hard drive size the board/bios will support - will upgrade the RAM when I find out it's max as well).

The e-Vectra (referred to from here on out as the 'Vectra') was in mid condition, with visible crap haning out of the vents. I did a complete tear down - everything but removing the cpu/heatsink and cleaned everything found out someone had been inside before messing around (wires for LED's and power switch were misrouted).

Once back together and good to go, I wanted to install a remote switch to power up/hibernate.

I decided to go with something easy to remove (in case I need to take it inside the house on days well below 0 - or just when it needs upgrades, etc.)

I went to the new Fry's in town and purchased the following:
1 GC Standard Pushbutton (normally open, off/[on[) rated at 3A, 250V AC SPST (part number 35-420)
1 Pan Pacific MiniDin metal panel mount 4 pin socket (part number MD 67000 4s-p)
1 Pan Pacific MiniDin cylindrical 4 pin connector (part number MD-4P-P)
1 Waldom 2 position terminal block (#6-32 thread)
25 feet of 24AWG 4 conductor stranded/sheilded cable

Please don't laugh at the horrible solder work, I'm not an electrical guru.

I decided to make the remote power button plug in like a regular din connector. I'll attach pics to the thread later.

Next step, mount the power switch.

Unknowns:
The motherboard looks like the power supply is ON the motherboard. Because of this, I'm not sure if I can use an ITPS Opus-style controller to start.shut down the pc. If I can, I'll wire it to the other two strands of the connector.

Can a separate ITPS controlled power supply provide the 19v I need at the power connector? If not, can an ITPS board be used to turn on/off a power inverter?