Thread: 2007 Mini Cooper Project

Originally Posted by Injector

well i still don't understand what you mean by the 30 seconds, but if the 528t needs a pulse to activate why don't you use your door trigger? what i mean is when you open and close the door it creates a pulse, it'll be around 4 or 5 seconds but it should still activate the 528t

dude, i stink at explaining this electronic stuff. i mean the power to the radio stays on for 30 minutes after I turn off the ignition.

if i used the door pulse, then everytime i unlock the door the power button will get retriggered. good thing you can set the power button to do nothing in the windows XP's pwoer settings.

either way, i stand corrected from what i assumed earlier, it seems the 528T doesn't need a pulse, it can be a constant trigger. i think these connections will work:

yellow and brown wires to power switch leads
red to 12V+ power
black and black/stripe to ground

here's the manual:


for $16 shipped, it's a fun toy to play with.

Wow, you have really made some progress since last time i checked in. Keep up on the good work!

Thanks guys for the compliments and help. Anyway, I just noticed on fatwallet that someone supposedly was able to get a eee 900HA from ebay for less than $200 (discounted from $324) using the live.com cashback program. Have to wait 60 days though for the cashback discount.

Wow, $200 for a decent laptop that fits perfect in a glovebox for it's secret identity as a carpc.

I think this is going to work! I have it dialed to fire the relay for about a half-second. I spliced the trigger black/stripe wire to the black ground wire. I soldered the brown and yellow wire to a headphone audio cable that will plug into the jack I have soldered to the power switch contacts. I cut off the orange wire which I don't need. I've tested this with a 12V battery.

This is much more elegant than my simple constant-on Bosch relay. Now I can use the power button if the computer freezes or something.

Well, I switched out my Bosch relay for the 528T and it works like a charm. BTW, W3bMa5t3r just posted that he is making the auto-on modules again. I would have gotten one if he was available when I needed one. It includes all the cables and connectors you need including a nifty usb relay so the switch won't fire if the computer is on. I have my XP power settings to ignore the power button instead of either shutting down or hibernating. I can still hold down the power button if I need to cut power in case of emergency.

Well, I installed my XM PCR today. Very easy to install. I didn't have my portable DVD drive to run the install cd with me so I found this link to download the software/driver. I set the port settings in RR config to match the assigned com port, checked the line-in plugin option, and set the line for XM audio in the drop-down menu to "microphone". I'm not sure what the setting do but it worked. I have it hooked up to my mini cooper's oem sat antenna via a connector under the passenger seat using this cable.



Of note, the eee pc 1000h had issues using the microphone jack to accept the XM audio output. The sound kept cutting in and out. I installed the latest Realtek HD drivers from Realtek's website. There is no line-in option so I selected microphone. Also don't forget to unmute the microphone in the output mixer.

Well, the audio seems okay. The eee pc forums seem to confirm that the mic jack can accept/record stereo line inputs. I ordered a cheap usb sound card with a dedicated line-in jack to see if it will make a difference. Also, will the XM PCR digital output mod with a usb digital sound card make a noticable difference if in the end I'm just connecting to my car's aux input and oem crappy headunit?

Well, even with my crappy audio system, I noticed while listening to talk radio awful alternator whine and constant hissing only when using the XM PCR. It's much better when I plug the line-out directly to my stereo's aux port instead of via the laptop's mic/line input. Also, unplugging the laptop car adapter helps a little with the constant background noise.

I think an external usb with a real line-in should do the trick. Otherwise, I'll get a ground loop isolator. I'm hoping to avoid doing the XM PCR digital output mod and getting a compatible soundcard.