Thread: '02 Chevy Tracker: Trying a plan for once

you must be in the midwest

there's a 2' drift outside my back door, and they're saying the snow has only just begun..(it depends on who you listen to- some say 20", others say 30")

i should have also mentioned that i use my carpc for audio processing, so i needed a better processor then the atom.. and when i found that board, it fit the bill nicely-- mostly because asus doesn't really make any mini-itx boards..

while i always run partitioned drives for customers, my personal computers don't. i just backup most of the data to removable drives that collect more dust then use.

just remember-- partitioned or not, a drive failure still looses all the data..

you must be in the midwest

I'm in the east actually, about 2 miles off Lake Erie. We get all the lake effect junk .

Another couple questions on the power supply... I already had a push button mounted in the center console between the seats to activate the power button for the old laptop. If the m4 or carnetix use the pulse to turn the pc on/off, would it cause issues if I didn't hook them up to the on/off pins of the mobo? And also, usb hub charging. Is it worth it to get one of the powered hubs from the store here rated to directly work on 12v's, or are the power supplies easy enough to get working with other powered hubs? I know usb sends out 5v, but if it only uses 5v to charge a hub (despite the ma's getting split between ports), would a 5v line off the power supply be enough to supply all the extra ma's if devices needed it?

Almost got all my paperwork for taxes, waiting on the bank's paperwork... Seems like I'm always waiting on the banks for something.

Originally Posted by detlion1643

Another couple questions on the power supply... I already had a push button mounted in the center console between the seats to activate the power button for the old laptop. If the m4 or carnetix use the pulse to turn the pc on/off, would it cause issues if I didn't hook them up to the on/off pins of the mobo?

not sure what you mean here-- you want to only use the push button, or you want to use the auto-start feature, and have the manual button?

Originally Posted by detlion1643

And also, usb hub charging. Is it worth it to get one of the powered hubs from the store here rated to directly work on 12v's, or are the power supplies easy enough to get working with other powered hubs? I know usb sends out 5v, but if it only uses 5v to charge a hub (despite the ma's getting split between ports), would a 5v line off the power supply be enough to supply all the extra ma's if devices needed it?

the powered hub from the store will have lots less issues getting powered up in-car, but costs more..

most powered hubs are fine getting power from the psu, but many hubs can have issues with hibernation, and sometimes won't power on right away-- so no matter what hub you use, i would recommend to keep non-critical items on it--so things like external soundcards, or your touchscreen input would get connected directly to the pc. things like dvd drives would get connected to the hub.

not sure what you mean here-- you want to only use the push button, or you want to use the auto-start feature, and have the manual button?

Sorry about that. Meant that I don't want to use an auto-start feature, but only my push button. Gives me a little more control, as when I take frequent trips to the store 1 minute away down the street, an auto-on would just be semi-useless. Since it's already wired from previous setup, I figured I'd use that.

Thanks for the suggestion on usb devices, I thought powered hubs solve the usb hibernation/sleep issues. Anyways, with the old setup I only had 2 ports on the laptop, with this new mobo, I have 8 or 10. Learning something is always good though!

i haven't specifically tried it, so i can't guarantee it to work, but i know the m4 has a 'dumb' mode that should work for this-- basically, it works like a normal pc power supply-- it supplies power all the time, but without the power button wire connected, will not turn the pc on.

i haven't specifically tried it, so i can't guarantee it to work, but i know the m4 has a 'dumb' mode that should work for this-- basically, it works like a normal pc power supply-- it supplies power all the time, but without the power button wire connected, will not turn the pc on.

I read some of the online pfd they had, and didn't like the way dumb mode sounded. It would allow me to start the pc like normal, but wouldn't act like a shutdown controller though. Then I found later something that said don't hook up the pins for the pulse start. Guess it does work how I would like it to...


Next week should be when I can start ordering parts. I kind of came up with a plan, just not sure how it might work out yet.

Changed the plan up some on the box I'm thinking of... I 'm not gonna have the plexiglass box attached to the sub box. I'm going to make the whole box removeable. The top piece of plexiglass will be removable (as well as the whole box), so I can work on anything inside in the box.

I was then going to take a sheet of metal for the bottom and bend up a back panel and cut out a whole for the back motherboard connections. Mount the motherboard and other components onto the sheet of metal.

I was also considering how I might mount the power supply. At this point I'm leaning more towards the m4 and mounting it inside with the rest of the components. However, I was hoping on making it easy to remove all the connections to the motherboard, you never know what might happen. With the m4, would it cause any issues to make some ends for the 12v+, gr, and rem wires.

I'm thinking of something like this, sort of how rca ends plug together:
Bat/12v+ -> end that can plug in -> end that can accept plug in -> m4 12v+
etc for remote and ground.
This would make removing the whole pc really easy and I would hardly have to fuss with wires, but would this method be safe (esp with 12v+/rem/gr ends all laying around/touching each other) even if the power is off?

Edit: Ordered a couple sound activated cold cathode tubes and blue 80mm led fans. Thought to liven up the clear case design Let's hope it works/looks ok.

Edit: Changed thoughts on case.

for the connectors:

http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...ource=googleps


i use a similar product--duratrax powerpoles-- on my rc truck with great results. they stay locked together, the swipe action helps keep them free of corrosion..

and then just use a standard male/female disconnect for the remote wire:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=095-310
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=095-300
(i think radio shack has smaller packs of 4-6 of these...)

Those breakaway connectors look exactly like what should do the job.

I've doing some thinking on the m4. If the on/off pulse is not sent to the mobo (it won't be plugged in), then it won't start or shutdown/hibernate/etc... So, what if the pulse is only sent to the mobo when the computer is on. This would mean the pulse would not start the computer, but could shutdown/hibernate it. So I came up with this:

[IMG][/IMG]

Basically, if the computer is off, relay is not active, so no pulse is sent to mobo. Manual momentary switch will turn computer on at this point. Once computer is active, the usb will send 5v to the relay (already have torn apart usb cables), activating the relay, and when the remote/ign signal is lost, this should send the pulse to shutdown/hibernate the computer (since relay is active from usb)...

This is all just a quick thought, so if I don't hear a definite it will or won't work, I will be trying it at least when parts come in.

yup, that should work.