Power for Carputer

[GUJohnno]

A friend of mine, Antman, has made a "carputer" that can do all navigational jobs as well as other computer jobs.
Problem was, in a comp on the weekend, the power kept dropping out, mostly when the revs dropped. We were using the standard cig sockets in GU III.
I guess that the wiring isn't up to the loads that the carputer needs.
So I need to run a dedicated wire from the main battery. I'll have a fuse at the battery end. What we need is some sturdy sockets and plugs that wont let us down.
Any ideas??
Links??

[Ingenious-Eng]

Make sure you fit a regulated power supply, this means one that keeps voltage stable at what ever your computer voltage requires, as alternator fluctuations will reak havic on standard computer components. And you'll need heaps of cooling available on components too. I would be interested in the build up of your unit as I'm looking at the same Idea as well as getting a programing friend to write a program to monitor vehicle vitals & annouce a warning tone & show you on screen whats gone wrong.
Cheers

[pcman]

ok well really there are a few ways to get around this if your using a laptop with a car adapter then just chop the lead off it and run a cable straight from the battery with a fuse and your done

if its a more custom setup using standard pc components and a lcd screen ect and your using a inverter then go out and buy a dc-dc psu for it http://www.zantech.com.au/zantech/power ... atx-12v-dc

[Mick_n_Sal]

Sorry for the Thread hijack...

Ingenious-Eng,

An idea I'm toying with at the moment is the new mac-mini. It is a tiny 16cm x 16cm x 5cm. For the uninitiated this means it will fit in a single din dash slot. Is available with VGA - Video adapter has no internal cooling fans and is available for $700. Comes with latest OS and good range of included software.

Just working out houw much depth I need for USB plugs, Power Supply leads etc.

[adam.s]

You could make a small DC to DC power supply, but the problem is if you have any decent sort of current draw, the regulators will cost you ~$50/ea for the 12 and 5V rails.

A cheaper/easier option is an old notebook - more often then not they will run off a 12V DC supply, which means you just gotta solder up an adapter to wire it in.

Depends what you wanna do with it, but they are smaller and more power efficient because you arn't converting DC to AC to DC again, the only downside is finding one cheap enough.

Mac-mini is 700$, surely you could find an old p2 or p3 for 3-400$, considering a p100 would do all your GPS work easily, the p2 would be overkill.

[MAVRK-4]

If you using a laptop system that needs power above 12v, ie.. most newish laptops use 18v then a better adaptor is the way to go.

I have one of these laptop car adaptors from direct australia.....they are up around the $100

http://www.directaustralia.com/laptop-charger.html

[Ingenious-Eng]

Prob. a dumb question but can a new mac mini run windows xp or do they still have their own operating system?
Cheers

[Mick_n_Sal]

The mac mini runs Mac OS X. though you could emulate windows if you wish. The new Mac OS is *nix Based.

I was thinking about having it removable so I could have it in the car on a trip recording video and doing nav, then bring it back into the house as a desktop when at home.

[adam.s]

If you using a laptop system that needs power above 12v, ie.. most newish laptops use 18v then a better adaptor is the way to go.

I have one of these laptop car adaptors from direct australia.....they are up around the $100

http://www.directaustralia.com/laptop-charger.html

Depends really, I have had a notebook that needs 18volts, but when hooked up with a bench supply runs fine off 12-13volts.

I hooked it directly up to the car via it's battery terminals, just gutted the old battery and run wires through that.

Worked flawlessly. I think the reason they "need" 18v is to charge the battery (some require higher voltage), but they still only produce ~13-14volts or less.

It won't hurt it feeding it less then ample voltage, though it might hurt the battery.

[Cliffy]

I set my laptop up last week, purchased a laptop adaptor from local electrical store (tandy, dick smith) hard wired to the back of the cig lighter, and ran it all weekend in the pajro challenge, never had any probs at all, just pluged it in and go. Still recomend using the standard laptop battery as this gives you a back up power supply.... when you turn the car off ect.

[GUJohnno]

The computer is a custom made unit using laptop components. It doesn't have an internal battery. We use it at the moment for competition navigation but it will later, when the bugs are ironed out, be pernamently installed in the car to run maps, dvd's etc.
I'll probably put in a merrit socket and put a merrit plug on the machine for better conection.

[adam.s]

Mate of mine actually used a normal computer (full case/atx power supply) in his corolla when mp3 head units didn't exist.

All he did to power it was a 300w inverter from dick smith.

Worked flawlessly for a couple of years, until the hard disk shat itself and he didnt bother rebuilding it because by then mp3 head units existed and were pretty cheap.

The inverter will only draw as much power as it needs, it's a pretty cheap/reliable and easy way to hook up any low-ish power applicance.

Only problem with it is its very inefficient: DC to AC to DC again.

["CANADA"]

Mate of mine actually used a normal computer (full case/atx power supply) in his corolla when mp3 head units didn't exist.

All he did to power it was a 300w inverter from dick smith.

Worked flawlessly for a couple of years, until the hard disk shat itself and he didnt bother rebuilding it because by then mp3 head units existed and were pretty cheap.

The inverter will only draw as much power as it needs, it's a pretty cheap/reliable and easy way to hook up any low-ish power applicance.

Only problem with it is its very inefficient: DC to AC to DC again.

thats what the link pcman posted is of a 12v imput power supply

[Bazz107]

The Biggest problem using a Caputer of laptop in a 4wd is that the Hard drives are not meant to cope with the shaking that happens in any 4wd it is bad enough on road going cars let alone in the bumpy roads in the bush, If you are using one of these as your main Nav be prpared for failer, one large jolt while the HDD is spun up and the drive will die, If anyone has found a solution to this would like to know as I am thinking doing similar setup but worried about HDD failers

thanks

Byron

[pongo]

i have heard that by mounting the drive vertically reduces the amount of impact on the heads and its better to use a laptop drive.

Cheers

[V8 Middy]

I was about to install a carputer before the middy burnt out.

Plan was to use a 12V 7.2 Ah Gel Cell as a backup battery with a charging relay and a diode to make sure only the Carputer could get power from the aux battery but it could still trickle charge when the car was running. Partly to keep the volts constant partly so it wouldn't reboot if you start the engine!!



Whatever u do, keep in mind that with CD and HDD and CPU all going you're pushing around 5A

[HJ60_HEATHUS]

The Biggest problem using a Caputer of laptop in a 4wd is that the Hard drives are not meant to cope with the shaking that happens in any 4wd it is bad enough on road going cars let alone in the bumpy roads in the bush, If you are using one of these as your main Nav be prpared for failer, one large jolt while the HDD is spun up and the drive will die, If anyone has found a solution to this would like to know as I am thinking doing similar setup but worried about HDD failers

thanks

Byron

i've never done this in practace, but i have read about it.
basically, you can mount the hard drive vertically, so the up/down bumps and shit from a 4wd will not knock the hard drive's heads into the platter.

On the other hand, i've seen (a while ago, now) hard drives with massive shock ratings. Also a modern lappy harddrive should be prettyy good in that department too.

[+dj_hansen+]

Would it be possible to use solid state memory, like in those USB flash drives etc.. sure its more expensive than traditional, but how much memory do you need; 2gb? and would take up allot less space...

I spose, like anything, its possible if u have the time and money to invest...

[GUJohnno]

You would need more than 2G to have the maps running

[RaginRover]

The Biggest problem using a Caputer of laptop in a 4wd is that the Hard drives are not meant to cope with the shaking that happens in any 4wd it is bad enough on road going cars let alone in the bumpy roads in the bush, If you are using one of these as your main Nav be prpared for failer, one large jolt while the HDD is spun up and the drive will die, If anyone has found a solution to this would like to know as I am thinking doing similar setup but worried about HDD failers

thanks

Byron

I wouldn't worry the hard disk lasted 2 years in my rangie mounted however I felt like it - no one large jolt and it will not die, the mechanics of the situation prevent it - the hard disks are built to withstand plenty more than forby can dish out.

Although I think they would struggle in a road train at the top end.

The system I had was a 400Mhz pc with at 10" tft screen on the dash
and a 40Gb hard disk. The disk lasted over two years and was fine when I pulled it out.

With your inverters - I have a couple for this type of stuff but I found they are very inefficient. I have a 1000W one that will draw 11A when it is on powering the pc - that is a crap load - if you can run a laptop the do so, otherwise if you were looking at a perm installed one I would try and use a DC-DC unit.

It takes a lot out of your alt and battery(ies)

Tom

[RaginRover]

Would it be possible to use solid state memory, like in those USB flash drives etc.. sure its more expensive than traditional, but how much memory do you need; 2gb? and would take up allot less space...

I spose, like anything, its possible if u have the time and money to invest...

Use a 2.5" latop hard disk, made a lot stronger than the 3.5" desktop versions - smaller and will cop more abuse

Tom

[Utemad]

You would need more than 2G to have the maps running

Depends on what it is in. I use a 1gig SD card in a PPC and it stores heaps of maps. I only load the ones I need for a particular trip though so it is mostly empty. Although I leave the most used maps on it all the time. Plus it has Destinator on it for street navigation.

[pongo]

How does the smaller screens perfrom with the mapping duties? I am about to perform this mod to mine and am curious about screen size.

Cheers

[Utemad]

Small screen size doesn't bother me when in the car but you need to use your laptop for trip planning as the small screen is annoying when planning.
Plus TFT screen is easier to see than LCD when the sun is on it.

[-Scott-]

If you're planning on building a system from scratch consider a mini-ITX mainboard, and a power supply like this.

We're using VIA mini-ITX boards on a 24V project at work, and DC-DC converter. So far, it's all working pretty well.

Cheers,

Scott

[saigo]

I just brought a Laptop Dc-Dc convertor from SuperCrap Auto for $40.00 on special, ebay has them going for over $50 + post.
It's output is from 15V-V24.