midiwall

Hi all;

I want to run something in the truck that wants 18v at 3 amps. I've been looking for a DC-to-DC convertor, but the only pre-packaged ones I've found are being sold for vertical market applications and are pretty pricey ($70 or more).

I found a German company that makes stand-alone modules, but I can't find a US distributor. (ref: http://www.elektroautomatik.de/, specifically: http://www.elektroautomatik.de/pdfenglish/page61-65.pdf).

So, what I'm looking at doing is being incredibly inefficient and running a 120w inverter (found one for $25) and then using a normal AC power supply (which I already have) to get me to 18vdc.

Any other ideas?

Thanks!

Mark

L33T35T 4Runner

cant help you with your DC/DC thing, but i can help you find a better power inverter. do you have a sam's club membership? this is the popular one that people are buying, its really cheap price wise

http://www.samsclub.com/eclub/main_s...cfkjdgoodfkg.0

midiwall

Nope, but I have a CostCo membership, and actually, I just got back from their looking for an inverter (along with the normal 20 pounds of cheese, 300 heads of lettuce, etc. ). They did have one or two a couple of weeks ago, but they were gone now (as was the shelf space allocation).

That 400watter looks nice - I guess I can convince myself that I'll ALWAYS need on-board power for something!

There's an inverter thread here that's still active, I'll hit that up as well.

Thanks!

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Mark, look in the Tech section.
I have a write-up in there, as I just installed the 400 watt one from Sam's Club a few weeks back.

Great little unit, and I don't see why it could not step up your voltage for you.

I choose to hard wire mine in and not use the cigg adaptor, or the battery clamps.

partszar

Try this place www.sciplus.com HTH

tomus1000

Just curious, What are you running that requires 18v?

midiwall

Hi Corey;

I had it under control if I was going to run an inverter, but I was really hoping not to have to go up to 110V AC just to get back to 18v DC. Now, sizing to something larger and finding other things to justify it is a new twist.


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partszar;

I used to live about 5 miles from them (I'm now about 1985 miles from them). The stuff in the store that never makes the catalog is incredible! I'll wander the site. Thanks!


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tomus1000;

I snagged this post-auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3407876409

It's going to be an on-board system to support my BR-2 and SMT-5. Oh, and support MP3 playback.


Yes, I'll write it all up, but it may be a bit. I need my tax refund to be able to finish off the plans.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I see what you are wanting to do.
Perhaps an inverter like mine has an advantage you could use though also besides giving you the 18v you need.

I know mine will come in handy to charge the cell phone and digicam batteries while away from the home.

I actually bought mine on the spur of the moment.
It is something I had wanted to do for years, but when I saw Jalaber's post on them, I had the impulse to go get one.

I swear, there must be invisible subliminal messages hidden within the VB code here

[subliminal mode on]You must buy every mod you see performed on this forum[/subliminal mode on]

midiwall

Yeah... funny that... I seem to get that in my email inbox as well from a certain Dr. Z. My bank account has seen it's share of activity thanks to him.

And to think.. I never really had grease under my nails until just 6 months ago.

DANG YOU ZHIVAGO!

L33T35T 4Runner

ask your friends and what not if they have a sams club membership. they should have the inverter

or you can send me the price of the power inverter and shipped and i'll order it for you

seafarinman

I got a 800W continuous/1100W peak inverter at GI Joes in Federal Way. This is the most powerful inverter that I have ever seen for only $39.99! It is made by Travel Power.

midiwall

Oh... score! And there's one up by me in Lynnwood!

I know what's on the list of things to do tomorrow!

PoBoy

I have that same computer in my car. You DO NOT NEED AN INVERTER! It will run off you battery. It says 18v, but it really only needs 11.5!! Ive been running mine straight off the battery for 9 months now. If you dont want to run the wires to your battery, just go to radio shack and pick up a cigarette adaptor for it...$5

Once again, visit mp3car.com and search the forum for ezgo. There are a number of us with it installed.

Here is a good thread on it talking about powering it: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...&threadid=2066

midiwall

I was waiting for you to find this thread..

So, it will run off of 12v? I was kinda' figuring that it wanted 18v for it to be able to feed an internal voltage regulator.

I expect it to show up on Monday, so I'll get to forego my inverter costs. Thank you!


If I can ask... How did you deal with the issue of powering it up/down? Did you wire it straight up to the battery and then power it up/down as you needed it, or did you just "remember" to power it down before killing the ignition? (I've gone through the thread you referenced, I was just curious as to how you handled it)

Thanks again.

PoBoy

I run mine through the ACC. So when I turn off my truck, it turns off too. Its personal preference really. A lot of people dont like it turning off with the car or they like to shut it down manually. I just turned off scandisk (so it doesnt automattically run if there is a power loss) and just kill the power to it with the ignition. I only use it for MP3's and used to do DVDs too, so there is no need to do a "shutdown". Actually, unless you are doing something that requires it to be saved...there isnt really a need for you to "shutdown" anyway. Ive had a comp in my 4Runner for 3 years, and ive always done it that way. No problems and more importantly, I avoid a dead battery.

Now I did pick up a IR sensor from evation.com and use a remote to control it instead of a keyboard. So, I made the main power button on the remote cause windowsME to hibernate. So if I remember before I turn off the 4Runner, Ill hit that button so I get a 10 second boot time next time I turn it on. But most of the time I just turn off the truck and then let it do a 35 second bootup. I put it in my center console, so its really easy to turn on when I power up. My 4Runner takes a good minute just to get to a smoothe idle, so 35 seconds is nothing...

My previous setups involved moving the powerswitch to my dash since the comps were in the back. But I put my ezgo in the center console, so it there was no need to extend the switch. But its a pretty easy solder job to do...

Good luck, any more questions ask away. I try to check this board often. And with 4x4wire down...ill be around a bit more