It seems like a simple mod to have full time power to the aux outlets. What I would like to do is hook up an inverter to one and run a pc off of it. I know this is nothing knew but my question is if the pc is set to hibernate after a set amount of time, would it be too draining on the battery to leave it in that mode full time? I figure that if I was planning on not driving the truck for a couple days then I would just shut the pc down normally. Basically after work until the next morning I leave for work would be the most it would stay running before the battery was turned on.

I read the write ups for the inverter install as well as the full time aux outlet mods. Just wondering how much potential damage I could do if I do what I want to.

thanks

 

I have a laptop that at the end of the day I routinely shut the lid and put it away without actually shutting it down. The battery will only support it for aprox 2 hours if it is not pluged in, when I let it hibernate overnight it looses about 10%. Not to bad.

Let me ask you this, if you leave your interior light on all night, can you still start your truck in the morning? I think the load from the interior light would be more that the pc in hibernation mode.

It sounds like what you want to do may be feasable, oviously it would stress your battery, but if you drive it every day I would guess you would be fine. Why are you planning to have a PC in your vehicle, music, navigation?

 

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mp3 collection...navagation....dvd's for the passengers (about to have my first child anyday)

thanks for the info

 

I can't find the link about this, but a guy with a 3rd gen did this. He figured out which relay in the engine compartment gets energized for the cig lighter when the key is turned to the "ACC" position, then he pulled the relay and ran a heavy jumper wire in it's place, which provided constant 12V to the outlet.

A friend of mine is working on something similar using a P3 800, and a 7" display/touchscreen. Instead of an inverter, he purchased a DC to DC converter made for running a PC in an automotive environment.

 

A DC to DC converter is a really good idea. It may be more efficient since it would not need rectifiers.

What is the working voltage of a PC?

 

Yea, I read the write up on getting constant power to the outlet. My set up is going to be the same, p3 800 with 7" screen. A dc-dc power supply is like another $200, so I want to go the inverter route first.

I wish I knew the voltage, that would help answer the question.

 

Most hibernation routines consist of copying the contents of RAM to the hard drive, with a resultant minimal power drain yet relatively fast recovery times. Suspend usually maintains power to the RAM and results in a slight, but steady power drain. Without delving into numbers (which will vary according to computer configuration, power supply efficiency, battery capacity, and a host of other things) I'd guess that as long as you drove the car every 2-3 days that a computer in 'suspend' would not result in draining your battery. It'd be best to monitor battery voltage over the course of a few days after you got the system set up though.

With hibernation, though, it'd probably be a non-issue, unless you left the car sitting for a LONG time.

If you go the inverter route, make sure that the wattage of the inverter is at least as much as the wattage of the power supply, otherwise you will run into problems. Not really the most efficient way (or most compact) but it'll work. More information here.

ATX power supplies provide +12V, -12V, +5V, -5V, and +3.3V. The -12V and -5 V rails are not used by most modern boards, however.

If you don't already have the PC and/or motherboard purchased, consider the use of an Epia motherboard. Epia is a processor made by Via (more famous for their motherboard chipsets) that run relatively slowly by Intel/AMD standards, but are more than up to 99% of computing tasks. In fact, for MP3, DVD, and car navigation, they are ideal, running from 800-1000 Mhz (I highly recommend the Nehemiah running at 1 Ghz). The epias are whisper quiet, tiny (about the size of a DVD case), use extremely low power, and the 800 Mhz processor doesn't even need an active heatsink!

The Epia are sold as the board, processor, and heatsink (the processor is soldered into the board) and are very reasonable.

At www.mini-box.com you can get the Epia board (with the Nehemiah 1 Ghz processor), a DC-DC power supply, and a voltage regulator for $249. Add the RAM, hard drive, DVD player, and GPS (and a case), and you'll be in business.

Take a look here to see both case mods and car projects involving the Mini-ITX form epia.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

~Bill

 

Thanks for the electrical info. I know all about epia and mini-itx. I have a second machine at home so im going to use that. P3 800 with 128 ram and 20gb hd. I got a slim drive cd-rw/dvd and a bunch of power supplys from 150w to 300w. Im trying to do this on the cheap for now and once I get it going I will upgrade as needed.

 

sabre, I am having trouble reading your post because of your avatar. Can you please choose a babe that's less hot?

G

 

yea...shes my favorite on the squad

 

If your still going the inverter route be sure to install circuit breakers. I've seen what can happen on an unprotected inverter (not pretty).