carpoota

[commy92]

ok, im in the process of buying everything for my car poota. Im just wondering does anyone else on here have one. Cause i have one big question..

Is there anyone in australia who sells dc-dc PSU's ive found nobody in aus who sells them. Ive found a few in the states and one in NZ.

I really want a top quality one. ie it has all the functions so it switches itself off and battery checks etc etc etc

can someone help me.. please dont point in the way of cca i can find crap on dealers in aus on there.

Michael

[hakhawk]

hey, i have one, check out my site in my sig for pictures n such.

i ended up getting a m1-atx from ebay, overseas. only aus one is a standard atx size ps, that is just that a psu, nothing more.

i have been slack and havent installed it yet though.

[TehFastyOne]

Just get an inverter? Put a remote switch on the dash.

Power problem fixed and just put a laptop on a armature.

Tis how the cops do it.

[commy92]

nar i dont wanna do the laptop idea. If i was going to do that i wouldnt need an inverter. i dont want to use an inverter cause if you get a decent power supply it will turn the poota off, wont drain the battery, keep all the comp settings etc. i basically have/organised everything except a vga touch screen and the psu. I finally found somewhere in aus that sell mtx ones so i sent an email.

hakhawk, what did you pay for the psu, if you dont mind me asking. There arnt any decent ones on ebay at the moment

[garfa]

have a look in the back of any apc (australian personal computer) there is usually a 1 page advert from a place selling pos (point of sale) equipment; barcode scanners, tills ect.... and they have other things such as pci mobile phone sim card readers and also 12V-12V PSU units.

[hakhawk]

they will most likely be straight 12v psus in the back of apc, the ones needed for car use, must be able to supply correect regulated voltages at any input voltage from around 7volts to 30volts, to allow for cranking and surges.

i paid 110 all up for mine, that was about 6 months ago, yes i am slack.

i see them on ebay for around 90 from overseas. you have to look from worldwide.

[commy92]

yeah i realise now. I found some.. hmm i think its time to get a paypal account. need to find a touch screen now.

[mouce]

When I finally get all the bits for mine, it's going to be a laptop in the boot running to a touch screen on the dash. Just because I'm slack I'm actually going to run an inverter (500W pure sine wave for $185...I love Jaycar specials). Getting it to turn off is easy, just set the laptop to power down after it's been running on batteries for x minutes. And a relay will replace the switch on the inverter so that it will only turn on when the car is running.

Anyway enough of that, when you finally settle on a touch screen let us know what it is. I'm doing a bit of digging on that stuff at the moment. Some of the Xenarc units are nice, just gotta find them in Aus.

[hakhawk]

mouce, not sure about the laptop, but im still running my setup on a autobarn 350w inverter, i highly doubt its pure sine wave, to a 300w psu, without a problem for over 10 months now.

but then again, 500w for $185 is gooooood.

[commy92]

mouce the prob you will have is what happens when you crank your car over. It will wanna restart the computer. Unless your running dual batterys its a difficult task. Im going to go screen hunting tomorrow. Well go around to all the local car audio places and stuff and see what they can do. I want a 7in VGA touch screen.. the lillipod or sometihng i think there called are nice but again they are hard to get here in aus. WHY DONT WE HAVE AN IMPORTER for this stuff.

[hakhawk]

my inverter actually doesnt die on crank, with a stock mercury battery for vn, the inverter would squeal if battery was pretty low, otherwise, it was fine. i now have a century deep cycle to run it all including amps for longer periods with car off.

[holdensupporter2005]

This ZANTECH company make a standard pc size 12v ATX Power Supply.
http://www.zantech.com.au/zantech/po...ly-atx-12v-dc/

If you are using a Mini ITX mainboard I would suggest this power supply
http://www.short-circuit.com/details/dcdc/pw200.html

You will also need to consider how much power each component in the pc uses. I would suggest the PW-200M 200W PSU as it is a 200w power supply which is capable of running most pc configurations. (http://www.short-circuit.com/details/dcdc/pw200.html)
HERE IS A BASIC POWER CONSUMPTION GUIDE
http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/tec...y/power_usage/

I have an 80w 12v DC Power supply that I will sell for $100.00 (Paid RRP $159+ Postage)
I bought it for my car pc project but It wasn't powerfull enough so I bought the PW200-M Power supply Instead. PM me if you want it.
+

[mattman]

Laptop won't die on crank... it'll just flick to battery for a moment The beauty of a laptop as well is if you are only going out for an hour.. charge it at home and you don't even need the inverter... ahhhh..

Just need somewhere neat to mount it, and some sort of fan to keep air flow going.

If I were ever to do a car computer I'd use one of my old lappies... but the bonus for me is that I already have them I guess :P Bit different to start from scratch. If you have the cash, alot of newer units have hardware + software shock protection on the HDD, even safer again.

[mouce]

mattman is dead on the money there, if I do crank it over and the power output from the inverter drops then the laptop will run on the battery for a bit. That's why i want to use a laptop. Won't need to turn the computer off every time I start the car. The only time it will restart the computer is if I spend 10 minutes continously cranking the engine over without it starting. And that's not likely to happen.

I've got a couple of 12CM 12vdc fans that will keep the air moving. I may eventually look at a second battery, but I'm not busting my arse to do it yet.

[mattman]

Heh.. that's what I like about my 2nd notebook... If i want to spend the $500 I can load it up with about 8-10hours worth of battery power

[commy92]

hmmm got me thining about that power supply. Il get back to you seeming as though i cant find any in aus.

[Chris76]

Hi Guys,
I know it has been mentioned above but why not use a 12V inverter and normal PSU?

For touchscreen monitors check out

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/7-TFT-Monitor...QQcmdZViewItem

[garfa]

mainly because an inverter is inefficent compaired to a 12Vin/out psu.

[hakhawk]

yep, and unneccesarily bulky, having to use a inverter AND psu.

[holdensupporter2005]

you may want to check out this website http://www.brashimports.com.au/
they are an australian company that sell car monitors and accessories.

[yosy]

could you get commodore ecu emulator software and run you engine mangement from the pc? And you could effectivly have a very good imobiliser
BUT if your pc crashes then i surpose you would have a stalled vehicle.:b:

[aperfectcircle]

Try this on

dash

[yosy]

OMG man gets pulled over cops like hmm well im gonna have to fine you for
talking on your phone while sending emails trying to navigate using your gps while driving mate Then whoosh car flies of into the sky