installing xbox 360 in car

[02DUBH]

hey, i need help installing my 360 into my car.

i bought a power converter today,is this all i need to install it.

any tips would be awesome

[SMIT]

Did you make sure the invertor can evan run a xbox 360? you will need a pretty decent invertor. It will also need to be hard-wired

EDIT: Your going to need around a 400watt invertor with a min of 8 guage wire to the battery (Going off a couple of sites)

EDIT2: Some people just buy a DC-DC XBOX 360 adapter for the car.

[02DUBH]

the manager in store said the coverter i bought ( 300W) will be more than enough to run it
and the other two stores i went into also said 300W will be enough

[SMIT]

Did they sit down and work it out? also apparently it has to be a true sine wave invertor, not convertor.

This is from another site: Mechatroniks Car PC Kits :

I've received a bunch of emails regarding XBOX 360 Power, so here is what I have:
When I ran my setup, I borrowed a 750W True Sine inverter from work.

My 360 AC Power Brick has the following written on its label



Input 100 - 127V - 5A
Output DC 203W
12V @ 16.5A
5V @ 1A

So, the maximum AC input power is 127V x 5A = 635W

The total DC output power is (12V x 16.5A) + (5V x 1A) = 203W, which adds up to what they say.

My guess is the AC input power is max at 5A, but not nominal, I wouldn't expect the brick to be 203W/635W = 32% efficient. In other words, at 635W input, it would be giving off 432 W of heat.

Anyway, the question is how much inverter power do you really need? Well, anything over 635W would be the max. I'd say that 500W should work for sure. My best guess is that a 300W would be the absolute minimum that would work, but you are going to have to try it. Each inverter manufacturer is different, so a cheapo 300W may not work, but a good 300W inverter might.

Make sure you hard-wire it as well, cigarette lighters will have max amps which can go through them and a 360 will be way over that. Which stores told you 300w would be fine?

[02DUBH]

oh ok cheers for that, yeah i will give the inverter a go tomorrow when i try installing everything.

is there anything else i will need for this to work? is the inverter all i will need.

[SMIT]

not 100% but with the wiring to the battery i would use a relay or fuse inline, no more than 30cm away from the positive terminal.

[02DUBH]

was told i can wire it to the cigarette wiring under the dash, this true?

[SMIT]

with a min of 8 guage wire to the battery

Make sure you hard-wire it as well, cigarette lighters will have max amps which can go through them and a 360 will be way over that.

but with the wiring to the battery i would use a relay or fuse inline, no more than 30cm away from the positive terminal.

I really wouldent man, dont take the risk especially if its a convertor. If you do wire it up i dont think the 360 would evan turn on.

Does it have a ciggi light coming out of it? if so go plug it into your car and try and power somthing half-decent off it.

[bezz]

Use 8ga cable to wire up the invertor, and definitely use an inline fuse near the battery. I also have my doubts that it will run properly, but you never know you might get away with it. I hope for your sake you didnt go on the advice of someone from dick smith's or something... they really have no clue.

[SMIT]

Use 8ga cable to wire up the invertor. I also have my doubts that it will run properly, but you never know you might get away with it. I hope for your sake you didnt go on the advice of someone from dick smith's or something... they really have no clue.

I was thinking the same thing about dick smith

[Trayner]

And remember when yah go over bumps or what ever the disc with get cut up in the 360 console unlike ps2's and so on

[danja]

^^ Yep, 360 chews discs if the console moves while the disc is spinning.

Also 360's get very hot, you'll need very good ventilation for it, otherwise it won't last long.

[holdenboy]

Output DC 203W
12V @ 16.5A
5V @ 1A

Dosent this mean you could just modify the power input wiring to supply the 12v @ 16.5A (just something like 10awg power/earth cable connected to the battery via a high current switch) and then buy a 12v-5v @ 1A converter / reducer to supply the 5v...also ran off the 10awg power cable so when you turn on the 12v power the converter turns on too and then you have the required power to run a 360??

I know abit off topic but just going off the specs on the "brick"......it sounds possible.

Edit - Maybe not as the 360 might not like the 12v source ranging from 12-14.5v when you start the car

[02DUBH]

change of plans, a nintendo 64 or super nintendo will be installed instead of the360.

the wiring for this will all be the same wont it?

[danja]

SNES FTW!

Have you considered a Carputer? Will do GPS/TV/music/movies etc and should have no trouble running a SNES emulator - you'd be able to keep hundreds of ROMs on it too, save carrying round a boot load of cartridges.

[02DUBH]

I don't know what a carputer is :S

any chance you can explain this for me in simplest terms

[danja]

It's basically a PC installed in your car, usually with a touchscreen interface. They can do anything a PC can do. There are off-the-shelf products, or you can build them yourself.

Carputer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Google "car pc" or "carputer". I think MP3Car forums are good for that stuff.

[02DUBH]

that looks pretty cool. something to definately look at in the future, but for the moment the super nintendo will have to do, something i haven't seen done before either