Car PC

Adam135

Adam135

New Member
Well my love for cars has grown since I got my licence soo.... Idea!

I know that you can buy special car Pcs that are in a relativity small case with a ITX mobo running a VIA processor, but they are £500($1000). Sowhat I want to do is to build one from scratch, with a small case (Maybe constructing one). and using a indash single din 7" touch screen monitor.

My only concern is the PSU, as I am aware the PSU takes a 240V current and down grades it to 12V. so like this –

240V – 12V
AC DC

But with the car running off a 12V circuit already the only way I could use a 240V PSU is to use a in line power inverter from 12V to 24V. Like this-

12V (Car Battery) – 240V(Power inverter) – 12V(PC).
DC AC DC

This seams stupid. Is there any way I could get around the power problem?
 
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It does seem stupid and is extremely inifficent, but unless you have the exact voltage (not ALL stuff takes 12v) and amprage, your computer won't run.

Your best bet would be to just go from 12v to 240v to psu to computer.
 
dougland said:
any reason you want a pc in your car?
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daisymtc said:
Why not buying a small laptop?
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Cause it would be pretty bad*** to have a PC buit in.

Now, one of the big issues with putting a PC in your car is the quality of the screen. You need to find one that is extremely bright in order to be able to view it in your car. Also i wouldn't recommend running something like windows xp, due to the fact that boot-up and power down will be a hassle. Also you need to decide if you want a touch-screen or a hand held mouse. I did all the research for building a PC in my car, just never did it due to funds. I would recommend that you pick up a 120v converter and run the PSU on 120, as is done in the US. not sure exactly what the difference would be, but it seems to make more sense.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

btw, Earth LCD seemed to have a pretty good selection, along with the ability to go touch screen.

Oops, just read that touch screen part! :D
 
You may have better luck posting this on a car forum. Automotiveforums.com has an extremely large user base and Folders for pretty much any car-related topic under the sun. maybe you could browse there and see if someone has done anything similar.
 
mp3car.com

Is your best friend for car pc's. I have bought another dash trim piece to fiberglass a 8" lilliput into my gtp.

Probably will be using something along the lines of an opus psu.
 
Adam135 said:
Well my love for cars has grown since I got my licence soo.... Idea!

I know that you can buy special car Pcs that are in a relativity small case with a ITX mobo running a VIA processor, but they are £500($1000). Sowhat I want to do is to build one from scratch, with a small case (Maybe constructing one). and using a indash single din 7" touch screen monitor.

My only concern is the PSU, as I am aware the PSU takes a 240V current and down grades it to 12V. so like this –

240V – 12V
AC DC

But with the car running off a 12V circuit already the only way I could use a 240V PSU is to use a in line power inverter from 12V to 24V. Like this-

12V (Car Battery) – 240V(Power inverter) – 12V(PC).
DC AC DC

This seams stupid. Is there any way I could get around the power problem?
Click to expand...
Yes it is a bit stupid, but what you should remember is that a PC takes quite a bit of power. On a high-end system you're looking at power supplies with 60+ amps alone on just the +12V rail, then you add in the +5V, etc. So you would need to connect directly to the battery, not the cigarette lighter (obviously).
Also, the PSU acts like a regulator as well, controlling how much power goes to each rail. If you've ever hooked a voltmeter to a car battery when running, you will see it's around 13.5-14v idle, and get up to almost 14.5v if it's at a high RPM. The point being that the voltage in a car is extremely unstable, so an inverter and using a PSU should help keep the voltages stable.
 
A nice laptop would pwn though bc it's a computer that can do anything and even play games.

A built in computer would also mean a burglary attempt to your vehicle unless it's one that pops out the center console.
 
Thanks for your help. The reason I want to do this project is that you can have your whole music collection at the touch of a button (All 56Gigs worth), a USB or Bluetooth GPS unit, I have saw a USB device for a rear view cam in my local pc store which is quite nifty. I also have a cat 1 alarm system, this has motion sensors so a theft of this unit is quite unlikely but as Is still possible.

The monitor would take the place of the standard head unit. This Monitor

I now know of a DC to DC unit but this is $230! So the inverter sounds like a good idea.

I might just get a laptop with a decent size HDD. Take the monitor off and put it neatly in the trunk or under the seats.

So XP is a bad idea? I can wire it into the ignition so the PC would shut down immediately. I know it is bad but…..
 
Adam135 said:
Thanks for your help. The reason I want to do this project is that you can have your whole music collection at the touch of a button (All 56Gigs worth), a USB or Bluetooth GPS unit, I have saw a USB device for a rear view cam in my local pc store which is quite nifty. I also have a cat 1 alarm system, this has motion sensors so a theft of this unit is quite unlikely but as Is still possible.

The monitor would take the place of the standard head unit. This Monitor

I now know of a DC to DC unit but this is $230! So the inverter sounds like a good idea.

I might just get a laptop with a decent size HDD. Take the monitor off and put it neatly in the trunk or under the seats.

So XP is a bad idea? I can wire it into the ignition so the PC would shut down immediately. I know it is bad but…..
Click to expand...


Inverter is the best idea. But an big load will not do. I suggest an good alternator (:P) and an Mobile CPU. One like mine, with only 25W power consumption at full load. It's an mobile CPU after all :D (Sonora <- Codename)
 
oscaryu1 said:
Inverter is the best idea. But an big load will not do. I suggest an good alternator (:P) and an Mobile CPU. One like mine, with only 25W power consumption at full load. It's an mobile CPU after all :D (Sonora <- Codename)
Click to expand...

Or you can get one of the ultra low voltage Core (2?) Duos, I think I saw one that ran off 9 watts.

And oh yeah, oscaryu1, I'm not trying to be annoying/picky, but do you know the rule for "a" and "an", cause it seems like you use "an" for everything :P.
 
diduknowthat said:
Or you can get one of the ultra low voltage Core (2?) Duos, I think I saw one that ran off 9 watts.

And oh yeah, oscaryu1, I'm not trying to be annoying/picky, but do you know the rule for "a" and "an", cause it seems like you use "an" for everything :P.
Click to expand...

Yeah, so I've been told :mad:

Just kiddin :D I need help with that :( Well now I'll start with "a":D

9 watts?!?!?
 
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