Battery conditioner install/inverter

Hey,

I'm helping a friend install his system into his 2001 escalade.  He's got a pretty nice set up, but he is aiming to make it show quality.  He's running some 6 1/4 infinity kappa component sets, I believe, with some nice perfect 12.1DVC subs.  I'm not 100% sure on his system, but that part doesn't pertain to this post.  Since I own a business that designs and implements networks, he commissioned me to build him a car-worthy computer unit.  I'm planning on a 2.4 GHz system with 512mb DDR SDRAM, 80gig hard drive(operating shock of 300G, I think?), 802.11g networking, Radeon 9800 All in Wonder ATI 128MB card.  I'm putting it into a rackmount case and we are installing it into the custom fiberglass center console he's making.  The 14.1 inch touchscreen interface is going to be flush mounted into his dash, and his computer is going to serve as his mp3 player.  He's running a panasonic deck with Aux inputs, so we can just use that to interface to the system.

MY QUESTION IS THIS:  From my experience with cars, they have a pretty noisy power bus.  Since the alternators generate a square wave(right?), the power can sometimes get clipped, and from what I've heard it gets even worse when you use a power inverter.  So, I need some help with this.  Will I have to build some type of voltage regulating circuit?  As you may or may not know, even the slightest dip in voltage supply can lock up the computer.  While the power supply(PC Power and Cooling PS 450W) usually does a good job of smoothing out some of the smaller spikes and sags, I need some type of extra insurance.  As well, I'm writing out some code in Delphi that continually runs in the background and interfaces on a low level to a card that detects when the ignition is on.  When the ignition is off for more then 5 minutes and the program has not been told that the computer is on for show purposes, it puts the computer into a standby mode.  I was considering putting in a non-switched UPS backup so that the voltage is regulated through the battery in the UPS, but that seems a little unncessary.  However, the UPS would be useful if in case the battery on the SUV ran low and he couldn't get it charged.  But when he's parked, especially at shows, he wants to plug in some type of battery conditioner to keep the battery from going bad (sulfation), as well as provide a charge to his computer and system.  The charging system is probably going to be pretty involved, but I was wondering if somebody could recommend a good, inline battery conditioner?  He wants something permanent that he can flip up a panel under the truck or wherever he decides to put it, plug in a 120V source, and boom, instant battery conditioning and power to all his accessories.

Anybody able to shed some light on my situation?  I would really appreciate it.  Thanks again guys.

Alrighty mindcontrol, hope this wont overwhelm you.

First of all you should start at the front of the truck and move back. Let's start off with the battery.  I would definatly suggest upgrading.  An Optima should do nicely, problably yellow or blue top, your local autoparts store should have them.    Next, upgrade your wiring. Whatever size powerwire you decide to use for all your amps and stuff, use that same size to replace the ground cables from the battery to the frame, engine block and chassis, leave nothing to chance.

Next, I would suggest a second battery, or even a third.  If your stuck with not a whole lot of room to deal with, Optima makes a slender 6 volt battery, two of these wired correctly will give you 12 volts. These will be fairly easy to hide.  This brings me my next suggestion, a battery isolator, here are a few websites to check out.           Also, if you can find one used, Orion used to make a really nice isolator, but I don't see it on there web site now, you might be able to find one on e-bay.

www.boaterland.com/gubais.html            

www.hehrpowersystems.com/isolators.htm     offers a very good description on wiring and information

www.hellroaring.com/rv.htm

Next I would difinatly upgrade the altinator, a local shop should be able to help you. I've even seen some vehicles with 2 altinators. Just figure out your power needs and a should be able to tell you if they can rewind the stock altinator or if you need a new one.

Next would be an inverter. There are several nice ones out there. Figure out your power requirement ie how much wattage the computer and any equipment running off of 110volts AC will take and add 50% or so.    Example, everything you need will take 500 watts, add 50% and you get 750watts. Find an inverter that produces 750 or 800 watts continuously and you should be just fine. You don't want the inverter stressing out. Heres some nice inverters I found.

www.northerntool.com   search for inverters    The PROSINE looks preatty nice.    They also have a marine grade

www.donrowe.com     check out the COTEK 1500-2000 watt model, it's a pure sine wave inverter. They also have an inverter Q&A page.

www. majorpower.com      they have inverters and conditioners

Next, you mentioned conditioners.      Try www.zzounds.com/cat--Power-Conditioners--2391           These are line contioners for pro audio equipment, I would say that a conditioner designed for such a use would be sufficiant for a computer.

Good luck

refresh my memory here...does a computer not run on 12 volts DC inside the case anyway?  why do you need an inverter?  to power the computers power supply at 120VAC just so it can feed the computer 12 vdc??  realize drives and whatnot are a lower voltage (5V I believe), but its not hard to make a nice regulating circuit to achieve that.

skip the inverter altogether on this one....

b

Awesome, thanks for the advice guys...

As for forgoing the inverter anyways, I can see several problems with that.  First off, the power supply that you use for computers obviously runs off a AC circuit, converting and dropping it down to several smaller voltages.  The motherboard connector(P1 on ATX supplies, P8 & P9 on AT) run 12 volts, approximately.  The 4pin molex connectors run 5 volts, and the small minimolex connectors run 3.3 volts.  The problem is this.  First off,  I would have to take out the power supply itself, and then wire each drive piece into the car's wires seperately.  This presents a problem in voltage potential.  If you have two different potentials running into the same case, you could get a nasty shock resulting in damaged computer parts.  As well, vehicle power busses are EXTREMELY noisy, as I said before, and even the slightest drop in voltage can lock up your computer.  (If you get a frequently locking up computer, it can be attributed to either the power supply, the mobo, or heat issues, such as the CPU or the videocard overheating.)  So there's another problem right there.  Not to mention the alternator/charging system does not always produce a constant rate of voltage, it changes with RPMs and such.

Basically, the way I saw it was that if I just used an inverter, it would offer me not only an extra line of protection against the surges and sags of the electrical system, but also it would make the installation a LOT less easier and time consuming.  Thank you guys for the advice, especially tuneman, and if anybody has some more they'd like to share with me, or even some ideas for the install, I'd love to hear it.  Thank you.

--mindctrl