Putting a desktop computer in car
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Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Discription: General Mobile Electronics Questions and Answers
URL: https://www.the12volt.com/installbay/forum_posts.asp?tid=777
Printed Date: June 10, 2024 at 2:39 AM
Topic: Putting a desktop computer in car
Posted By: bensalvage
Subject: Putting a desktop computer in car
Date Posted: May 14, 2002 at 10:24 PM
I was thinking about putting a on board computer in my car. Like the kind sitting on my desktop, not a laptop. I heard of computer power supplys that run on 12 volts but i cant find them anywhere. I would just need an atx style supply, with mabey 250-300 watts. I want to do this for many reasons. first, the lcd screens for computers are huge and cheap, i found a 15 inch for 250$. Second, i would get a dvd drive for it (40$) and then i would be able to play dvds. the list goes on forever! i could get a gps for it, play all my emulated games, play my 2000 mp3's. oh man so many reasons. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice or backround in any of this. Any info would help.
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Ben
Replies:
Posted By: kleenaccord45
Date Posted: May 15, 2002 at 7:52 AM
Get a regular 12 volt power inverter, and a UPS (shut-down capable)
Check out, mp3car.com
My personal advice would be to get:
Mp3 radio - $250
Playstation 2 -$300
Screen - Skys the limit
Power inverter for PS2 - $100 or less
In car computer takes up a sizable amount of space. You have to worry about the interface and stuff, brings alot of headaches but, if you can do it well then it's the way to go since computer parts are cheaper than standa alones.
my $.02
Posted By: Big Dog
Date Posted: May 15, 2002 at 11:59 AM
Hey Ben, When you check the cost of a desktop, yeah it's cheap! Most electronic stores sell converters for example Crutchfield has one is around 180 bucks. ( Don't skimp on this or you'll fry the power supply. It works because we did this before on a road trip where my buddy took his computer along to design his web site while I drove). . . Don't forget that you need one that supplies 15 amps of clean A/C. Your main concern should be the hard disk. The head floats on a cushion of air only several microns above the disk and one or repeated bumps ( mega BASS ) could crash the head and there goes your data! ------------- Prepare your future. It wasn't the lack of stones that killed the stone age.
Posted By: CTMobileMedia
Date Posted: May 15, 2002 at 7:39 PM
If you really want to do a professional job, take your desktop power supply out and have a custom unit built, then mount it with some distance from your motherboard and hard drive. Otherwise, your taking low voltage DC converting it to high voltage AC and then back to low (and different) voltage DC. If you plan on integrating this into your stereo, I think (not sure) you might create some kind of noise problem. You might even create problems in the operation of your computer. Relocating the power supply away from the rest of the components should isolate the magnetic fields of those transformers. You should probably also isolate the components from the chassis too. Also, you might consider mounting your components in a shock-absorbing platform. Maybe rubber and springs suspending a rack of some kind. The electronics of a PC are very sensitive to shock and the solder connections will fail eventually after substantial vibration. Dave CT Mobile Media
Posted By: Thinkster
Date Posted: May 16, 2002 at 2:46 AM
I was going to do something similar to this for a friend. But there are some special considerations you need to make. As Dave mentioned, shock mounting components, especially the harddrive is one thing. Also, if you plan to use the audio out from the sound card into your sound system, Using an Inverter may throw in a lot of noise as I have seen before. I recall some company selling a DC-DC Converter which had 12V In and ATX voltages output. Retrofitting this in place of the computer case's power supply would be a better option than using an invertor in my opinion. If you decide to go with an inverter, make sure it has a good clean output (Wave shaped or sine wave output) as the cheaper inverters have more of a square wave output and it's harsh on some electronic equipment, especially power supplies.
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