laptop hook up

First of all, I was wondering about ACv. electronics like ps2's and Laptops (in ge neral) with plug in outlets... what do a pro. installer do about running power into these types of products. Do you use the general power converter set up or.. is there some type of way you can run the wires to a couple of diodes and relays if nec. to get the power and also where do you go to get the power source.... some one told me to get it from the steering column...... Next.... is there a way i can make a laptop my music and video direct source to my system... can i hook it up to a processor or anything dolby system and etc... to get a real affect... and any more information on this topic will be beneficial like internet and etc....  ... oh yeah also the laptop plug in systems is really the charging source for the battery in the computer so do i have to use resistors and etc. to get the right current into the laptop..???

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Biznisman2u

For power, just use an inverter.  That someone who told you to use the steering column was referring to the ignition harness to use as power for the inverter.  You might just run off the battery, through a relay, using an accessory wire to power up.  If you wanted to use a laptop as a source for your system, just see what it outputs, go to RadioShack or a computer store, and adapt it to RCA's and then feed that into your system.  If you want to use the computer as your head unit, you might want to take a look at this: www.mp3car.com.

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My ex once told me I have a perfect face for radio.

what is it that i'm looking for on that web site...but you saying i can use the battery as power using a relay and an accessory wire .. this will have the power on when? only in run...    if i get the rca's i have to get an amp to run my speakers to or something? i'm guess this is the only way huh? thanks for the help

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Biznisman2u

Yeah, this would only be on when the car was running or when you had the key in auxilary. If you want to completely stop using a conventional HU then you would certainly need some sort of amp. The other option would be to use a HU is an AUX input. The way I'd do this sort of project would be to build a computer specificaly for a car, with a 12V-12V power supply and a VGA touchscreeen. If you look around on www.mp3car.com they sell both of these products as well as many other items that can help in building this type of system. This type of system is ideal if you want a permanent install of a computer in your car. If you don't tho then a laptop would deffinately work well.
Good Luck
Jim

how much will all that cost.. thats a little bit out of my league.... maybe  nex' time but i mig jus try your input on the laptop install

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Biznisman2u

How serious are you about using a computer in your car.  You can build a permanent computer/sound system for about 5 - 6 hundred dollars using regular computer parts and a TFT video screen.  You would also need some amps but you would definitely have a system that would be upgradeable and featuristic.  You would be able to surf the net, listen to radio, play mp3's, dvd's and you would have the cinema sound that you would be looking for.

I did something similar. First time I built a pc for mytruck..then I brought a new laptop and used my old laptop as an incar pc. I currently don't have a vga monitor so the video out on my lappy is going to an aux in on my indash's brain. A guy on blazinlow.com is fiberglassing me a 7inch lcd screen in a steering wheel for me.. I'm either going to use that as a dedicated navigation screen or a screen for my laptop. What I really want is a 10inh flip down vga screen if they make them..a 7inch lcd is too small to really do anything on a a laptop

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