An inverter is one route that a number of people have gone successfully.

I'm avoiding it, because some people have experienced induced line noise, it creates extra heat, it is inefficient (as you said), and it's just plain less elegant and less aesthetic.

But it has been done very well in many cases. And honestly, if I already had a case, processer, and mobo (as you do) I would probably go with an inverter rather than buying new everything.

Dave

 

Have you considered underclocking your cpu or maybe even looking at the DSATX DC-DC power supply. If I remember correctly it's a 220W PS, but it does cost close to $200.

This is the route that I'm going. I'm underclocking my P4 to run @ 1.8 GHz.

Oh yeah, here is the link for the DSATX.

 

I had not considered that. I'm fairly excited about having a 3.2ghz P4 in my car, I don't think I want to underclock it to 1.8. I know, I know, you don't NEED a 3.2ghz P4 in your car, but I'm going for the over-the-top shock-and-awe of the whole carPC thing. I want my carPC to be faster than most people's home computers I'm going to give the inverter route a shot and if it does not work or I get tired of it, I'll try the underclocked DSATX idea.

 

I don't think the DSATX puts out 19V, which is what your mobo wants, right?

I'm a big fan of the DS series,especially due to the customer service, but like I said, Jeff doesn't have a 19V power supply. Might want to ask him, theough, if he can make something for you; he's got quality products, and definitely is willing to help.

Dave

 

Sorry, I forgot that the sumicom was not an ATX motherboard.

Good luck.

 

Let me know how that housing works for your screen.

I bought a Xenarc without the custom housing and I'm kind of regretting it now.. Need to find a way to mount it.

 

You mean the DigitalWheelz housing? I'm sure I'll work great but I'll let you know specifics when I install it. Unfortunately I have to return my current one for repair before I can

 

Update:

I decided to overhaul my entire system. I sold my old Sumicom PC to a buddy who is looking for his own car PC setup. In its place I purchased the AOpen Pandora machine (http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...49941e369a4283) as it should fit in the upper glovebox.

I took a performance hit from 3.2ghz P4 hyperthreaded to a 2.23ghz pentium M centrino, but all in all it is still fast enough for me. I was willing to give up speed for the fact that the entire PC will fit in my upper glovebox.

The unit will be powered by a Carnetix P1900 located behind the shifter. I hope to cram another 1900 somewhere in the front of the car (perhaps behind passenger side kickplate or under the carpetting on the passenger side) to power other peripherals.

This setup allows me to run a total of 1 wire from the front of the car to the back, that being a USB cable.

I will have more pictures in the not-so-distant future

 

Just bought one of these during lunch.



http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

Very exciting. Can't wait to get home and start wiring stuff up on my bench

 

Thats the easy way to do it. I just rewired a computer power supply. Cheaper, and more fun! Heh. No, I actually would have bought a Radio Shack power supply, if I didn't have an extra computer supply laying around.

My install is on hold right now, just waiting for the 2005 screen...

Dave

 

Small update, but an update none the less. The Pandora is up and running. It's running a Pentium M 760, 1gb ram, 100gb 7200rpm 2.5" seagate hard drive, dvd-rw slot loading drive.

I have it successfully starting up and shutting down via the Carnetix P1900 on my bench with the above mentioned DC power supply.

I'm currently awaiting an RMA from mp3car.com for my digitalwheelz screen that hasn't worked since the day I got it, but haven't gotten around to getting a replacement.

If the weather is decent this weekend, I plan to rip the dash apart and install the line driver I got from el_duderino (for boosting the volume level going into my PAC-AAI-NIS2), the din converter in my upper glove box, and hopefully a test fit of the Pandora box and the P1900 for it.

Need to get a metal nibbler from somewhere to cut a custom hole in the aluminum faceplate that came with the din converter.... hmm...

 

This should be sweet. Post some pics when you get a chance.

 

Ripped the dash apart (again), installed the din converter. Did a test fit of the PC, everything is looking awesome (also known as "perfect"). Below are pics.

 

nice looking. I would go with something like that, but it's a bit late in the game for me to do that, and I like having that upper cubby for a USB hub and a DVD drive. Also, can you get a regular, full size graphics card in there?

regardless, it is beautiful. Much better looking than my ghetto plexi rig...

Dave

 

damn that is nice, ive been planning to do the same thing with that computer.