Does anyone have any power recommendations regarding where to tap into power for your carputer if your going to locate it in the trunk? Would like to keep my warranty for now.

2003 g35 coupe

Thanks in advance for your input

 

why not just run a power supply like you would an amp

 

So wouldn't that mean not tapping the power from the car? Honestly...dealers will find any chance to nail you something on. You could always tap the power from your battery (like g35rcr amp suggestion), but you may find other undetectable sources of power. I haven't installed a carputer yet or know the power requirements for people who know, would it be possible to connect it thru the fuse box or the cigarette lighter?

 

yeah, I guess I could do that, but I was thinking I could tap into somewhere less revealing just incase I had to take it to the dealer for some warranty issues. I was thinking about the amp, was trying to get my "Alligator clip" (for lack of better term) or something to that nature. But I see I'm going to have to run it like a traditional amp hook up...

Thanks

 

^

Well if you have an amp set up already, couldn't you just use a power distribution block?

 

When I do that, that would be the way to go just incase I decide to add something later. Man, I'm shook, I might just wait until my warranty expires, lol...
or purchase an extended warranty before or after I do the install.

 

It's al going to depend on the pc setup and which year coupe you have. If your using a low power consuming carputer, you can simply pop the center console on most coupes and tap the wires for the lighter power socket under the armrest. Then you pop out the back seat and you can easily run the power wire under the 10 or so inches of carpet and into the trunk.....when you put the rear seat cushion back, it will cover the rest of the cable. Keep in mind that this will cut the power off with the ignition though and will require you to use a lead-acid battery aand a tank circuit prior to the pc power supply. If you don't want to deal with that, then just connect it to the fuse box and run the wire down the side under the carpet, that way you can easily remove it later and it shouldn't void any warranties.

 

btw...how much did your carputer run you? Was it something self built? I'm looking for a good carputer that won't run me 1k for.

 

Man, I seen your install, that is top notch man. Yeah, from what I researched, low power consumption would be my choice with the opus power supply powering it up and down. You through me off with the lead-acid battery though, why's that?
I'm sure it has something to do with the powering pulling from the battery after the power is turned off! I have a 2003 (3.5) and my cig-lighter is near my head unit, any other recommendations. I'm a dba2 and a tech at heart, wonder why I do not have a micro-itx just laying around somewhere, go figure

 

all the fuse box taps I've seen have been bootleg; is there a part I could buy or something like that to make life easier. Maybe an extended fuse with a loop to insert your wire into?

 

opus

 

Thanks for the kind words! I may actually completly rebuild the pc soon though....I came up with an idea for a show quality piece..now I just need to implement it
As far as the battery....it would basiclly allow your pc the extra time to shut itself down since the cig lighter shuts off with the ignition. The route I went was to actually run a direct line with a fuse from the battery, that way I have constant power and my psu/shutdown controller will power down windows gracefully and in the event it would hang and not shut down......it will forcefully cut the power to my pc after 60 seconds.
By the way...opus is a great choice, but you may also want to look at the carnetix units also. Base it off the system you build though.

 

Yup, self built. As far as price...it ended up costing around $1,500 for everything including the screen (around $650 or so), pac audio adapters,psu/controller, pc hardware/software, and all that misc. little crap that adds up. You can build it a littlle cheaper than I did, but I don't think you'll enjoy it nearly as much. It's not the computer but all the little extras you need that add up.

 

I was wondering how that work as far as time is concerned. I thought maybe the opus came with a buit in capacitor or something to allow for the extra time in shutting down. One other question, if its connected directly to the power, how do the unit or does the unti determine if power is lost some how (via shut off or low battery power) or do you have to physically shut it down or hibernate by time laspe?

 

The in-car install itself had taken me about 2 days. The most time consuming thing though was all the research and planning before hand, which I had started a few months before.
As far as the opus and other similar units, they are ran from a constant power source like the battery generally or through a tank circuit with a lead-acid battery. The unit I use sends a signal to the carputer to turn on or off depending on the key in the ignition. Basiclly as you turn on the car, the computer sees it as you pressing the power button on the front of a pc and boots up. When you pull the key out, it reacts as if you were shutting down windows through windows. It doesn't use a capacitor for extra run-time, but it does stablize my voltage to around 12v constant even when cranking the engine on. So basiclly all in all, its a 12v power supply, 5v for usb hub, startup/shutdown controller and power stabilizer.