Car PC

[BMac1203]

Right, no I meant the other 12v. You have two, the constant 12v and the ACC line that sends the signal to boot the computer.

 

Where'd you get the remote signal from?

[fweasel]

Right, no I meant the other 12v. You have two, the constant 12v and the ACC line that sends the signal to boot the computer.

 

Where'd you get the remote signal from?

Erp... sorry, didn't read your question right. I'll have to defer to F1 as he hooked up that wire.

[BMac1203]

Appreciated!

 

Ive used both the 12v plug (Cig lighter) and the Info panel harness, and both are not constant through ignition. I dont believe that it is my battery, I'm pretty sure that upon ignition, they are cutoff and repowered. (Not the correct wording, but you get the idea).

[f1anatic]

Weasel brought in a 12 V line from battery which I wired to (-) and (+) fused 15A and the ACC(IGN) wire is a line from the cig lighter.

[BMac1203]

Hmm...I guess Ill try the Cig lighter again then.

[BMac1203]

Wow I feel dumb for not catching that. Seb, have you had any luck?

 

Im assuming you know what I mean. When turned to Start, the car cuts all power and then repowers. I havent found something that will ONLY come on AFTER ignition. If it is on at ACC, it will send a signal to boot the CPU at that time. Once I turn to IGN, it re-sends the signal, booting the computer all over again. Not sure if that makes sense. Because all the 2nd 12v line is is a remote wire, like used on aftermarket audio amps. Same thing would happen with them (stereo on at ACC would start AMP, then when switch to IGN, AMP would turn off and on again with the radio). I havent heard of any "fix" to this yet. Not that this is a REALLY big deal, but computers dont like to be started up and shut down this often....it could hypothetically cause problems in the long run.

[BMac1203]

Now, Im fighting a new problem. My mobo is no longer sending video to the screen.

 

I thought it was the screen, and after thoroughly dismantling it, un-epoxying it fromt the bezel and testing and purchasing new cables, it turns out the screen is perfectly fine. Never thought the Mobo would have problems.

 

I now have the Carputer on my desk with an ATX PSU hooked up to it. It seems to be running fine (watching fans, listening to HD and DVD Drive) but it is posting no video. Since I cant get video, I cant get into BIOS to check things out. Any ideas? I cant remember the jumper configuration to Reset the BIOS settings...

[f1anatic]

Seb, that is Centrafuse. I just changed the center graphics. Not a final release...hence no OBD-2 yet. I also need to by a USB DVD ROM.

 

So...lemme explain it one more time.

 

Skilled Weasel ran 2 wires from my battery to the back of the car. One went to (-) and one to (+). Close to the battery, on the (+) line I put the 15 Amp fuse that Carnetix P-1900 demands.

 

From the cig lighter that is at the dashboard (and which got deleted) I ran to the back of the car two wires...a (+) and a (-). They "fuel" an extra fan for my laptop. But from this same (+) line I also spliced another wire which connects with the yellow IGN wire of my Carnetix.

 

Basically I have (+) and (-) from the battery to the power supply unit ALL THE TIME. But when I put the key into ignition and I switch to ACCESSORY (or turn on the engine); "juice" will flow thru the yellow wire and will tell my power source unit to start spitting out 19V; 12V and 5V.

 

I think your issues are with how you set up (in my case by selecting which pins are jumpered and which are not) the PSU.

 

Anyone else running iGuidance 3 ? If I select AUTO (for the day/night skins) it does not switch automatically. What to do ?

[f1anatic]

To Set the Display Options

 

1. Tap Menu, Display Opts to open the Display Options screen.

2. Select the desired option(s).

3. Tap OK to accept or Cancel to reject change(s)

 

Map Orientation: Orients the Map screen so that the driving direction is pointing up or North is pointing up.

Color Scheme: Sets color scheme to Day or Night mode. Auto setting changes from Day to Night mode automatically at approximately sunrise and sunset.

Guidance Screen: Sets the Guidance screen to automatically switch when getting closer to a turn maneuver, or have it appear only when manually selected.

 

 

That isn"t happening for me. Anyone know anything ?

[f1anatic]

Wow look what I found: endless customization of iGuidance

http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=28166

 

but still no answer for my problem

[f1anatic]

Not gonna see much. Skilled Fingers Weasel did it. But will post pix.

[BMac1203]

Haha guys, not sure that youre understanding me...

 

I understand everything youre saying, that's how mine is setup as well. But the thing that mine does (which yours either doesnt do due to having a backup laptop battery or a different PSU) is turn on twice.

 

I ran my wires EXACTLY like you. The thing is, the cig lighter sends TWO seperate pulses (signals to turn the mobo on). When at ACC, the yellow wire gets "juice" to turn on the comp. But the way our Leggy works, is that when you go from ACC -> IGN, it CUTS the power and then reapplies it.

 

IE: Turn to ACC - > Yellow wire "hot" - > Computer Turn On

Turn from ACC to IGN - > Yellow wire hot -> yellow wire cold - > yellow wire hot - > Computer Turn On

 

It sends the signal twice, because the Cig lighter DOES NOT have constant power between ACC -> IGN, so f1, it must be your PSU or your laptop battery that keeps urs in check.

 

On another note, turns out that my Mobo went bad, just made an RMA request

 

And lastly f1, I meant are you using CF RC5, or the (less than week old) 1.1 release?

 

Ive been using RC5, havent updated to 1.1 yet, but have the file on hand to do so...now I just need a working computer.

[BMac1203]

In conclusion. Here's my question:

 

If you switch to ACC, your computer should turn on and boot up. So if you sit in ACC it runs fine. THEN, turn the key to IGN, does the screen and computer stay running? If so, it HAS to be your PSU or your backup battery to provide the necessary voltage stabilization.

[f1anatic]

I have not upgraded to the latest release. I will go now to check it.

[BMac1203]

I have the m1ATX. I will play with the jumper settings and maybe try a diff setting, thanks for the idea!

 

Thats why I brought this all up, was worrying about constant on/offs. It really is bad for comps.

 

Should I be using a diff PSU....any of them more reliable than the other?

 

Atleast this gave me a chance to re-route some wires and really tidy up the job. Looks top notch now.

[BMac1203]

I have not upgraded to the latest release. I will go now to check it.

 

Sweet. Just wanted to give you a heads up so that you could get the new release. A LOT of bugs were fixed, but now theirs new ones as well; naturally. Good luck! Tell me how you like it! (As I cant since my comp is bad)

[bakasama]

I'm really currious about what you find. My understanding was that these 'carputer' power supplies were setup so that they would send a 'shutdown' command to the OS(similar to briefly pressing the power key on a PC), and not actually KILL power until after x amount of time has passed since the ACC line went dead.

[BMac1203]

That was my understanding, but mine simply shuts the comp down. Supposedly it can put the computer to sleep instead of shutdown. Will work on getting everything all better once I get my new non-dead Mobo

[BMac1203]

It's just weird. Maybe I need a new battery...but mines only 4 months old...hah

[BMac1203]

Right, but if others dont have this, I either need to A) Get a diff battery, or B) get a diff PSU.

 

But I need to know if there is a "better" psu than my m1ATX. I got it due to the good reviews @ mp3car

 

Any ideas?

[f1anatic]

Carnetix ? Opus ?

[BMac1203]

Haha yeah I know the other companies. Just looking for testimonials.

 

"I like mine because..."

"This one does this, and that one doesn't..."

[BMac1203]

Yes, you can do that. I can walk you through it if youd like.

[f1anatic]

Yes Seb. it is really easy. Either one of us (BMAC, myself) can turn you into an expert in 2 minutes. Hint: you can even rename them - say instead of GPS you can write GPS NAVI etc. Not to mention change their position and/or link any other button to an external application.

[BMac1203]

Yup, I renamed a few of mine, didnt like most of the names & locations.

 

Seb, I learned from plain just sitting and playing with the setup menu. I probably spent 10 mins just playing with EVERY setting, and now know CF like the back of my hand. It's surprisingly customizable, and surprisingly easy.