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fatboyjim
Joined: 19 Mar 2004
Posts: 33
Location: brighton
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 Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 14:09 Post subject: electrical advice. |
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i've been thinking long and hard about how i am going to mod up the entertainment system. i want something that will play dvd, mp3 and also divx movies but be cheap and also robust enough to deal with the day to day bumps of driving. i've settled on swerving building a small pc system and am instead going to mod-up a second hand xbox. i reckon i can get the thing playing everything i want plus of course the bonus of xbox games and a huge replacement hard drive for about £150.
computer wise i know roughly what i'm doing BUT... powering the thing is where i come unstuck. i know i could buy a small inverter for it that convert 12v to 120v which is perfect - i'm worried about what the drain on the battery is going to be like. it shouldn't be a bit problem when i'm driving but most of it's use is going to be when i'm stationary. i saw a tutorial on here for installing a bigger inverter which looked a bit beyond my ability - but is this the way to go? should i be looking at getting a separate battery or will an xbox not be too much of a power drain?
cheers
Jim |
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| Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 14:09 Post subject: Google Ads keep this community free to join! |
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Oldskool Beat
Lifetime member
Joined: 11 Mar 2004
Posts: 1582
Location: Corringham, Essex
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| Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 14:53 Post subject: |
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Hi Jim
I've got a separate battery fitted to mine, its not on a changeover switch but fitted to a relay that only cuts in when the ignition is on.
My Deli' has 2 batteries under the bonnet that work as standard and a 3rd in the boot area.
When the ignition is off the 3rd battery is disconnected from the others and running sceens, playstation etc. when the ignition key is turned to the aux position its still separate from the others.
In the ignition position all 3 batteries are joined together.
When turning the key to crank the engine the 3rd battery is also in the disconnected state 8)
The 3rd battery is a Exide sealed type (so no leaks) about £120 though 
Been running the Deli' now for a year like this with no problems what so ever  (except when I left the fridge on the main batteries at Abingdon last year   
You could also have the 2 batteries under the bonnet on a split charger,
Astra/Netpest was talking of have this done. 8)
Hope this helps in your mission
_________________
Beat 
I will not be held responsible for any loss of limbs or any other damage to Deli' or persons.
I am in no way a mechanic or auto electrician.
Just trying to help ;)
L400 LWB with toys  |
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fatboyjim
Joined: 19 Mar 2004
Posts: 33
Location: brighton
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| Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 16:23 Post subject: |
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that sounds like the sort of thing that i am after as i was hoping to run a little 12v fridge off it was well. i like the idea of 2 under the hood rather than having one taking up "living" space. are those as powerful as the one you have in the back - the engine looks pretty cramped as is so i'm assuming its two smaller batteries of some sort?
was the relay a difficult thing to fit? i like the idea of not causing problems for the motherboard, cpu and harddrive when i turn the ignition. |
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Indigo
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| Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 18:50 Post subject: |
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| Beat wrote: |
...
You could also have the 2 batteries under the bonnet on a split charger,
Astra/Netpest was talking of have this done. 8)
Hope this helps in your mission |
yup!
we're having this done in 4 weeks time by the dude that fitted the alarm system, costing about £75 all inclusive
and fatboyjim, both mine and beats came with 2 batteries under the bonnet as standard as they are a super and a royal exceed, iirc someone with an L300 fitted a second battery under their bonnet a short while back? i'll need to search to find it. of course i may be suffering from sleep depravation and may have dreamt the whole thing.. |
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Marc
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Joined: 11 Mar 2004
Posts: 1495
Location: Brighton
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fatboyjim
Joined: 19 Mar 2004
Posts: 33
Location: brighton
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| Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2004 20:21 Post subject: |
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cheers. as i'm a bog standard exceed i'm sure i only have the one battery.. i saw that post about the 2 batteries in the L300 earlier today but wasn't sure how relevent it was to the later models.
cheers for the link hehe!! no such thing as an original idea eh? even down to the xbox - well thats the good thing about a community forum innit. this guy Postmodern is thinking along the same lines as me:
"The X-Box is basically a little PC. It'd draw somewhere near 180W while the HDD spins up (Guessing;)). If you only ever wanted the Xbox for the Delica, you should be able to modify it to run straight off 12V. 12V and 5V are all a PC needs. It seems weird to me to run a PC/Xbox in a car off an inverter as your converting 12V to 240V just for the X-Box to convert it back down to 12V. Rip it open! Run it off 12! You might need to do some fancy stuff to supply the 5V rail, but it's not rocket science. "
but i don't know enough about AC and DC currents to know that if i take 12v straight from the battery and wire it to the Xbox... |
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hairyben
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 234
Location: Central London- Frontier Land
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 11:35 Post subject: |
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fatboy- many inverters shut down automatically at a certain battery voltage so you don't flatten the battery.
Extra batteries- Did you uprate the alternator?
_________________
Eminent Exceed.
now gone 
merc vito 120- eaten 2 EGR's in 6k  |
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fatboyjim
Joined: 19 Mar 2004
Posts: 33
Location: brighton
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| Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2004 22:45 Post subject: |
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| yeah i know mate. i'm trying to work out if i can wire the xbox innards directly into the 12v car battery just like you would a cd player.. unfortunately i have much more enthusiasm than ability! |
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hairyben
Joined: 26 Mar 2004
Posts: 234
Location: Central London- Frontier Land
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| Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2004 14:10 Post subject: |
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| fatboyjim wrote: |
| yeah i know mate. i'm trying to work out if i can wire the xbox innards directly into the 12v car battery just like you would a cd player.. unfortunately i have much more enthusiasm than ability! |
Personally I would be carefull about wiring it direct, the output voltage of a cars electrical system is very unstable and I don't know how this would affect PC components. Has it been attempted before? you can buy special DC-DC power supplies for running car computers but they aint cheap. http://www.opussolutions.com/150watt.html
At the end of the day an inverter would be the cheaper option evan if its a less elegant solution.
_________________
Eminent Exceed.
now gone
merc vito 120- eaten 2 EGR's in 6k |
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Oldskool Beat
Lifetime member
Joined: 11 Mar 2004
Posts: 1582
Location: Corringham, Essex
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| Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 22:45 Post subject: |
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| hairyben wrote: |
| Extra batteries- Did you uprate the alternator? |
Just the standard alternator working hard
The only problem with having three batteries is that if there is a weak one you might not know untill it drains the other two
_________________
Beat
I will not be held responsible for any loss of limbs or any other damage to Deli' or persons.
I am in no way a mechanic or auto electrician.
Just trying to help ;)
L400 LWB with toys |
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Indigo
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| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2004 8:47 Post subject: |
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| Beat wrote: |
| hairyben wrote: |
| Extra batteries- Did you uprate the alternator? |
Just the standard alternator working hard
The only problem with having three batteries is that if there is a weak one you might not know untill it drains the other two |
we're hoping never to have that happen with this electrical powered relay thingy that we're having fitted in a few weeks time. theory is that we can have the stereo on while cleaning the car/put a fridge in there and it will start every time as only one battery will be draining - which in theory should charge again when driving! good job we've got breakdown cover eh? ;) |
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