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Recommendation on DC to DC PSU?

N

Nd4Spd-Se

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 22, 2001
Messages
1,878
My CarPC uses a 255w mATX Power Supply connected to an AC Inverter, but recently i've been having som issues where the inverter will phreak out of the blue with a "Low Power" error, but only when the car's running. Funny enough, i brough it to my car audio guys and we were in the middle of doing some tests with a multimeter and it gave us that error, even tho the meter didn't register any drop, actually is stayed at a constant 13.2-13.6v, replaced the inverter 3 times, played around with the wiring. So now im fed up and its time to replace the power supply and do it properly with a DC-to-DC power supply.

Any one have any recommendations on what brand and where to buy one?
 
Opus solutions makes some good DC-DC power supplies, but they are somewhat expensive.
 
155watts is as big as they come unless you get an industrial atx 12v psu... which are really expensive...

time to look into an epia board ;)
 
make your own i think pimprig did a article on building one from ac-dc so basically you just modify it for dc-dc or you could strip the 120 volt transformer and put in a 12-w/e the transformer transforms it to transformer... if car/transformer can take it will run fine..
 
i think i broke the record of how many times saying transformer.. you follow what i was saying?
 
ryuji said:
make your own i think pimprig did a article on building one from ac-dc so basically you just modify it for dc-dc or you could strip the 120 volt transformer and put in a 12-w/e the transformer transforms it to transformer... if car/transformer can take it will run fine..
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i sincerely doubt it, it dosent work like that... ATX PSU's are switching PSU's its not that simple
 
FLECOM said:
i sincerely doubt it, it dosent work like that... ATX PSU's are switching PSU's its not that simple
Click to expand...
dont they switch 24v not full 120 would be inefficient and expensive to do higher voltage with conversion doen in the transistors
 
to test ill open up a psu now and hopefully not bbq myself with a volt meter
 
What the hell kind of games do you play in your car that an epia couldn't handle? :eek:
 
more complex in there then what i saw last time i looked...must have not really noticed. i dunno where to test so i theirfor stand corrected
 
why would you be playing games in your care anyway? :confused:
 
modifying a line input PSU to run on 12 volts is *not* easy... here's what's involved:

- winding a new main transformer.
- inventing a new +5VSB circuit
- replacing the input BJTs with a bank of MOSFETs. The overall topology will change from half bridge to push-pull.
- replacing the isolated base drive (usually baker clamp) circuit with something completely diferent for driving MOSFETs.
- finding a new way to do primary side current sensing.
- making drastic changes to the regulation circuitry.
- when all is said and done, testing it and making sure it doesn't blow up itself and/or your computer.

If you know how to do all this and have access to all the parts and test equipment required, then by all means do it. :D

To the thread starter, I'd suggest either getting a bigger inverter, or going the epia route.
 
If I was at home, i'd post a link I found about using something called a "forward converter" to modify an ATX psu to run off of +12v DC. It was waaaay over my head, but the only hard part looked to be re-winding a transformer.Anyway, if not that, I know i've seen 200w Opus DC-DC PSUs. Also, you might ask PCP&C if they can build you one.
 
HitmanZ said:
Where do you buy these anyways? I looked all around couldn't find anything. Also do you use a itps? Does your psu survive a crank like opus does?
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You have to phone in the order. What do you mean by "survive"? The machine will, indeed, crash when the truck is started. I'm now installing a battery isolator and a deep-cycle to power only the electronics
 
PS-RagE said:
You have to phone in the order. What do you mean by "survive"? The machine will, indeed, crash when the truck is started. I'm now installing a battery isolator and a deep-cycle to power only the electronics
Click to expand...


I see i see, how much did it cost this psu of yours? Also, surviving the crank means exactly what it implies, usually about 95% of the time, opus power supplys can survive cranks up to 10 secs and has it's own turn on and turn off feature (itps)
 
I thought the same thing, but here I am pulling off the whole AC side on my trusty (and shorted out!) Enermax 300w. I shorted it out pretty bad near the fuse, making the varistors explode :D So I don't really care if I bork it up. I'm pretty much prep'ed now to unwind and rewind the tranformer, but I still need to scavenge or buy the rest of the parts. Yep, lots of work indeed
 
jpmkm said:
What the hell kind of games do you play in your car that an epia couldn't handle? :eek:
Click to expand...

I've played Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed, Hot Pursuit 2, Underground, Test Drive 6, Grand Theft Auto 3 & Halo on my CarPC, never while driving of course, duh! (same goes for TV/Movies), unless its the passenger thats playing them.

You ever drive somewhere and hafta wait? Thats when i use it..its not too too often, say a few times a month, but sometime when you hafta wait around for a half and hour or even an hour a few times, it's great to have.

Perfect example, me and my friends used to goto the movies almost weekly after work at the 7:15-7:45 show (depends on which movie and when it starts). Now i got off of work at 5:30. The theater is 15min north of work, home is 25min south of work. If i were to drive home and back, i would arrive just in time for the show. But of course you wanna get there early for some good seats, that and theres no point driving home and waisting gas. So i just head up early, and play around, have a few games. Also i could catch The Simpsons on the TV Tuner (AIW 7500) with an antenna, it plays from 6:00-6:30. The guys would arrive around 6:30-6:45 so ir work out great. Also we have weekly (i usually go every 2 weeks due to the amount of driving) Mazda Mx-3 meets in Toronto at around 8:00. Again, it's not worth driving home for 10 minutes and heading back, so i just drive up and play around until they arrive. Sometimes they start arriving earlier, but still, i come prepared :)

Sure, my CarPC may be overkill as compared to most others. It's not a setup for everyone, i built it to suit my lifestyle and works great
 
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