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Home / I-Opener Areas / I-Opener General Posts Car power adapter?

Car power adapter? (modified 0 times) DukeLeto Profile | Email I saw a whole bunch of these going on ebay a while ago, anybody have one they want to sell for a reasonable price? 08-23-2002 07:35:14

RE:Car power adapter? (modified 0 times) Jsteinhilper Profile Have you thought about hacking the PS so you could run it from 12 instead of 19 volts? I haven't looked at it, need to get it powered up, but shouldn't be that hard, unless it needs higher voltage for something. They normally drop that 19 down to 5 and 12 anyway, then generate anything else then need off of that. Heck, have you just tried 12? Cars normally put out about 13 to 14 on the circuit, to charge the batteries. The IO should have a input range where it's happy. And as long as you cover what's needed to get "over" the PS (about 1.2VDC sometimes), it should power up. You can do that on a lot of devices that are AC too, the PS just converts it to DC. (like 12V AC, NOT 120VAC like a TV). Sometimes, they need and use the AC part to convert voltages, but with switching power supplies, that is more and more rare, they just bring in the AC, conver it all to DC the run it through some power transistors and a transformer at a copule of kilohertz and jack it up (or down) to what ever they need. 08-24-2002 19:46:45

RE:Car power adapter? (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile The audio would not work on early units if ran on 12VDC. Straight automotive power is very hostile to sensitive computer electronics without some kind of quality filtering and regulation. Voltage spikes from electric door locks and/or other devices create problems. 08-24-2002 21:47:49

RE:Car power adapter? (modified 0 times) *SF* Profile Also the Voltage Drop ( 8 ~ 9 VDC )during Starting of the engine has to be considered. with the "Patrick" DC to DC Inverter this was Not a Problem ? ( But It Died. ) with the "Spoggy", I just have to watch the Hard Drive Activity LED & Start the Car right after a HD Access or the I-Opener will Lock up. (someday I will add a Large Cap on the 19VDC side) 08-24-2002 22:07:15

RE:Car power adapter? (modified 0 times) Jsteinhilper Profile That's interesting about the audio. I'm not sure what difference that would make on the audio side. But I wouldn't expect it to hold up during a start. But, I would have expected that if it powered up at all, that it should be OK as far as quality was concerned. The PS I got with the unit isn't all that great to begin with, so I figured that the input stage would take care of that. But sitting here looking at it now, I agree, it doesn't look all that "hefty". I guess some extra protection would be in order. This is interesting. I just got a new car, one with the "power outlet" instead of the old standard the cigerette lighter. Assuming that this is intended for electronic devices, would it be "cleaner"? I'm going to put a scope on it and look at it. You would thing that by now, manufactureres would put some protection/filter on a power buss out there for use on stereo equipment and phones and electronics. In case they have not noticed, electronics in cars are becomming quite popular. But speaking of putting a cap on the 19v side, have you seen those monster One freaking farad caps for use on the stereo equipment?? Heck, I could have fun just playing with one of those babies! About $79 to $100 bucks, some come with a simple voltage meter built in. Out rageous!! 08-25-2002 14:56:56

RE:Car power adapter? (modified 0 times) Jeff102410 Profile | Email No flames here please... For what it is worth, I've been running my iOpener in my car for over 2 years now. GPS connected through a USB/Com adapter and sound hack...straight off the 12V adapter. I use the stock WinChip with the heat sink cut in half to mount the HD. I have yet to have any issues... The iOpener has to convert whatever input power it receives to 12V (and 5V and 3.3V and 2V I believe) for use by the rest of the system. Input voltage from the car is 14.4 normally. One issue is that if the iOpener is running, and I have to start the car, the iOpener will reboot. The regular 110V/19V AC adapter puts out some fairly dirty power (depending on the input 110V power). Just based on my usage in the car, I have found that the iOpener is a fairly durable piece of equipment. It needs to be cared for, but not handled with "kid gloves". Texas weather being what it is (in the summer), some care has to be taken when the car is extremely hot. I have started the iOpener within a couple of minutes of starting the car/AC and have had not problems. Car is still fairly hot, but the iOpener has yet to have a problem. I know that there are several posts about using a DC 12V/19V converter. I've yet to see the need. Of course, tomorrow I may have a different statement... Hope this helps 09-03-2002 22:08:27

RE:Car power adapter? (modified 0 times) BadFlash Profile | Email I just designed and built a 12V to 19V adapter. National Semiconductor has a nice site for designing switching power supplies, so I did, and they sent me a nice little kit. After a little tedious surface mount soldering I fired it up & the sucker actually worked. I fined up a 400Mhz hacked unit and ran it no problems. I'm trying to get info on bulk quantities if anyone is interested. Frobably too late for any real interest. 08-02-2003 19:12:41

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