Ideas on supplying power to an in-car Xbox...

[MikeKey]

Hi,

I've converted an XBox to 12v (using an M1-ATX car-pc power supply) and now I'm a bit stumped about the best way to get power to it in the boot.

I've read all the in-car AV forums, but these all relate to powering amps with massive cables directly from the battery, etc. This all seems a bit overkill for something that's only going to draw 10A before it's own fuse pops.

I figured seeing as how the regular 12v outlet in the centre console is quite capable of running a regular XBox without setting fire to anything, (albeit via an invertor), I could just run a couple of wires from the ignition harness or similar back to the boot.

So, has anyone else done this and, if so, how did you do it? Wired to the battery, into an existing 12v lead somewhere, or something else?

Cheers!

Mike

[Kieran]

Hi MikeKey..... Don't know the answer to this, your logic seems right - the fag lighter wires are thin spindly little things, so running 0 gauge from your battery is definetly overkill. Problem is that I don't think there's an 'Acc on' power source in the boot area unless the CD changer's in there? You could try tapping into the tail lights, but that's always a bit.... Erm - well, I'd sooner have working lights than a working Xbox and a lorry ramming me!! :speechles

I know you've said you've searched all the AV forums, but have you tried www.mp3car.com ? There's quite a few XBOX users on there, so I imagine they might be able to help?

[n13l pm]

Hi MikeKey

Your correct, all you have to do is run a wire which is the same or more amps then on the power supply. I have ran a 17.5amp wire to my pc power supply which is a M2-ATX (15amp rated fuse) which works fine. The M1-ATX is a 10amp rating so if you running 10amps or more wire, you should be fine. Its a fairly thin wire and is easy to run to the main battery, which is what I did. As for the ignition wire to the power supply I just used the ignition from the ISO block from the back of the head unit. I didnt use the power from here or the lighter, purely because I rather had a clean feed.

[pitslayer]

id rather run thicker wire than set my cars electrics on fire.....


you could run a second battery in the boot, sure a few people on here have done this, but i would personally run a second battery (leisure battery, expensive but worth it) in the boot, on a split charging system, so it never looses charge when the cars running...and if the car is off and it does loose charge, it will take power from your main battery to charge it.....it will then cut your main battery out when your running low on power on that one, ie it leaves enough charge in your main battery so you can start the car again

[n13l pm]

id rather run thicker wire than set my cars electrics on fire.....


you could run a second battery in the boot, sure a few people on here have done this, but i would personally run a second battery (leisure battery, expensive but worth it) in the boot, on a split charging system, so it never looses charge when the cars running...and if the car is off and it does loose charge, it will take power from your main battery to charge it.....it will then cut your main battery out when your running low on power on that one, ie it leaves enough charge in your main battery so you can start the car again


Yeah iv done this myself. I got two optima yellow tops in the car, one in the front and one the boot, all connected using a split charge kit. I still ran the power for my icpc from the front, for two reasons, firstly I have the computer in the glove box and it was closer to the front battery, secondly I got a big sound system installed and I didnt want the computer to cut out if I ever drop voltage due to serious sub usage.

I guess it depends what else your looking to run in the car..?

[MikeKey]

Good stuff! :2thumbsup

OK, with that all in mind, I think I'll run a 14 guage +ve straight from the battery to the boot to be on the safe side. I'm not planning on putting anything else back there, (except maybe a little Kenwood SatNav unit), so that should be fine.

n13l pm, did you run your -ve wire back to anywhere specific, (alternator?), or just bolt it to the chassis somewhere in the boot?

I had a good look round on mp3car.com but figured I'd ask here first to see if anyone had any Galant specific tips /thankyou

Mike

[n13l pm]

Well my icpc is in the glove box, so I used bolt on the chassis near that, which was already beening used as earth. In the boot I grounded my battery to the chassis too, this I made it myself by drilling a hole. I had to do this because I was using 0awg wire and wanted something close to the battery.

But in your case you can use a bolt already in the car.. you always have the bolts used on the rear seats, but not sure if you want to mess with them. You have a estate so im not sure about the boot layout but on the saloon on both sides of the boot there are earthing points, not sure if you can make it out on the right hand side pic:

uploaded/2949/1160240849.jpg uploaded/2949/1160240967.jpg

[MikeKey]

n13l,

You're a legend! Cheers for the pictures, I'll hunt around for a suitable bolt in the boot :2thumbsup

Looking forward to getting it all installed this weekend!

Mike