8 replies to this topic

[Alex_B]

Right i have a system that i am thinking about, its a bit different to the norm and was looking for a bit of help with working out what fuses i need. :)

First im running 12v perm and 12v switched to my head unit, what fuses will i need inline to that?
Then will be running a sub in the boot on an amp, inline fuse for that needed? (the amp that is)
and the bit thats different, on a custom power regulator board i have (gamecube dont ask) it takes 12v in and dispenses out 12v, 5v, 3v, and 1.8v and i will be using the 5v line to power a Raspberry pi (look it up, cheap linux pc) and 7" screen for my audio needs and so i can have a huge library at the touch of a button, and was wondering what inline fuse will i need for my power board?

oh and what gauge wire should i be using for all the standard stereo stuff?

Many thanks for any help or interest :)

Alex

[A362 TTU]

Sorry cant really help too much with fuses.

But I have heard of the raspberry Pi before - but never thought of using one as a carputer. It's brilliant for the purpose and costs like £20! You have inspired ideas in my head

[Alex_B]

well I just bought a custom pc off ebay, guy i bought it off was a bit on a pc geek and mentioned it to me, and then i instantly thought carputer, connect to a cheap HDD and a mini keyboard and i already had a 7" screen from my gamecube portable project (hence the gamecube power regulator) and thought this could work, havent worked out the fine details as to how its mounted but im working out the power distribution now then will work out how it will look, i would love it to look as standard as poss but i cant see how yet

[A362 TTU]

well I just bought a custom pc off ebay, guy i bought it off was a bit on a pc geek and mentioned it to me, and then i instantly thought carputer, connect to a cheap HDD and a mini keyboard and i already had a 7" screen from my gamecube portable project (hence the gamecube power regulator) and thought this could work, havent worked out the fine details as to how its mounted but im working out the power distribution now then will work out how it will look, i would love it to look as standard as poss but i cant see how yet

Cool stuff. Please do let me know of any progress.

Don't look like you can get hold of any rasberry Pi boards at this moment.

What OS shall you run?

[Dan]

Yes you will need to fuse protect all of that stuff. Can't say what fuses to use for any of it though as you haven't given any power ratings. Fuses protect against fault current, not voltage. Volts aren't really relevant here. You need to know the loading of each item you will be protecting. It is also absolutely essential to know this before specifying or buying cable and other components. These are pretty basic things about how electricity works that you need to know before designing any kind of system or installation if you want to avoid your car going up in flames.

[Alex_B]

Well im waiting patiently for the raspberry pi board to become available but will be running either Debian or OpenELEC, and will start a thread when i get started.

And yeah i will have to work out what i will be running power wise, then will be able to work out what i need fuse and cable wise. To be honest i was asking more about what fuses i will need for the standard I.c.e bits as the pc bit will be a bit more specialist and im a little way off that at the moment, i want to get my head unit installed first, its a sony xplod cdx-GT310 so what wire gauge and fuses will i require for that? if thats enough information?

[Dan]

Sony is one of the manufacturers that likes to put fuses inside their units, there is a 10A fuse in them under the ISO block. This is I believe fusing the continuous power supply to the unit, the yellow cable in the stereo itself. The ignition supply on these doesn't actually power the unit, it just switches it so the amount of current it pulls on the red cable is minimal, the power comes down the continuous cable. You should check these details against the actual unit you are getting though, never assume anything.

What with all the stuff you are adding you should build some new curcuits, so start by making a new one for the continuous supply to the head unit, its internal fuse will be enough. The cable should be at least rated to the 10 amps of that fuse. If you were to put all your new stuff on the same circuit, obviously you would need to account for all the power used. And remember the earth needs to be just as big as the supply. The ignition switched supply on Sony units draws very little power as I said so it can be placed on the original accessory fuse circuit safely (once you have checked these details). If the accessory circuit gives you problems on cranking, switch the supply to the ignition circuit.

[Bungle]

just make sure the wire used is rated higher than the fused used

[freshairmini]

Those Raspberry Pi things are awesome! I've been waiting for one of those to come into stock for ages, to do exactly what you are wanting todo!

The OpenELEC with XBMC would be ideal for a car PC. so small as well.