Weird Power Problems
Posted: July 19th, 2004, 9:35 pm
As some may know, i have a CarPC in my car, but lately i have been having some weird power issues
In total, I'm guessing im pulling about 350w total (255 power supply, 55w LCD and like maybe 50w misc). I have 2 Optima red tops wired in direct parallel, one under the hood, one in the trunk ran with 1 guage wire, fused of course, essentially they act as a single large battery.
I was having issues where the inverter would freak out, saying it wasnt getting enough power, but only when driving. I can and have sit and played with it in a parking lot, engine off accessory on, for about 2 hours no problem, but if i drive for more than 15 minutes, teh inverter freaks out... i turn the inverter off and on and i'm its Ok, the digital readout on the inverter or a multimeter reads between 12.5v and 13.8v when i check it.
In troubleshooting, i've
-Replaced the relay
-replaced the 700w inverter with an 800w digital inverter and got rid of the relay
-replaced the 800w inverter again.
-upgraded teh wireing to the inverter, originally had the wires from the old 400w inverter, so i changed and used the ones from a 800w inverter.
At one point i drove with the system off for a week and thought to give the batteries a full charge, tried it and it happened after about 15min.
I'm thinking maybe alternator but i should have enough charged power that the alternator should ahve no effect. I was also thinking maybe its from the bumps of driving, but it kinda always happens when i'm around the same area on the way home
In total, I'm guessing im pulling about 350w total (255 power supply, 55w LCD and like maybe 50w misc). I have 2 Optima red tops wired in direct parallel, one under the hood, one in the trunk ran with 1 guage wire, fused of course, essentially they act as a single large battery.
I was having issues where the inverter would freak out, saying it wasnt getting enough power, but only when driving. I can and have sit and played with it in a parking lot, engine off accessory on, for about 2 hours no problem, but if i drive for more than 15 minutes, teh inverter freaks out... i turn the inverter off and on and i'm its Ok, the digital readout on the inverter or a multimeter reads between 12.5v and 13.8v when i check it.
In troubleshooting, i've
-Replaced the relay
-replaced the 700w inverter with an 800w digital inverter and got rid of the relay
-replaced the 800w inverter again.
-upgraded teh wireing to the inverter, originally had the wires from the old 400w inverter, so i changed and used the ones from a 800w inverter.
At one point i drove with the system off for a week and thought to give the batteries a full charge, tried it and it happened after about 15min.
I'm thinking maybe alternator but i should have enough charged power that the alternator should ahve no effect. I was also thinking maybe its from the bumps of driving, but it kinda always happens when i'm around the same area on the way home