Car gaming PC

[uyohn]

Hey everyone, 

 

I'm planning on converting a van into home / office for travelling on working on the move. I'm graphic designer and light gamer.

 

I'd love to see a more technical video about "car pc". For example, what kind of battery do I need to operate a computer for about 8 hours a day, how many solar panels do I need to recharge batteries for this PC and so on.

 

Thanks for response.

 

[it_dont_work]

Depends on the full load power draw of the battery, size of the inverter you'll be using, weather or not you'l have solar aswell, and if you're going to run the engine at all during the day, or it you'll have a generator.

 

Answer these and the battery size will be easy to work out, camping i use a 130ah agm battery to run my fridge and a 300watt inverter for camera and laptop, but that's with a 100watt solar panel. 

 

Also remember when choosing a lead acid batery, you can only discharge to about 50%, meaning my 130ah, is only good for about a 75ah use case. the deeper the discharge the exponentially lower the cycle use will be.

[uyohn]

Well, I didn't figure most of these details out yet, except the solar panels. I'm going to get as much of'em as possible. About the other parts, I'm just sort of pre-thinking this project and doing some research on the best ways to go about something like this. So it would be probably better for me, if you could recommend what I should / could do. Like, would it be better to just buy a laptop and not car pc? I'm mostly working in Adobe Ps, Ai, "xd", Ae... but I'd like to play modern games at 1080p and higher.

[Imbellis]

1 minute ago, uyohn said:

Well, I didn't figure most of these details out yet, except the solar panels. I'm going to get as much of'em as possible. About the other parts, I'm just sort of pre-thinking this project and doing some research on the best ways to go about something like this. So it would be probably better for me, if you could recommend what I should / could do. Like, would it be better to just buy a laptop and not car pc? I'm mostly working in Adobe Ps, Ai, "xd", Ae... but I'd like to play modern games at 1080p and higher.

A laptop pros/cons

• can be charged/ run off of car power ports
• more portable
• more power efficient
• less computing power
• Extra cost due to portability

Desktop PC pros/cons

• More powerful components
• Cheaper
• Would need a transformer/battery system (from my knowledge)
• Would need to be plugged in constantly

Overall, the cost of a UPC(?) and the proper electrical equipment may increase the cost to more than a laptop. A laptop also could be rigged up with more premium components negating most of the disadvantages.

 

Here's a link to LTT's laptop reviews. Most of 'em wouldn't be for you, but a couple will.

 

I would really consider a laptop, but I won't be able to make the decision for you. It matters what you're exactly looking for. Both sides have positives and negatives.

[MadOverclocker]

Well I haven't read answers nor seen the video but here's my opinion.

You could add one or more batteries in parallel apart from the main battery using a battery isolator. Then you connect the battery isolator to the alternator/battery terminals to charge the other batteries without draining the main cranking battery. It does not matter much the voltage the battery has, but the Ah (Amps hours). The more Ah the more it will last. To convert 12/24v dc to 110v/220v AC power you will need an "Inverter" or "Power converter" (they both are the same thing). Now let's start with basic info. A PC runs in DC. A PSU only converts AC Household power to DC (which most electronics use) so your pc runs. Inverters have this sine wave rating: Modified sine wave or Pure sine wave. There are others like square wave but they don't get called like that in the market, instead manufacturers just say that their inverters are modified sine wave. The power from the grid is Pure Sine Wave. Modified sine wave is a more cheap and easy to make sine wave. Power tools run just okay with modified waves, however, some consoles like my PS3 have signal problems. Mine had this buzzing noise and purple line crossing on my tv. This happens because the wave is not pure as it should be. However my rig runs great like normal. Tho a PSU can be like %3-5 unefficient because of the wave, but it depends on how the wave moves. Pure sine wave will have no problems at all because it is a clean, normal wave like the electrical grid. If you use a UPS on the modified wave, the UPS transforms modified to pure sine wave. Now the watts you should pick. If your rig uses about 700w max the inverter you need is 850w+ constant and double the psu wattage to get the peak in this case, 1400w peak. I reccomend a 1500w inverter/2000w inverter modified for putting some appliances into the car. Why modified? It is way cheaper for just plugging in your PC and maybe a fan and a mini refrigerator. Remember, peak is when you plug in the device that draws it for maybe 0.1 to 0.4 seconds and constant (On inverters/power generators) is just the max watts you can use without the peak.

Tip: Get 100w more of if you can of what in total you use.