Xbox In My Car ***MadAsHell***

[Airpoppoff]

Im about ready to kill someone over this. K? Heres the setup.

Got the TV in the dash, the Xbox in the trunk.

When i turn on the xbox there is the largest amount of noise that goes acrost all the speakers and the screen of the TV. It sounds like ass, looks like ass so i dont even use it.

I first hooked up my 400 watt power inverter to the distrobution block that my amps are on, Hooked it up, grounded it. Still get mad noise. So One of my installer freinds said. "you need to run an 8 gauge from the battery all the way to the power inverter" So i go do that. Hook it up, Same thing. Move the ground, Same thing, Hook up TWO diffrent power inverters (even a 1600 Watt one). Same ####ing thing. I get a spare car battery, try to hook it up to it, Same thing. I plug the inverter into the cigarette lighter, same thing, Change the xbox Power cable, Same thing. I got a 40 dollar monster cable to hook up the xbox, Same thing.

Now i take the power cable to the xbox, hook it up to an extension cord from my garage (wall power) every god damn thing works fine. Music plays good, Picture looks great. (but i cant drive around with an extension cord in the trunk)

So what the hell do i try now? has anyone had any type of experience with this? Im about ready to go insane. Maybe its just the xbox, ill try a ps2 or something tonight and see if it still does it. I know ive seen people with xbox's in there cars and shit and i just cant find anyone to talk to. But if anyone has any ideas. Please let me know.

TIA

Matt

 

[brcewane]

It could be distortion from running the power cables right beside the audio/video cables... have you tried routing the power cables so that they are not close to the others....

Just a thought.. I know you can get the same kind of interference in Home Theaters when your power cables create "noise" on your audio/video lines.

 

[Airpoppoff]

Yeah i know what you mean, but i even put a 2nd battery in the trunk and tried running about a 2 foot wires to the inverter, still the same noise. .

 

[jaxon23]

look on the plug of the xbox and see hom much power it takes to run it....my PSone was 110 volts input and 7.5 volt output on the plug...i cut it and wired it straight to 12 volt power source and worked without an inverter...take out the inverter and that might cure your noise problem

 

[adgators99]

audio systems sometimes have this problem too. THere is some product out there cheap (maybe $20) that is an effective ground loop. Somehow it kills the noise kind of like a guitar amp plugged into an outlet at a high volume. If you don't break the ground tab off of the chord it is noisy as hell. So you need some kind of ground "noise supressor"

 

[jimwross]

Does it whine when you rev your engine? I had this problem with my CarPC as well, it basically has to do with one of the following:

1) Interference from powercables (w/ the audio / video cables)

2) Grounding problems

Solutions: Put the audio / video cables at a cross w/ the power cables, this is done in professional productions w/ mic cables and such, always has to be at a 90 degree angle, without getting in to it, it will knock out the interference (hopefully).

It most likely is what is commonly refered to as "Alternator Whine." Go to radio shack, and buy a "Ground Loop Isolator," basically it will eliminate that whining noise all together. This is a VERY common problem w/ any sort of amp / inverter.

Hope this helps, PM me with any questions.

 

[Attack Eagle]

When i turn on the xbox there is the largest amount of noise that goes acrost all the speakers and the screen of the TV. It sounds like ass, looks like ass so i dont even use it.

Now i take the power cable to the xbox, hook it up to an extension cord from my garage (wall power) every god damn thing works fine. Music plays good, Picture looks great. (but i cant drive around with an extension cord in the trunk)



Matt

Matt: Everyone is right that it is noise, but the key thing here is that w/o the power inverter you have no problems. If i understand also when you turn off the xbox there is no noise.You said you ran a 400W orignally and then a larger one. The noise is from the inverter itself.

What type of inverter are you using? Is it one that has (or had) a cigarette plug on it or is it a direct wire type? Sometimes those cigarette plugs have a filter built in to them. and if you cut it off to direct wire it that could be the problem.

What you are seeing and hearing in this case is noise from the inverter being passed back to the rest of your system thru your xbox and a/v cabling.

you might try an inexpensive ground loop isolator, or you might try a Smaller inverter.

400 W is way too much for what is basically a stripped down computer. In my experience having an large inverter introduces noise into the system. as they are just noisier ( I think they have less filtering as they are intended for larger appliances where a/v noise would not be an issue). I would venture to guess that a 100 to 150w is more than sufficient.
edit: just checked the xbox website/owners manual and it only pulls 100W (thats about what i expected, PS2 will be lower b/c of no HDD)


if it is OOW on the xbox, you might consider opening up the case.I don't know about an xbox but a PS has a 110 cable going in, and the entire bottom section (HDD bay) is the 110 A/C to 12v D/C adapter, with 4 pin connected to the main board 2 12v and 2 negatives. Concievably you can bypass that entire section and run 12v in directly.
http://www.asdffdsa.net/projects/ps2.htm
perhaps you can do the same with your xbox?


Anyway just some Ideas and my .02

 

[Airpoppoff]

Thanks richard, I will defintely figure that out, My box is modded right now anyways so i really dont care about ripping it apart.

Im going to do what jim said first, See if that works. I do have ground noise myself because i had to use that with my pre outs.

Thanks alot for the replies though guys.

 

[glimt]

Matt: Everyone is right that it is noise, but the key thing here is that w/o the power inverter you have no problems. If i understand also when you turn off the xbox there is no noise.You said you ran a 400W orignally and then a larger one. The noise is from the inverter itself.

What type of inverter are you using? Is it one that has (or had) a cigarette plug on it or is it a direct wire type? Sometimes those cigarette plugs have a filter built in to them. and if you cut it off to direct wire it that could be the problem.

What you are seeing and hearing in this case is noise from the inverter being passed back to the rest of your system thru your xbox and a/v cabling.

you might try an inexpensive ground loop isolator, or you might try a Smaller inverter.

400 W is way too much for what is basically a stripped down computer. In my experience having an large inverter introduces noise into the system. as they are just noisier ( I think they have less filtering as they are intended for larger appliances where a/v noise would not be an issue). I would venture to guess that a 100 to 150w is more than sufficient.
edit: just checked the xbox website/owners manual and it only pulls 100W (thats about what i expected, PS2 will be lower b/c of no HDD)


if it is OOW on the xbox, you might consider opening up the case.I don't know about an xbox but a PS has a 110 cable going in, and the entire bottom section (HDD bay) is the 110 A/C to 12v D/C adapter, with 4 pin connected to the main board 2 12v and 2 negatives. Concievably you can bypass that entire section and run 12v in directly.
http://www.asdffdsa.net/projects/ps2.htm
perhaps you can do the same with your xbox?


Anyway just some Ideas and my .02

You don't want to wire the 12v DC directly into the computer. You will get a surge when you start the car and fry it. You can however swap the power supply in the XBOX with a DC to DC powersupply designed for automotive use. Try www.o####olutions.com.

--Craig

 

[Attack Eagle]

You don't want to wire the 12v DC directly into the computer. You will get a surge when you start the car and fry it. You can however swap the power supply in the XBOX with a DC to DC powersupply designed for automotive use. Try www.o####olutions.com.

--Craig

Craig: thanks
the link doesn't work. can you repost?

 

[glimt]

www.o####olutions.com

wierd...

w w w . o p u s s o l u t i o n s . c o m

You will have to type it in manually. The board is acting wierd.

 

[Attack Eagle]

probably b/c it looks like a naughty word.

that looks interesting, but how woud you adapt it?

it's probably pretty expensive too.

 

[glimt]

Adapt it?

THe xbox is just a PC. Just yank the power supply out of it that is in their already and hook this one up. It is plug and play.

I have one on my carputer, and they work great.

I think it was like $180, maybe $210. They are worth it though. Much cheaper than a fried xbox.

FYI... You can order them direct from www.mp3car.com

 

[jaxon23]

i have had my PSone hooked up like that for months now and never a problem

 

[Airpoppoff]

i have had my PSone hooked up like that for months now and never a problem

How does this help me at all?

 

[Airpoppoff]

I went to radio shack and they only have ground loop isolators for rca's. Do they make any type of thing like this for a power cord or anything?

 

[Attack Eagle]

no the other members were talking about using one actually 2 on the rcasfrom the xbox.

have you tried the smaller inverter yet?
have you upgraded your body to battery ground yet also?

 

[fertez_turbo]

I went to radio shack and they only have ground loop isolators for rca's. Do they make any type of thing like this for a power cord or anything?

A company called Scosche(sp?) makes an 'Inline Noise Supressor' that goes inline with any power/ground wire combination. They are 10 bucks at any Meijers or Wal-Mart. Hope that helps.

 

[jaxon23]

How does this help me at all?

well if its your inverter causing the problem (since you plugged it into the house and it ran fine) then you don't even need it...just splice the power cord...wire the + to 12 volts switched and the - to ground and when you turn on the car it will come on and you won't need the inverter...just look on your plug that goes into the wall...it should say input = 120v and output - 7.5v or something equivalent...if it is 12v or under it will work without the inverter.

 

[glimt]

well if its your inverter causing the problem (since you plugged it into the house and it ran fine) then you don't even need it...just splice the power cord...wire the + to 12 volts switched and the - to ground and when you turn on the car it will come on and you won't need the inverter...just look on your plug that goes into the wall...it should say input = 120v and output - 7.5v or something equivalent...if it is 12v or under it will work without the inverter.

Please don't wire your xbox to your battery directly. The XBOX is a PC, and is not designed to suppress surges. This is why most computers are attached to surge supressors. When you start your car, you will send a spike to the xbox, and at some point it will be too much and it will get fried. If you want a good DC to DC inverter, go to the link I posted earlier. It will prevent your xbox from getting fried. It will also allow it to power on with your ignition key, play after the key is shut off, etc. It is a very nice little power supply.

Oh, and it is a drop in replacement for the one in your xbox already. A slightly different size, but they are both ATX power supplies. The directions they provide are very clear, and if you have any more questions you can get them answered at www.mp3car.com.


If the opus is too much money for you, several people have made their own on mp3car. Check their for the schematic.

Good luck,
--Craig

 

[jaxon23]

well to each his own but mine was free and it works and has been working so i will keep on doing it like that.......hell it was free anyway so no loss on my part... :laugh:

 

[Attack Eagle]

well to each his own but mine was free and it works and has been working so i will keep on doing it like that.......hell it was free anyway so no loss on my part... :laugh:

Jaxon23:
PSones and 2s are not outright computers with harddrives, and unfortunately your solution doesn't work on the newer generation products b/c they use 110 v in and dont have an external transformer like the older systems Genesis, Dreamcast, NES, Super NES, playstation, and PSONE did.

To whomever posted about the power noise filter, apologies for my misinfo, I had not seen this product previously.

for your xbox I think you are going to need to go with the opus power supply. For a PS2 it wouldn't work as a PS2 doesn't have anytype of connector like that inside...

Either way we knowthat your inverter is the source of the noise. You have to filter the noise out or do something to stop the noise in the first place. If you have not upgraded your batt to chassis ground yet I have had good results getting rid of noise by doing so. You do need to make sure that your circuit is complete So if you have 4 ga to the car and 4 ga back you need a 2 ga or bigger from chassis to battery.

You might also try temporarily connecting the inverter positive and neg to the battery, or if you did that already try neg to chassis ground. Potentially You've got some kind of ground loop caused by the inverter.

 

[glimt]

This is a ~$50 solution. I don't know if anyone sells it in the US though.

https://linitx.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_58&products_id=401

--Craig