Powering Wii in car problems :(

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csurban
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Powering Wii in car problems :(

Post by csurban » Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:22 pm

OK! so, I made a cigarette lighter adapter that powers my Wii off my cars 12v battery power. One problem I have but isn't really a big deal is that w/e I start my car, the Wii shuts off to the red led mode. Now I think this is probably a result of my cars alternator cranking up the voltage to almost 15ish volts. Honestly, I'm just happy it doesn't kill my Wii but would anyone happen to know if there is anyway to prevent this?

My second, and most dire, inquiry has to do with when the wii is running in my car. I have a PSOne screen mounted to my dashboard and get amazing video quality with no distortion. Now the problem I'm facing is when the wii is running when the car is running, I get a lot of distortion on my audio lines. And w/e I rev the engine, the distortion gets worse too. Now due to a lot of deductive reasoning... and an oscillator :), I found that the engine noise is leaking into the audio line in the Wii, probably due to the fact that the raw alternator and battery voltage is going directly into the Wii's power input. The problem is I don't know enough about electronics to know what to put in the line in order to clear out the distortion! :oops: a cap? an inductor? and if so, what sizes? HELP PLEASE! :( :( :(
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SonyPortableizer
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Post by SonyPortableizer » Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:56 pm

Buy an adapter on Target for the Wii
I would say use yours but if something is wrong
(Excuse Mr. Jones why did the car start on fire? Well I wanted to play with my Wii)-Talking to car insurer
So its safer to go with the product that is professionally Made"I dont know enough about electronics"-And starting in a car is not a good start because if there is a fire what do you do when it is 2 feet away from gas? and is hard to put out(not that that ever happened with me :roll:
And use better connections-Like solid piece of wire, good insulation

All easy to do
P.S. I know I may sound harsh but last year a guy was on ABC news because he tried the same thing in his car but with a PS2, and it caught on fire
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Post by bicostp » Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:32 pm

Wait, your Wii shuts off when you turn the key from Run to Start?

It's probably not getting enough power. (Starter motors take a ton of juice to crank the engine over.)

csurban
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Post by csurban » Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:36 pm

I recognized your concern but due to the fact that the power wires I use are very small, if a short ever occurs, the wires burn up almost instantly. (sort of kinda acts like a fuse, except harder to replace :) ) I know this because it has happened before. When using the safety precautions I use, I feel it would actually be quite difficult to start a fire using a car battery under my conditions.

And I know that I could buy an adapter from Walmart, the point of asking what I asked was so I could save the 20+ dollars for an outrageously overpriced accessory that only contains the components to filter out engine noise. (at least, I THINK they filter out the noise) and doesn't even have to alter the voltage.

Walmart is my last option but I was hoping someone more educated could help me save a few bucks.
nope... can't think of anything I could possibly want to put in my Signature Block...

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Post by vskid » Fri Jun 13, 2008 5:47 pm

Maybe putting a capacitor on the power line would fix the audio. What you're getting is some alternator whine, it probably changes at different RPMs too (edit: oh, it does). If you put a big enough cap on it, then you might even be able to keep it on when you start the car (when the starter cranks the voltage drops to like 8v, just watch the battery gauge when you start it).
You shouldn't have any problems with your wires, the Wii sips power.
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Post by csurban » Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:01 am

Thank you for the info. Now just one thing to clear it up. When you say a large enough capasitor, do you mean one which is rated 12v's but has a huge uF? or what? does it have to be 12v's? if not, whats better? a higher or lower voltage? Thanks again for the info :)
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Post by ShockSlayer » Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:09 pm

If anyone knows about running wiis off of car batteries its me! :lol: :lol: :lol:
I just hooked it straight to the car battery + to + , - to - .
Maybe just start the car then the wii?
Why do you need to run yo wii in the car? Gotta beat Gannon at a red light in TP? :P

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Post by csurban » Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:35 pm

Can anyone tell me what size uF cap I would need? I'm sure its just a basic equation but alas, I'm ignorant to it. :oops:
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Post by Aguiluz » Tue Aug 12, 2008 8:38 pm

uF? Make it as big as you can get. I think.

Higher uF can hold more power.
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