Installing Xbox in My Car

deathcabforcutie

deathcabforcutie

CAGiversary!
so im looking to instal an xbox in my car.. i already have a source for the headrest monitors, but i was wondering what to do about installing the actual system.. its not a problem to get some mounting brackets for it, but how the hell do i power it up? any help would be awsome, thanks.
 
You need to get a power inverter. Something that changes teh 12V source in your car to one the xbox can use. coleman makes a couple of nice littel ones.
 
That one is a little expensive, but thas what you need. Air circulation is key. Dont shove the xbox some where where it isnt gonna get any fresh air.
 
[quote name='BigNick']That one is a little expensive, but thas what you need. Air circulation is key. Dont shove the xbox some where where it isnt gonna get any fresh air.[/quote]

yea i know but the only reason i posted is cuz i remembered they had it...i actually take orders for that company so if you call theres a chance id answer the phone and their pretty reliable
 
[quote name='BigNick']That one is a little expensive, but thas what you need. Air circulation is key. Dont shove the xbox some where where it isnt gonna get any fresh air.[/quote]

hmm.. didnt even consider that.. i have a small car (infiniti g20 turbo) any ideas where would be a good place to put it in there? (i was considering mounting it in the trunk and running the controllers / wires through the back seat, but that may not allow a ton of circulation...
 
[quote name='guyver2077'][quote name='BigNick']That one is a little expensive, but thas what you need. Air circulation is key. Dont shove the xbox some where where it isnt gonna get any fresh air.[/quote]

yea i know but the only reason i posted is cuz i remembered they had it...i actually take orders for that company so if you call theres a chance id answer the phone and their pretty reliable[/quote]

Check out the 400 watt model. http://www.buytruckstuff.com/product.asp?selcategory=24&p_gpID=71 Thats what I have, it can be had for $20 at pep boys and other automotive stores, walmart too. With all power inverters, you can only run 150 watts through the cigarette lighter. Any higher, and you have to run off of the battery. What kind of car do you have?
 
Nice ride, I looked at those, bu were too small for me. If you mounted them in the trunk, then you will need extension cables to play in the front, and it could be a challenge to change the games while on the road. You could mount it to the back of the back seat. do yours fold down? If so, I wold mount it to the smaller one. You could then run thw wires through the middle. Oh ya, I would also mount the xbox to a piece of plywood to is would be easy to take in and out. Do you have any subwoofers in there? Vibrations could be a problem.
 
cooling is a biggie on this. the xbox needs cooling the power invertor/convertor needs cooling.

can't wait to hear how it works out.

the last time i ever tried any car and system combo, i brought a dreamcast on vacation to san antonio, with a small 5 inch tv and the power convertor. worked good, that and i took it out after the trip, was just for the trip anyways.

the tv had antenna prong conectors which i some how found a convertor to make that be a cable/rf compatible cord. so i had 3 things hooked up to the dreamcast, the controller, the power convertor.
 
Theres this thing called GAMEGO and it's $150 with screen and system holder. check their website Gamego.com I think...
 
[quote name='BigNick']Nice ride, I looked at those, bu were too small for me. If you mounted them in the trunk, then you will need extension cables to play in the front, and it could be a challenge to change the games while on the road. You could mount it to the back of the back seat. do yours fold down? If so, I wold mount it to the smaller one. You could then run thw wires through the middle. Oh ya, I would also mount the xbox to a piece of plywood to is would be easy to take in and out. Do you have any subwoofers in there? Vibrations could be a problem.[/quote]

Wow Bignick..Youre full of useful information.
 
hmm.. didnt even consider that.. i have a small car (infiniti g20 turbo) any ideas where would be a good place to put it in there? (i was considering mounting it in the trunk and running the controllers / wires through the back seat, but that may not allow a ton of circulation...
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Nail it through the roof of your car. It'd get plenty of circulation while you're going down the freeway. You'd have to stop to switch games, though.
 
I can't imagine a $20 power inverter working for running your Xbox. There are basically two types of power inveters, cheap ones and quality ones. The cheap ones do a very poor job of actually converting from DC to AC (they're not trying to change from 12V to 120V, thats just what happens in the meantime).

You should never ever used a cheap inverter on a sensitive piece of electronics (i.e. Xbox). They aren't reliable, you'll get peaks, drops, surges, etc as the charging system of the vehicle takes more and less of a load. They also don't use sine-wave conversion which will give the Xbox a very rough power (and very possibly do damage).

We hooked a computer in a vehicle many years ago as a portable MP3 player (this was before you could buy any sort of MP3 player outside of a PC).. we went through 3 power supplies and actually caught the thing on fire once just by using a cheap inverter.
 
[quote name='Cornfedwb']I can't imagine a $20 power inverter working for running your Xbox. There are basically two types of power inveters, cheap ones and quality ones. The cheap ones do a very poor job of actually converting from DC to AC (they're not trying to change from 12V to 120V, thats just what happens in the meantime).

You should never ever used a cheap inverter on a sensitive piece of electronics (i.e. Xbox). They aren't reliable, you'll get peaks, drops, surges, etc as the charging system of the vehicle takes more and less of a load. They also don't use sine-wave conversion which will give the Xbox a very rough power (and very possibly do damage).

We hooked a computer in a vehicle many years ago as a portable MP3 player (this was before you could buy any sort of MP3 player outside of a PC).. we went through 3 power supplies and actually caught the thing on fire once just by using a cheap inverter.[/quote]

The coleman one I have ran my laptop and charged 3 cell phones at once. Its MSRP is 40, but is $20 at a lot of places. You can only use up to 150 watts with any converter through the cigarette lighter, any higher, and you have to run off of the battery.
 
[quote name='BigNick'][quote name='Cornfedwb']I can't imagine a $20 power inverter working for running your Xbox. There are basically two types of power inveters, cheap ones and quality ones. The cheap ones do a very poor job of actually converting from DC to AC (they're not trying to change from 12V to 120V, thats just what happens in the meantime).

You should never ever used a cheap inverter on a sensitive piece of electronics (i.e. Xbox). They aren't reliable, you'll get peaks, drops, surges, etc as the charging system of the vehicle takes more and less of a load. They also don't use sine-wave conversion which will give the Xbox a very rough power (and very possibly do damage).

We hooked a computer in a vehicle many years ago as a portable MP3 player (this was before you could buy any sort of MP3 player outside of a PC).. we went through 3 power supplies and actually caught the thing on fire once just by using a cheap inverter.[/quote]

The coleman one I have ran my laptop and charged 3 cell phones at once. Its MSRP is 40, but is $20 at a lot of places. You can only use up to 150 watts with any converter through the cigarette lighter, any higher, and you have to run off of the battery.[/quote]

Well... that's wrong. With a good inverter you can run up to 750 watts through the cigarette lighter actually. Why you'd want to, I don't know.

And trust me, buy a quality inverter or you're just begging for trouble.
 
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