Carputer Idea

i want to build a computer into my car but what im afrade of in my battery going dead can i throw in another alternater and batter on there own circut with the computer

You best be willing to spend a lot of money, hardware that can handle the rigors of automotive applications reliably isn't cheap.

You can use a bigger battery, and additional alternator is probably not required but you'll likely need to run a new line if the power usage is high.

All that aside we really can't answer the question until you define the hardware and power draw (active and idle) and how you plan on using it.

the pc is a linovo ideacenter with a android touchscreen tablet as the screen, well i dont want to go out an have a dead battery i have alot of stuff like that and another thing is i need to make it so when you shut off the car the computer goes off

This is not a simple project for someone with little knowledge of electronics. You can wire the power supply that goes to the PC into a branch fuse that will turn off with the car but this is a topic better oriented to an automotive electronics forum though some users here may have experience with it.

The first thing you do would be to replace the Linova's power supply with one that will acceept straight 12VDC input and provide PC tollerante outputs, a simple Google search should find you that.

Where are you located as PC's are meant to be operated at raised temperatures, cooling is going to be almost more important than any other factor.

While I have no clue as to your location or the make, model of car you have....

United States law requires that all vehicles of model year 1996 and newer sold in the U.S. be OBD-II-compliant. OBD stands for On-Board Diagnostic; these vehicles all have a data link connector providing a way to access the on-board diagnostic computer system. The car's computer provides valuable diagnostic information regarding many problems the car might experience. Any time the computer detects an issue, it logs all of the sensor readings at the time of detection. This data provides useful information for evaluating the vehicle's performance.

Click to expand...

That said today's cars have hundreds of assorted sensors collecting a myriad of data all fed into an onboard computer system. So what you really need is some hardware to interface with the OBD system and some software. There is plenty of free limited software out there and more elaborate pay software or just try and write software to read an OBD II system.

So if you want more information than what is presented on the instrument panel just interface a computer with the existing computer. OBD Gauge comes to mind for small computers and the link shows some hardware interfaces.

Find a power supply designed for 12 volt automotive system power to power the computer and run it off the accessory line. You are nopt looking at much power use.

Ron

<EDIT> Beat to the power scheme, I need to type faster. </EDIT>

There are special power supplies for PC's for vehicle use. You might also check out PC's from Octagon Systems for the automotive environment