Trouble powering both ThreatNet and laptop

[Craig Schultz]

Last year, when I started using WxWorx, I purchased a deep cycle marine battery and kept it in the back of the Explorer. I just hooked up to the inverter to that and used it only for the laptop and the WxWorx receiver. It worked great (as long as you remember to charge it at the end of the day).
Craig

 

[Hank Baker]

I agree with David Drummond, This does not sound complicated.
You dont have enough power. I do run XM using the 12v plug, BUT it is directly wired to the battery NOT a factory install. My auto mechanic discouraged me from using any of the 12v plugs from the factory, he said they are fixing burnt wires all the time, and that the factory does not use heavy enough gage to run all the new electronics.. I use the AC adapter plugged into an power inverter for the laptop, and the power inverter does not run off of a 12v plug but is wired directly to the battery. and a seperate 12v 3 plug hooked directly to the battery. The only thing i run the factory 12v plugs for is to charge the cell phone.

I agree with what has already been said, wire your power inverter and your 12v plugs directly to the battery, any auto mechanic will do it in an hour.

Hank
www.weatherpic.com

 

[cedwards]

Now if I could just figure out why MY wxworx refuses to display the warnings.[/b]

Have you configured the counties? You need to do this then restart the program before they will be displayed.

On the power issue, I have had my share of problems. Mostly when I used the 12V power adapter for the WXWORX. I now user the AC adapter. It is plugged into a 750W inverter connected to the battery with 6guage wire. Another thing I had to do was tape the connector into the back of the WXWORX. it seems to like to jiggle loose.

You might try getting a small UPS ane put it between the inverter and power supply. That might smooth things out for you.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Our hire car last year was a GMC Envoy, which had 3 (!) DC outlets. We used one solely for the Baron System, one for the invertor which powered laptops, camera chargers, etc, and the 3rd was spare for anything else, such as a scanner. Had no problems with power at all.

 

[Nick Parker]

Just wondering Chris, how may miles does this Durango have on it? Alternator may be getting bad, need to have it tested to make sure. Have seen em' go bad even at 40000 miles.

Also, FYI, an alternator only produces 40% of its rated output at idle. Being an smaller SUV, you may also be suffering from a small alternator. (Your alternator is only putting out so many amp's and your exceeding them.) I know some older SUV and light trucks actually have a "car's" alternator in them. (This was long before they realized people have a lot of electronic gear to power) I know in my 99 Chevy pickup, im pumping out 120 amps at full load. More than enough to power all my gear.

IMHO, have your alt tested to see how good it is. Might need a new one and/or a bigger one so that it can handle your power needs. Hope you can get it all straightened out!

Nick

 

[David Drummond]

Have you configured the counties? You need to do this then restart the program before they will be displayed.
[/b]

DOH! thanks! That was exactly what it was. :huh:

 

[Kurt Silvey]

I agree with David Drummond, This does not sound complicated.
You dont have enough power. I do run XM using the 12v plug, BUT it is directly wired to the battery NOT a factory install. My auto mechanic discouraged me from using any of the 12v plugs from the factory, he said they are fixing burnt wires all the time, and that the factory does not use heavy enough gage to run all the new electronics.. I use the AC adapter plugged into an power inverter for the laptop, and the power inverter does not run off of a 12v plug but is wired directly to the battery. and a seperate 12v 3 plug hooked directly to the battery. The only thing i run the factory 12v plugs for is to charge the cell phone.

I agree with what has already been said, wire your power inverter and your 12v plugs directly to the battery, any auto mechanic will do it in an hour.

Hank
www.weatherpic.com
[/b]

I believe this is exactly your issue. Last year I smoked the factory wiring to one of built in 12v plugs in my truck. Now the only thing I plug in to those are my cell phone. Everything else goes to a power strip. The 350w inverter is plenty big enough to power a laptop, XM, and assorted chargers, it just needs to be wired directly to the battery. Be sure and place a fuse between the inverter and battery, and as close to the battery as possible. I have a large weather resistant AGU fuse setup that I bought on Ebay. You can find them at any car audio store, just don’t ask for them at a regular auto parts store, or they will look at you real funny. Sometime soon I want to install an in dash on / off switch with a relay, a neat trick I learned from Mr. Drummond. Good luck, and I do believe direct wiring to the battery will solve your problems.

 

[Chris Foltz]

Just wondering Chris, how may miles does this Durango have on it? Alternator may be getting bad, need to have it tested to make sure. Have seen em' go bad even at 40000 miles.

Also, FYI, an alternator only produces 40% of its rated output at idle. Being an smaller SUV, you may also be suffering from a small alternator. (Your alternator is only putting out so many amp's and your exceeding them.) I know some older SUV and light trucks actually have a "car's" alternator in them. (This was long before they realized people have a lot of electronic gear to power) I know in my 99 Chevy pickup, im pumping out 120 amps at full load. More than enough to power all my gear.

IMHO, have your alt tested to see how good it is. Might need a new one and/or a bigger one so that it can handle your power needs. Hope you can get it all straightened out!

Nick [/b]

Nick, the Durango has just over 64,000 miles on it. Hadn't thought about getting the alternator tested but will certainly do that. The stock alternator is a 90 amp. Have been looking at upping it to a beefier 140 amp model for about $250.

Tried something a little different when chasing on Sunday and it seemed to work. There's a third 12V plug on the passenger side of the cargo area. Plugged one inverter into this one and had the laptop plugged into it. Plugged the other inverter into the front 12V plug and put the XM on this one. For some reason, this seemed to work. I'm guessing the cigarette lighter isn't set up to handle that much of a load which is why it kept kicking out when the XM was plugged into it via the 12V adapter. Needless to say, I'm still considering the upgrade on the alternator (if I can scrape the $$ together).

 

[David Drummond]

One thing you guys need to remember, all those little factory cigarette lighter (or the more politically correct Accessory Outlet) are only meant for things that draw very LOW amps, like charging your cell phone. The wires that supply them are a very small guage wire. They were never designed to carry multiple loads on one outlet (like when you use one of those adapters) or for higher loads like a big power convertor.

Doing so you will be fortunate if all you do is blow a fuse. Less fortunate, well....I hope you carry a fire extinguisher.

 

[Eric Whitehill]

Nick, the Durango has just over 64,000 miles on it. Hadn't thought about getting the alternator tested but will certainly do that. The stock alternator is a 90 amp. Have been looking at upping it to a beefier 140 amp model for about $250.

Tried something a little different when chasing on Sunday and it seemed to work. There's a third 12V plug on the passenger side of the cargo area. Plugged one inverter into this one and had the laptop plugged into it. Plugged the other inverter into the front 12V plug and put the XM on this one. For some reason, this seemed to work. I'm guessing the cigarette lighter isn't set up to handle that much of a load which is why it kept kicking out when the XM was plugged into it via the 12V adapter. Needless to say, I'm still considering the upgrade on the alternator (if I can scrape the $$ together).
[/b]

Hi Chris:

A good friend of mine has a similar setup with his Durango - never had a problem plugging his XM, 2 laptops, and camera chargers in all together. He has a 800 watt inverter hooked up right to the battery.

I have my XM and Laptop both plugged into my 400 watt inverter, and didn't have a problem last year. I had the fuse in my XM adapter go out on me, so I had to use the AC Adapter, and it worked just fine.

(I have a much smaller car, a chevy malibu, however according to the dealer, I have a 120amp alternator in it)

I have noticed when I am idiling, and have all my gear hooked up together and the AC blasting, that I do tend to get low voltage alarms.

Hope this helps,

-Eric