Connecting a DVD player to a Navi, help Options

[JoKeRkId613]

My bro has a tc but the answer would be exactly the same for the celi. so if that would remove my post then lets say the navi is in my celi. ok, its a pioneer d1 sum crap. the double din navi that doesnt play dvds. lol. so he got an external dvd player that he was going to put in the glove and connect it to the navi's a/v inputs. so the thing im trying to figure out is the power to the dvd. it comes with a dc adapter thing. so what i did was connect the dc plug to the cig lighter wires. i took the dc plug apart and hooked the yellow wire to the cig lighter's white-black stripe wire and the black wire from the dc plug to the black wire on the cig lighter. the cig lighter, to my understanding SHOULD be getting 12V constantly. The dvd wouldn't power up but you can hear some weird sound like it's trying to play the dvd and when you unhook the video output cable from the dvd player, you can see some white lines on the navi screen. so i KNOW it was getting SOME power. Just not enough to get it to power up fully. Somehow the dvd player fried and started smoking so it dont work no more. so im telling my bro to get a battery powered dvd so we dont have to mess with that stuff. lol. im not sure if we can find one thats battery powered tho so does anyone know how to hook up a dc adapter to the car? what's the best source? and how would you go about connecting the dc power adapter if it's a plug at the end with 2 metal prongs? i guess this would be hooked up the same way as the power plug for a ps2 or something? but i dont know how that works so can someone fill me in? thanks.

[orvillescelica]

From your description, is sounds like either the voltage or current is not right. Try checking the back of the DVD player and finding out how many watts total the DVD player needs. P=V*I.

[JoKeRkId613]

From your description, is sounds like either the voltage or current is not right. Try checking the back of the DVD player and finding out how many watts total the DVD player needs. P=V*I.
[right][snapback]348156[/snapback][/right]

yea thats y im confused. the back of the dvd player says 12V which is what i thought the cig lighter put out. any more ideas as to what it could be? or any other place i could hook it up to besides the cig lighter?

[orvillescelica]

then the voltage is right, but also check the current. See how many amps the DVD player requires. When plugged into a wall socket, it gets around 15 amps. If i remember right, the car battery can only put out 6-9 amps. That might be your problem.

[JoKeRkId613]

ok great. so how would i make the car battery put out 15 amps? ive seen people with ps2's and dvd players and a whole bunch of other stuff without anything major.

[orvillescelica]

each device requires its own specific current. Either the internal power supply or external AC/DC adapter regulates the incoming power for the device. A PS2 might not need as much as your DVD player, it might only need 5 amps but when plugged into the wall it recieves 15, but the interal bits regulate it down to 5 (thats just an example, i have no idea how many amps a PS2 needs). So check the DVD and see how many amps it required, or see how much power it requres and Power=voltage*current. It might need more than your car bettery can provide. Or its current needs are well within the batteries range. If thats the case, then something else is wrong.

If you do need more current, then your options are: getting another battery and linking them in series, getting an amp and or capacitor to handle the power needs, or get a DVD player that operates under your power restrictions.

[mikew04]

The alternator (what it is really being run off of, even if connected directly to the battery) can put out much more than 15 amps; iirc, ours put out around 60-70 so i would imagine your bros car puts out at least that. The only thing that would restrict current to your dvd player is the alternator being at full capacity and starts draining your battery, or the wiring is too small. Since it is connected to your cig lighter, the fuse would blow before the wires would melt; and as long as you dont have any amplifiers pulling alot of power, your alternator wont be overloaded.

Anyways, alot of electronics such as dvd players use a 12v dc source, and come with an adaptor so you can plug it into a 2 prong 110v ac outlet in your house. If i read everything correctly, you took apart the adaptor and tried to hook it up to the car. The adaptor is meant to take an ac current, not the dc in your car. Since you already took apart the adaptor and possibly fried the dvd player, i would just cut off the adaptor and try wiring it directly to your car. Use a multimeter to find out which wires go where. im pretty sure that the inner pin is power and the outer ring is ground. if your dvd player still isnt working, get a new one that comes with a plug for the cig lighter, then just wire it in directly to the cig lighter wiring, or run it off the battery correctly fused.

This post has been edited by mikew04: Oct 24, 2005 - 12:21 AM

[shid]

I would agree with Mike's diagnosis.

It sounds like you took a home DVD player, cut off the part before the voltage converter, and hooked it up the cigeratte lighter...

If you're trying to connect a home device like a PS2 or a DVD player, you need a DC/AC inverter that will take a feed from your battery, and turn it into the normal three prong plug you find on the back of everything

As a general rule, things that come with cigeratte lighter adapters (laptop plugs, cell phone chargers, etc) can be adapted to wire directly into the car with little work or trouble.

Things that NEVER come with a cig lighter adapter will definetly need an inverter.