dtv box conversion from ac to dc. HOW?

[mrgoodbar67]

i wanna have a tv tuner in my car.
unfortunately...old tv tuners are only anlalog which we all know will be obsolete in june.

how can i convert the dtv boxes that are for sale from ac wall power to dc power for cars?

i know its possilble cuz a guy on avic411 forums did it.

[iowasevillests]

My answer would be don't, instead buy a low output car power inverter, and convert DC to AC instead, the power signal out of the inverter isn't as clean as what you see in a wall outlet, but for running a tv tuner I would think its more than adequate, plus now instead of having a bizarre TV tuner that is useless for any other use you still have a functioning tv tuner, plus a power inverter. I've toyed with the idea of permanently wiring an inverter in my car, but for now it just sits in the glove box and I pull it out when I want it.

[mrgoodbar67]

ok sound like a better idea.....
where do i get one and what does the install entail?

[iowasevillests]

You can pick up a power inverter at most any electronics store, big box retailer, car accessory catalog or camping place. Price will vary with power(Watts), I think I gave 65 bucks for my 300W inverter at Nebraska Furniture Mart last year. For what you're going to be running off it installation should be simple....plug into cigarrette lighter, plug tuner into inverter. If you're running something that requires more power(mine is greater than 100W) you need to hook the inverter up directly to the battery as the wires supplying the Cig lighter are too small of gauge to handle that much power. But I can't imagine the tuner drawing that much juice, most laptops are 60-90 Watts, so you should be fine if all you're wanting to run is the inverter.

Now its up to you to determine how much work you want to do in order to hide the inverter, you can leave it set on the floor when you want to use it, or you can try and tuck it away in a console, under a seat etc, all depends on who much effort you want to spend on it and how often you plan on using it.

[mrgoodbar67]

well i like clean installs..so ill put alot of effort.
ima look online for it now.

[mrgoodbar67]

Ok, i found allot of invertors..but they have the dc (cigarette lighter) outlet connection.
Can some one tell me how i can make the connection more permanent?
Do i just cut the cig lighter outlet connection off and then splice the wires to acc switched power and ground?
If so i can do easily..if not then tell me how.
Thanks

[iowasevillests]

Mine is an APC model and it came with 2 sets of wires, one set with the male cigarette lighter end for loads under 100W, the other was a heaver gauge wire with some decent small spring loaded clamps for clamping directly onto the battery. If you're going to wire it up fairly permanently I would probably look for a wiring kit similar to what you wire up a lowered powered amp with for the hot, you can pull ground from most anywhere(just make sure you clean the paint of it its painted), AND MAKE SURE TO FUSE THE HOT! If you don't fuse the wire coming from your power connection you're at risk of starting your car on fire if the insulation gets chafed and shorts out. If you use an amp wiring kit the inline fuse of the appropriate power should already be in installed. Now where you pull power from is up to you, if you want power all the time run it to the battery, if you only want power to it when the car is on find an available switched outlet.