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XBox 360 Installation in my Limo

8K views 47 replies 7 participants last post by  turbojimmy 
#1 ·
So my next project will be the installation of an XBox 360 in my limo. I already have the 24" TV installed and it works fine. It has the VGA inputs that I can use for the XBox. The middle seat in the limo sits pretty high up off the floor and there's plenty of room to manufacture mounts under it to house a power inverter and the XBox console.

The real issue is with power. The XBox draws around 200W of power continuously during gameplay. This is around 17 amps at 12V. That's a big continuous draw. I'm wondering if I need to do anything special to the electrical system on the car. Obviously I'd get the appropriate sized cable to run to the inverter. It looks like 6 gauge would do it for a 600 watt pure sine wave inverter. The 600 watts would give me plenty of headroom. But, with that kind of draw to I need to beef anything else up? Things that come to mind are:

- is the stock charging wiring adequate?
- should I install a second battery and isolator?
- upgrade to a 200 amp alternator?

Using the XBox 360 without the car running would kill the battery fast, so I'll wire up the inverter to only come on with the ignition in "RUN" mode.

I tried to find an automotive DC power supply for the Xbox 360, but none exist. It's DC anyway, so converting from DC to AC to DC is pretty inefficient.

Anyone done this before?
 
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#3 ·
It'll be fun. The TV has infrared headsets so I don't have to listen to the rugrats playing the game.

Looks like I'll have to do some heavy duty wiring - 4 gauge at a minimum. The inverter manufacturer recommends a second battery and isolator. I don't think I'm going to go that nuts unless I start having electrical issues. I may need to move to a 200 amp alternator though. I think stock is 140.
 
#4 ·
I'm going to advise you on this one a little bit:

If you put it under the seat, or under ANYTHING, put fans. Xbox 360's do NOT do well in enclosed spaces. I've torn down enough of them and repaired them to know. That's what causes the dreaded "red ring of death".
 
#7 ·
There's actually a lot of room under the middle seat. It's not a factory seat and slides back and forth so the seat can face both ways. As a result, it's not tight against the floor. There's probably more air flow through there than if it were sitting in my component rack in my house.

I've also read that if the Xbox is tilted, it will scratch the CDs. Is this still the case? That information seemed to apply to the earlier units.
 
#8 ·
I've ran an Xbox and a big flatscreen in the back of my car (Intend to do these shenanigans again in October, will nab photos), but my car also has the high-output alternator and additional batteries. The 600w DRAW should not require beefing anything up.

Yes, Xbox's like cooling fans (Especially when you cut windows and add LED's and resell them on ebay) but you should have plenty of room for that. If not and it's that important, make it into a water-cooled unit. They are completely Red-Ring-Of-Death resistant.

They DID make dual alternator brackets for your car, by the way, though they may be a bit difficult to find all these years later. If you go with the multiple batteries, you can actually use multiple alternators, thought for the hassle, I prefer to just use an isolation system. Mine is simple. The front batter is only connected to the starter and the alternator and the isolator only lets the batteries see one another if that front battery is above 12.5 volts.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Thanks!

I believe I have the stock 140 amp alternator. If I have charging trouble, I'll get a 200 amp one instead.

I was also looking at a second battery and an isolator so I can charge them both with one alternator. However, it seems like overkill. Plus, the XBox would be drawing down that second battery all the time which isn't good for standard car batteries. I'd have to use a deep cycle battery, which introduces other complexities. I think the best thing to do is to just keep the car running when the XBox is on.

Now the question is where to put the inverter. The manufacturer says it's best to keep the 12V feed runs as short as possible and to use an extension cord for the 120V appliance (in this case the XBox). I can mount the inverter under the dash (making sure there's enough room for ventilation) and run an extension cord to the XBox, but it would be much cleaner to have the inverter under the middle seat. That means an extra 5 feet of feed cable, though. I'll have to think about that some more....

Also, I have to think about the A/V options. I can:
1) run the XBox into the 2nd input on the TV. That would mean that the audio would only come through the cheesy infrared headphones that came with the TV. I also have to drop the TV back down to get at the inputs. It was a pain to get mounted up there.
2) run the XBox into the front A/V port on my head unit. The sound would go through the whole system, but I would have to disconnect my iPod. The head unit has dual outputs - front and rear. I had wanted to listen to the iPod while the kids were playing the XBox. That won't be possible.
3) run the XBox to the rear A/V input on the head unit. I can keep my iPod plugged in, and send that signal to the rear of the car. BUT, I have clearance limitations behind the head unit. I'll have to take it out and do some hacking away at stuff in order to fit the cabling.

The path of least resistance is to put the inverter up front and use plan #2 above for the A/V cabling. Doing it that way doesn't preclude me from making a cleaner, better installation later on. But, it might be worth doing it right the first time. I have to think about it.....

But in the meantime, I've got brake issues to solve!
 
#11 ·
my thoughts if you are going to be playing the xbox while the car is off get a 2nd battery make sure its the exact batter because it will drive your alternator crazy. your stock alt is not going to be able to handle two batteries and a caddy electronic system so your going to need a HO alt to charge both batteries at the same time. i also receommend isolating them so you dont drain your main battery playing with the x box.
 
#12 ·
Here's what you should do. Do the "Big 3 Upgrade" and make sure u use 0 gauge wires. 140amps is a high enough amount. Once you have done the big 3, you should put an additional deep-cycle or car audio battery like Kinetik, XS Power, etc. And make sure you have an isolator to prevent battery drainage.
 
#13 ·
I'll have to look up the "Big 3 Upgrade".....

In the meantime, I bought a 410 watt (810 peak) modified sine wave inverter (because they're cheap). It will power the PS3, which draws more current than the Xbox, so I think I'm good.

Trouble is with the A/V. My Pioneer 3200DVD receiver has a 3.5mm a/v input on the front. It just so happens that my Pioneer HD camcorder also has a 3.5mm a/v cable. So I used that to plug into the head unit and connect to the PS3. I got no video, and lots of buzzing through the system. I could barely hear the audio from the PS3, but it was there.

I'm hoping that the camcorder cable is the problem. I ordered up a Maxell a/v splitter cable to see what happens.

Good news is that the buzzing wasn't the result of the cheap inverter. It buzzes even if I try to plug in my video camera, which is battery powered.

Worst case is I have to plug directly into the AV2 feed on the LCD TV, but I'd like to avoid that because then the sound doesn't go through the amp - just to infrared headphones from the TV. There's just not enough room behind the head unit to use the A/V inputs, so that's not an option.
 
#14 ·
The big 3 is when you upgrade the cars charging system .first you run 0 guage to the batttery negative to the cars chassis. Second you do ur alts negative to the cars chassis not the same as ur batteries ground . Then u go from the alt positive to Tue battery but use The same size fuse as you did on Your amp wire. Fuse within 15 inches on the positive although to battery. If you want pics goto my profile under my screen name here and click my website
 
#16 ·
Cool! thanks both for the info.

I'm gonna drop the headliner today and run cable from the AV2 inputs on the TV to see how that works. I can tuck it under the seat if I don't wind up using it. That's the input that goes right to the TV and wouldn't put the Xbox sound through the audio system - only to headphones. For now, I really just want to see if my inverter power is clean enough to power the PS3 (and eventually the Xbox).
 
#17 ·
Ok - I've had some success.

I ran a cable from the AV2 input on the TV (the AV1 feed is connected to the Pioneer 3200DVD head unit).



It's not elegant, but it's good for now. I'm going to pop over to Lowe's later to see if they carry Leviton's black wall plates. There's plenty of room behind that "B" pillar trim to install a nice wall plate. It would look a little more sanitary.

The PS3 wouldn't show up on the screen. In my house, it's configured for HDMI. I suspect I'd have to change that in the house before I brought it out to the car to use the RCA outputs. I didn't, so I got the Wii instead.



Obviously I won't be permanently installing the Wii, but I wanted to make sure I at least had audio and video. I did. It looks good and the sound through the headphones is great. Using the headphones previously, they sounded crappy but it turns out it's the feed from the head unit. The level is really low for some reason. Configured this way, it won't go through the system in the car, but it's good for now.

Now that I know it can work, I'm going to order up some big wires for the inverter. I think I'm just going to mount the inverter up front in the driver's area on the transmission tunnel. No one sits in the middle anyway and that will minimize the 12V cable run.

As an aside, the PS3 is a power hog. It was drawing 230 watts without any game play. It threw my "820 watt peak" inverter into protect mode during one of the start-ups. Cheap inverter. The Xbox 360 draws a bit less, I think.
 
#18 ·
This is a great install! And you show probably drop in a really powerful inverter at once so u can use it in the future if you need to connect other electrical. I know this is off topic to caddy's but my dad has a Ford bus that we converted to a limousine/party bus, i did all the electrical, there 2 flat screen tv's 4 subwoofers, 2 amps, 2 coolers, bunch of neon and LED lights and the deck. The engine has 2 batteries, and theres 2 additional batters i installed in the back with isolators. The only problem is that the total system electric is about 6000 watts RMS and could go up to 12000W max, and I only have 1 high output alternator with stock wiring. Im thinking to do the "Big 3" in my case "The Big 4" cause of the two batteries in the engine and I'm going to make ALL electrical wires 0 gauge. I'll post up some pics later on, but yea :)
 
#19 ·
Thanks! I'm not sure what else I'll be running beyond the video games. I'm using 4 gauge wire to hook up the inverter so I don't have much headroom wattage-wise. On a 10-foot run, I can't really go much beyond 600W. Installing a second battery in the trunk will be costly, too, since I'd have to run 1/0 gauge wire to the trunk, get a proper box and vent for the battery, isolator, yadda yadda yadda. For now, I'm just gonna put the inverter up front and use a heavy-duty extension cord to get to the back to minimize resistance.

I might need a better alternator, or at least a good replacement. I noticed that even without much of a load, the lights and TV flicker with the engine running. I'm thinking the regulator in my current alternator is not doing its job.
 
#23 ·
Thanks!

The alternator appears to be stock, but I dunno. The coachbuilder may have put a bigger alternator in it. The only thing it has that would draw additional current is the rear HVAC system. The thing blows gale force winds, but I don't think it's a huge additional draw.

So I'm going to order up Cobra's inverter installation kit. It's only $24 with a total of 20 feet of 4-gauge wire (10 feet of red, 10 feet of black). 10 feet of wire will get me where I need to go. Then I just need misc. stuff like battery terminals, fuse, fuse holder, etc. Once I get the inverter installed I can move on to finding a used Xbox 360.

Once I have the aftermarket terminals, I'll do the "big 3" too!
 
#27 ·
I read that in order to minimize noise that I should run the ground directly to the battery. The rationale, supposedly, is that all the other noisy things (like turn signals, blower motors, etc.) are grounded to the chassis. I dunno. I already ordered the cable anyway. The Cobra kit got bad reviews - people say the copper is junk. I got some high quality stuff from Parts Express for twice as much $$ instead, but it should be worth it. Running 12-15 feet could introduce a lot of resistance if I don't use good cable.

Now to scour Craigslist for an Xbox....

Jim
 
#29 ·
Progress:



After running down a couple of scams on Cragislist for Xboxes, I decided that my money was better spent on a used unit from Gamestop, with a warranty and all. According to my inverter, the Xbox draws 65 watts turned off and about 280 when it's on.

I need to get to the bottom of my voltage fluctuation problem. Under a load (i.e., with the Xbox powered up), the fluctuation is pretty bad. The brightness on the TV fluctuates so much it's annoying and it can't be good for it. Above idle it smooths out, but most of the gaming is going to be done at idle. I'll start with the "Big 3" before I drop a lot of coin on a new alternator.

The 4 gauge wires came in for the inverter. I got the wrong sized "wafer" fuse for the fuse holder. Apparently there are "AFS" (small) and "ANL" (huge) wafer fuses. Live and learn I guess. I need to find a nice big hole on the passenger side firewall to run this cable through. I'm still on the fence about the placement of the inverter. The 4 gauge wire is so huge it would be a pain to run under the carpet to the back, but that's the best place for the inverter. I'll have to think about it some more.

That's all for now....
 
#30 ·
... The 4 gauge wire is so huge it would be a pain to run under the carpet to the back, but that's the best place for the inverter. I'll have to think about it some more.

That's all for now....
Well its good that the wire is big for a 4 gauge! And you can figure it out, but you're going to have to take a lot of things like the carpet and stuff out. And once you do the Big 3 I can gurantee you'll see a big difference! And when you do the Big 3 make sure you get 0 gauge!
 
#35 ·
Well I started the Big 3 stuff yesterday. I only got as far as approximating the lengths of wires and cutting them down to size. Running the 0-gauge is going to be harder than I thought. And I'm limited in my placement of the distribution blocks - having trouble finding a place for the ground block. I'll probably goof around with it some more today.

I also ordered up a new alternator. The "flickering" is getting worse. I can see it in my headlights driving along at night now. I also replaced all of the interior lamps with LEDs. It's A LOT brighter inside now (need all the light I can get with a black interior and 5% tint), but it also amplifies the "flickering". It's kind of disorienting. Hopefully the new alternator and "Big 3" will solve that for good.
 
#36 ·
Yea the wiring will be time consuming but it shouldn't be too hard, it's just really annoying opening panels and the carpet, etc to run the wire. I was really lucky when wiring my subs and amp in my 2000 DTS because the battery was in the back seat and I had to run about 5 - 6 feet or positive and 3 feet or ground 1/0 gauge wire. And if your flickering is getting worse then it surely means a dying alternator and with the big 3 done to the new alternator, it will most likely increase the life span of that alt because there's less strain. The LED sound great I wanna do that for my car as well, that should make a HUGE difference with keeping your cars voltage up and I can imagine how much brighter it is! I don't know if it's like this with your car too but the lights on the interior of my caddy are really dim, it's almost useless, but I like them because passengers or myself can drive with the lights on at night and it wont affect the other drivers.
 
#37 ·
The LED sound great I wanna do that for my car as well, that should make a HUGE difference with keeping your cars voltage up and I can imagine how much brighter it is! I don't know if it's like this with your car too but the lights on the interior of my caddy are really dim, it's almost useless, but I like them because passengers or myself can drive with the lights on at night and it wont affect the other drivers.
That's the downside - I can't drive around with the interior lights on anymore. It's like daytime in the car - I can't see out the windshield with the interior lights on at night. It's mostly because of the dome lamp. I removed the stock bulb and put a 25-LED panel in its place. It's like the sun. The good thing is that the courtesy lamps above the doors can be operated individually if people need them.

The stock bulbs were useless with the black interior. The black just sucks up all the light. Unless you're sitting directly beneath them, they were of no value. I just need to do the map lights and the "puddle lamps" in the door panels. Those bulbs are on the way.

I'm going to wait until the new alternator gets here before messing with the Big 3 any further. Might as well do it all at once.
 
#41 ·
Finally got the inverter installed today. I'm taking the car on a trip to Boston and needed to get the inverter installed quick for the Xbox. There was no easy way to get the wiring in the passenger side, so I ran it through an existing grommet on the driver's side. I put the inverter on the trans hump for now. It works great. The Xbox draws 150 watts continuous when it's turned on and draws 50 watts when it's shut off.

The 4 gauge wiring and 100 amp fuse are overkill, but I want to eventually put a sound system in it.

Pics:





Jim
 
#43 ·
Thanks. It looks a bit messy because I have the carpet pulled back and the wiring hanging out. As I was searching for a way to run the 4-gauge wire down the passenger side of the car, I discovered that the carpet is soaking wet by the firewall. Turns out the A/C is draining inside the car. I need to reseal the heater box. It's one of those snowball-type jobs. One thing leads to another, and another, and another.....
 
#45 ·
UPDATE:

So, as you may know I sold my 44" stretch and got a 60" stretch. So I started over from an electronics perspective. This limo is better in that it has a partition and a seperate fuse panel installed behind the front passenger seat. It's fed by a 2 gauge cable directly from the battery. I can feed all my electronics from there, which makes it really easy.

The car has a separate audio system for the rear passengers, which I upgraded with a JVC KW-AVX640 receiver installed in the center of the car next to an ice chest (this car has a mini-bar with bottle and glass storage, too).

Now I'm working on the Big 3 upgrade, then on to the TV and Xbox. I got a 240-amp alternator from PowerBastards. Great price and a great alternator.

I got these killer wires for the Big 3:



They were like $100 from Innovative Wiring. I would've spent almost as much on wire and connectors and couldn't have done as good a job as he did.

I'm looking at LED-lit TVs this time since they draw hardly any power. I can get a "regular" in-home TV and power it with the inverter rather than go for a 12V LCD screen this time. The in-home TVs are cheaper and there's a lot more variety.
 
#46 ·
So I got the TV installed today. It's a Haier LED-lit LCD. It's a 12V TV, but I used a power inverter anyway. I asked the kind people at Haier whether the TV would be okay with the 14.4-14.6V that the car's alternator puts out, but they didn't reply. So I'm converting 12V to 110V to 12V. Seems inefficient, but at least the TV has the voltage it's supposed to have.

The TV is much better than the flip-down TV I had in the '96 and it's a true 16:9 TV. The flip-down was some odd dimension that despite being a "24-inch" TV was smaller than this 22" HDTV. And, because it's LED-lit, it only uses 48 watts of power. I have it powered by a small inverter I used to power my laptop. I need to get a bigger one for the Xbox anyway, so this is a temporary arrangement. And, since this is a "regular" TV (versus a 12-volt, car TV) it has a tuner in it. I can get an antenna and get TV broadcasts. It also has an HDMI input for the Xbox. The cheap flip-downs don't have it. So overall, I'm really happy with it.

The coolest part of the whole thing is the JVC head unit. It puts out the iPOD song info to the video out jack. The Pioneers don't do that. As a result, you can search and play music using the "big" screen.



 
#48 ·
Thanks. It was a pleasant surprise. I did not expect to see anything on the TV when I was playing music.

I also rounded things out with 5 1/4" kickers in the partition. There was no sound in the front at all - it was all just in the rear speakers. Adding the second set of speakers, even if they were fairly inexpensive, really rounded things out. I got a Boston Audio (ironically made in China) amp to power them. It's only 50x2 RMS, but it fills things in nicely.



The trim on the drivers-compartment of the partition doesn't fit perfectly - it hits the back of those speakers, but I'm going to correct that this week. I have to grind out about 1/4" of material from the 3/4" plywood panels to make them fit.

Back on topic, I'll be installing an inverter this week for the Xbox. I'm powering the TV with a small inverter now. I'll plug everything into the big inverter once it's all done.

With all this AV work, the kids still bug me about one thing: Underbody lights. The old limo had underbody lights and that's all they can talk about. It's on the to-do list.
 
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