carPC Turn On / Shutdown Controller
2x SPDT standard automotive relays - automotive store or electronic store
2x Diode - Radio shack or electronic store
1x Serial port connector - Old serial device (mouse, joystick etc...) or radioshack or electronic store
1x Fuse holder + fuse <- VERY IMPORTANT !!!!! (if power source already fused then you're ok)
10g or 12g wire for providing power to the inverter (bigger is better)
16g to 18g wire for your relay triggers, grounds and 5V connection
In the BIOS set your motherboard to turn on after powerloss so the second you feed power to the power supply it will turn on.
Get an old serial port device, rip the connector off of it, take the cover off and solder a wire on PIN 8. If you look very closly the pins will be numbered on the connector. When PIN 8 is not getting 5v, it will initiate the windows shutdown. (credit to Laidback) Refer to the diagram for wiring.
Go into your control panel -> Power Options - Create a generic UPS with these settings (picture bellow this one)
note: some versions of windows xp does not have the UPS tab (ie: windows xp home) - xGROMx
More details and hints:
-The numbers you see on the diagram (87,88,85,30) are the pinout of a standard 12v SPDT relay
-The >| symbol are diodes, they are crucial to making this work.
-You can use your amp's turn on wire to make this work instead of ACC, however some amps may "thump" when the carPC turns on. The real ACC can be found in the head unit harness.
-Some cars turn off the ACC while being started, this may trigger the hibernation. The diagram below will solve this problem
Updated diagram - will only work on ignitions that have a key switch (most cars do). To know if your car has a key switch, leave your door open and put the key in the ignition w/o turning, if you hear a door chime, you have a key switch. It can be found right on the ignition plug itself. This may be a little more advanced for some users, testing with a multimeter is the only way to find the right wire.
This will only trigger hibernation when the key is removed from the ignition
Updates - July 2006
Alternative to the key switch method, to avoid hibernation being triggered when starting and the ACC turns off during cranking. -Important to follow the diode connections as shown below
For questions, please PM me