I have an laptop with a broken screen that I'm going to disassemble so I can mount it in one of my FC rear bins. It will be wired to a Lilliput touchscreen DIN in my dash.
I'm doing this so I can tune my Haltech on the go and also have iTunes, GPS, etc all with me.
My question is this. I want the laptop to be charging while the car is on, but running off the battery while the car is off and then go into sleep mode (without draining my cars battery) for a speedy start up.
Here's the catch though, I don't want a big old ugly adapter that plugs into the lighter slot so I can plug the laptop in.
Any suggestions for hardwiring this SOB in the car so no wires are visible?

 

Get one of those universal 12V laptop adapters (Targus, etc.) to fit your laptop. Connect up a relay so it is switched on with the IGN switch. Use the relay to power the adapter by cutting the cigar lighter plug off of it and wiring directly. Now put the adapter in your storage bin.

But you will find a touch screen is less useful for tuning then you think. Make sure to have a keyboard as well.

 

Thanks, I was leaning towards wiring it to the cig. socket, just wasn't sure if a fuse or a relay was best, thanks!
As for the keyboard, I'm either going with one of those rubber fold up ones, or one like I'm using now which has a track pad like a laptop built in so I don't need a mouse.
Thanks again

 

Also depends on what kind of deck you have in your car. Mine has a USB port on the deck so you might be able to find an adapter to run from the deck to the laptop. Same setup as above with just a different option for power.

 

No deck, that spot will be filled with a LCD screen for the computer.

 

A piece of advice for the keyboard and yes I do speak from experience ... Look up the temperature rating on the keyboards lol. I had on melt and deform on me.

 

No USB port on a deck will be able to provide enough power for a laptop. USB can only provide 5V @ 500mA according to the official spec, and that is for one group of ports. I doubt the port on a car stereo will follow that spec.