Or you can run your desktop PC on 12 volts. See link below for one
example. Search with "dc input" as one of your terms to find others. PC
Power & Cooling company offered a 12volt supply once, but I didn't see
it on there site when I glanced through it today.

http://www.orbitmicro.com/products/p...c-dc%20ps2.htm

This is not a sure fix, but it _might_ help a lot. You need to check
power consumption specs, what sort of power management controls the
supply includes (some supplies can be controlled by your software,
something like a laptop), how clean the input voltage has to be and what
RFI certification (if any) the product has - amoung other things.

By selecting your operating system and components (harddisks, CDs, DVDs,
displays, etc) carefully to find those with good power management
options, you can produce low consumption PC. Some mother boards and
power supplies provide fan controls to slow or stop the fans when the
machine hibernates. However, the process can be frustrating because: 1)
the real specs take time to locate; 2) the software and hardware
interactions can become complex - and sometimes they just don't work
like the book says they do.

But it's doable, and a little research should tell you whether you can
get 80% of the benefit by spending 20% of the effort (skip the tough
power management/software issues). Another idea would be to use laptop
harddisks. They run slower, but they use less power; AFAIK they use the
same hard disk interface protocol and I believe there are mounting kits
(with adapters for your ribbon cables) to install them in standard cases.

Dirt and cooling can be issues and they are related. This is just
standard PC stuff, but if you're not living 3 blocks from CompUSA, it
becomes more than just an annoyance when the machine takes a crap. A PC
generates heat and when things are right, cooling fans carry it away.
But the air the fans move around can contain dust and cat hair and the
like and this clogs up the fins of heat sinks, covers the fan blades,
and generally messes up the heat/cooling balance. It helps to take the
time to find all the air inlets on a PC case and cut pieces of furnace
filter material to cover them and keep (some of) the dust out of the PC.
Or mount the whole case inside a protective box with large carefully
located air holes which you cover with several layers of filter
material; seal all seams. Nothing complicated or difficult about this,
but it can save your PC. You can build machines with motherboards and
operating systems which monitor temperatures and will shut down before
the PC toasts itself, but this takes a fair amount of research and
careful software installation (but not more $$).

I use a wireless mouse and keyboard and find them a god-send. I just
throw the keybd and mouse in a slot by the display and have the table
clear - no muss with cables. Haven't got rid of the USB or printer
cables yet, but with the USB I just bring one cable up and velcro the
multiport connector to the bulkhead above the table. You could probably
install the DVD in a separate box on the table, as long as the PC is
located within about 36".

The point of all this is to keep the PC locked away safe, clean, and
cool, untouched.


Have fun. Rufus



wrote:
Im not a sailor but I have a question out of curiosity.

Is it possible to use small form factor desktops on boats with DC
systems rather than use laptops?

Bottom line.... can one use and modify a desktop to run off 12 vdc
boat system..... or is one just stuck using and buying laptops that
are already setup to use battery DC power?