Sorry for the cryptic subject... BUT, I have my empeg running through a FM mod (I know, but I wanted to keep the stock HU).

Whenever the empeg is on, it feeds power to the FM mod through the "amp on" lead. Unfortunately, if the empeg if "OFF" and I start the car, it still boots - apparently just to discover that its supposed to be off, and then shuts itself off. This makes the FM mod come on >STATIC< for about 10-15 seconds.

Is there any way to make the amp-on lead NOT supply power until the Empeg decides it is REALLY supposed to be on? I suppose I could build a time-delay box for the amp on lead, but Id rather do it in the unit itself. It seems logical that the empeg should only supply power to the amp-on lead once it has actually booted anyway...

Is this something that Hijack could change?!?!?

Anyone?

Thanks
Jeff Brinkerhoff

If you don't put the player into sleep mode, it should start up in "power-on" mode. It shouldn't boot into sleep mode if the ignition switch in the car is on and its last power-down happened while it was playing.

Remember that it's perfectly OK to unplug the player while it's playing. It's meant to do that.

Right, that I understand. Maybe I was not clear (or complete).

The problem is I dont always listen to the empeg... heres what happens:

Say Im listening to the the radio NOT the empeg. Empeg is "off" in sleep mode. I shut the car off. I get in a bit later, and start the car. The empeg will boot, and immediately apply power to the amp on lead, even though its going to shut off in a second. This causes the FM mod to turn on and "nuke" whatever radio station I was listening to until the empeg finishes booting and finally shuts off.

Is there a way to make the empeg not "sleep", I.e. not "wake up for a second to find out im in sleep mode"? In other words, REALLY turn it off? (Besides wiring a switch into the car power lead).

-Jeff

Unfortunately, the booting process and the amp-remote lead are hard wired electronics and not software controlled. (Well, OK, they're probably PIC code but that can't be changed so it might as well be hard wired.)

So you can't, for example, use a software patch to tell it to "not boot at all". When you apply power, the hardware is what turns it on, not the software. The software is only loaded somewhere after booting.

You also can't tell it to "not turn on the amp remote", as that is also part of the hard wiring. No software code could alter this at boot time. If the VFD is on, then the amp remote is on.

Now what you COULD do is hack the kernel so that it doesn't come on for as long. Instead of 10 seconds of static you might be able to reduce that to just a couple of seconds. This could be done by telling the kernel to shut off the display as early as possible in the boot process. But then you'd get no pretty bootup graphics.

That is what I feared... Oh well.. I have seen some simple to wire analog delays on some of the home-brew car audio sites. I'll probably just make one of those that lasts, say, 10 seconds.

Thanks for the info!
-Jeff

I don't know how long the kernel takes to load. It's possible that a kernel hack could reduce the static time quite significantly, maybe even to a fraction of a second. Mark, you listening?

Now that I think about it, maybe the display is off by default and the kernel is what turns it on in the first place, if that's the case, then a kernel hack might be exactly what you need.

Ohhh, be still my beating heart... If that's the case I'd be soooo pleased.

Im not having good luch coming up with a simple time-delay circuit for 12v dc either... These car alarm sites have just about every other circuit you could think of involving relays, but Im not finding anything for delay-on. I swear I found something earlier that just used a relay, resistor and cap, and perhaps a few other parts...

-Jeff

Incidentally, I believe that what you call 'checking to see if it is sleep mode' is really the empeg starting up linux, the kernel, and the player so that when/if you decide to use it, there is an instant startup time like a traditional car stereo, rather than a 10 second wait while linux starts.

I guess it switches on the display to show that it's working, so that people don't think it's doing nothing when they get in the car first thing - visual feedback.

If you were feeling like some soldering, I'm sure you could make a simple circuit that you insert in the amp remote line that doesn't give a signal out to the amp until it's received a signal in from the empeg for, say, 10 seconds. Would mean you couldn't listen to the empeg until 10 seconds have elapsed when you want to use it, but should prevent the issue you're having now.

I'm sure someone more proficient at electronics than I could knock up a simple circuit - I'm almost certain it's a very simple thing to do - probably using a 555 timer or similar - but I wouldn't have a clue of how to draw it

HTH,

A.

I found this:

http://www.bit-tech.net/article/70/

Does something similar to what you want - I imagine if you wired this up, but instead wired the amp remote line up to the normally-closed relay outputs - it would switch from normally-closed to normally-open on powerup, and then after the delay, switch back to normally-closed, providing power.

Don't know if this helps, or even works.

Cheers,

A.

> Remember that it's perfectly OK to unplug the player while it's playing. It's meant to do that.

Really? when I do that, my amp makes a really loud pop sound. Blew out my old set of speakers that way...
I just turn off my car before pulling it out.

Ahh, that looks EXACTLY like what i need. Hmm, gonna have to head over to the electronics store in the morning...

I timed it tonight, 10 sec would work just about perfectly.

Thanks!

It seems like you might do better just putting a switch on the amp remote line, instead of putting an autmatic 10 seccond delay... That way you could just turn the switch on when you turned the empeg on, and wouldn't have to wait the 10 secconds. It'd be a matter of personal preference, I guess. The real solution is ditching the FM transmitter, but that's a decision you have to make...

Matthew