PS2 Hardware Question
 

So my friends’ band and I are preparing for our winter tour, a journey of about 4000 miles in a beat up Chevy G20 conversion van. For the last tour in the summer I installed a Sony 9 inch CRT Display (A whopping 20 bucks from a friend who works at Best Buy), a 420-watt inverter, and an old school 8 - bit Nintendo.

The NES was great, but by the fourth day of the tour I watched the band's drummer beat Contra for the third time, so the NES got old quick.

For this tour we had discussed installing a PS2 for not only newer games, but also for the ability to play back movies, which brings me to the root of my question:

Will having the PS2 installed in the van damage the PS2 in anyway?

I googled this subject and looked all over the "pimp car" forums on the net and found nothing. I think the problem stems from the fact that most people who do this have enough money to toss around that they don't care about damage. Unfortunately, the owner of the PS2 in question will kill himself if he gets home and can't play Madden.

Any answers or suggestions in mounting the unit would be appreciated.

I'dont think your PS2 will be damaged. Maybe when you play it and hit a speed bump. But when you're parked there should not be a problem.

Thanks for the answer. I figure even when driving the disc isn't spinning all the time so we should be okay. Im just looking forward to Simpsons Hit and Run while we are driving to Florida.

Humidity would be another concern. On cold mornings don't power up the ps2 until the inside of the van (and the ps2) is warm. Not doing that won't cause immediate failure but the condensation will accelerate debris buildup and corrosion. Combined with vibration that'll quickly age any electronics.

The ps2 wasn't designed for mobile use. If it'll see lots of use while driving I'd make a bungie-bed. Just a frame around the console attached to another frame with bungie cords or similar. I've seen camper drawers & cupboards used as the outer frame.

Have you powered it up yet? You could run into issues with your inverter. If the PS/2 acts strange, intermittent, or won't boot (but works when plugged into a household outlet) then it's probably your inverter's output wave. Low cost versions put out square or poorly approximated versions of what you get from grid outlets. Some equipment doesn't mind, some does.

Take jumper cables. :)

Yeah I totally forgot about the humidity factor, and I should know better because of my experience with my cameras and humidity.

I haven't had the time or ambition to hook the ole O'scope up to the inverter but so far the tv and the NES have not had any real problems. Then again they are both fairly low tech robust devices. My friend dropped the NES off the roof of the van and I think it actually improved its performance.

As far as the bungie bed goes thats a great suggestion. I think a small AL frame with some rubber mounts should work great, as long as we dont baja the van off of any curbs . . . again. Thanks man.

You might try foam rubber cubes for legs. Tune damping & support in each direction with cube dimensions and opposing preload. Works well for damping lightweight loads though as you say, no Baja. I've wanted to experiment with "memory" foam but no projects as yet.

Whatever works, just don't let the customer see. :D