Anees's Car Pc Thread - Advice And Info

[Anees]

UPDATE:

The progress so far has been decidedly mixed!

I put my Xenarc screen into the Lexus Sat Nav housing on Thursday. It was working well and I was really pleased. However suddenly black smoke came out the back of it and I could smell burning!! ARRRGGHHHHH!!!!! Oh :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk: !! I thought!

I took the screen inside and plugged it into a laptop and powered it up....it worked fine! Thankfully I had not just blown my screen (or so I thought!).....

I was sure that I must have damaged the power cable in some way - the power comes from the OPUS power supply The power supply was running fine. I checked the cable and couldn't find if anything had been damaged.

I plugged the screen back in again on Saturday and the same thing happened again! :yack: :tsktsk: Quickly pulled it out and discovered my screen was now dead!

Don't understand what had caused it - couldn't see the PCB it shorting anywhere?? I had a friend that knew a damn sight more about electronics then me comming the next day and I needed a screen desperately. I remembered that Brettster was selling his Xenarc - so we met up at 1.30AM so I could buy the screen! :D :D ( Must have looked like drug dealers both with Lexus's!) THANKS BRETT! :D

When my electronics friend came he put the Xenarc power cable that I had run from my OPUS PSU underload and he said he was quite satisfied that it WAS NOT the power cable at fault. He looked at the Xenerc screen and found a burnt track! Seems like it may have been an internal failure!

On Sunday I put the new screen that Brettster sold me into the Sat Nav housing (housing works great BTW) and all was well for about 15 - 20 mins until again I could smell burning!!! DEJA VU or what? The Sat Nav housing was warm to the touch! Now I can't belive that the problem is just ventilation. I quickly disconnected the screen before (I hope) any damage was done.

This is where I am at now. I'm fed up and can't belive what is going on. I have not plugged my screen in since (don't want to blow another screen ) yesterday.

Then this morning on the way to work I could smell a faint burning again!!!! :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk: :tsktsk: ARRGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!

Screen was unplugged. I smelt some of the wiring that I had run to the front of the car and it had a slight burn smell. Now I don't know if it is a new problem (*** no!) or just the smell from yesterday.

WHY DID I START THIS!!! :yack:

[d3fy]

Nice, sounds like Fun, can I play? :)

[Anees]

Nice, sounds like Fun, can I play?  :)

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FUN??????? :duh: :duh: :duh: :duh:

Sure if you want to so insane quick speed feel free to join in!

[Fargo]

are you sure that the xenarc internals are not touching the metal internals of the housing..

[Gavin G]

Mate you need to be careful with all this

Burning smells in cars aren't good. You don't want your Lex ending up like that Golf on another thread?

[Anees]

Mate you need to be careful with all this

Burning smells in cars aren't good.  You don't want your Lex ending up like that Golf on another thread?

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I am beginning to question my sanity!

Getting really p'd off.

Don't fancy a Lexus bonfire personally! :shutit:

I found that the burning smell this morning was actually comming from my Parrot Car kit. I had cut into the wiring so that I could power the housing - unfortunetly some of my insulating wasn't that good and the different wires had come loose from the tape and were touching! Thankfully no damage done!

I have disconnected everything now. The Parrot/Sat Nav housng connections I am going to secure properly using:

Snap Lock Automotive Connectors

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=1073&doy=24m5

The screen I am stuck really. I am going to have to take the housing apart again and have a look. I did put insulatng tape on the back of the Xenarc screen and over all PCB metal bits to make sure.

I have posted about the screen here to:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=50688

The instructions mention putting a brass rod behind the screen to secure it in the housing. I used a wooden rod that is tight against the back of the screen. Maybe I am squashing something?

[Gavin G]

Annes, just concerned for you and your Lex mate!

As for your joints, you really should invest in a small heat gun and some heat shrink tubing. If you can't stretch to the heat gun then even a cheapo cigarette lighter would do just to heat the tubing slightly until it shrinks. Soldering then using the heat shrink to insulate is by far the safest way for electrical joints.

If you're connecting into wires in factory looms in the car and don't want to cut them you should just shave back a few mm of the sleeve, solder your new wire onto it and then carefully cover the joint with insulating tape.

Personally I'm not a big fan of scotchlock connectors. They don't always "bite" into the wire enough to give a reliable connection. This is especially true when they are used with thinner wires. I had problems using them with my illuminated scuffs when they were working intermittently. Removed them and soldered the wires which solved my problem.

[Anees]

Annes, just concerned for you and your Lex mate!

As for your joints, you really should invest in a small heat gun and some heat shrink tubing.  If you can't stretch to the heat gun then even a cheapo cigarette lighter would do just to heat the tubing slightly until it shrinks. Soldering then using the heat shrink to insulate is by far the safest way for electrical joints.

If you're connecting into wires in factory looms in the car and don't want to cut them you should just shave back a few mm of the sleeve, solder your new wire onto it and then carefully cover the joint with insulating tape.

Personally I'm not a big fan of scotchlock connectors.  They don't always "bite" into the wire enough to give a reliable connection.  This is especially true when they are used with thinner wires.  I had problems using them with my illuminated scuffs when they were working intermittently. Removed them and soldered the wires which solved my problem.

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Thanks Gavin! :D

My Lex at the moment looks like lego gone wrong!

Wonder if I can get a cordless heat gun and soldering iron?? I am fed up with the way the car is looking so after this weekend I will have some time off work to get it all sorted properly!

My biggest concern is the screen however....

[Gavin G]

You'll get there in the end ;)

BTW, it looks like a great setup. Would like something like this in my car but I don't think I'd have the time or money!

Not sure if you have it or not but does your in car PC have wireless capabilities? The thought of parking my car outside and downloading my fav MP3's, movies etc. from my home PC sounds good, not to mention surfing whilst on the move!

[Anees]

@Gavin

I am beginning to believe in the Pain - Pleasure Theory!

With all this pain I hope the system works properly once its sorted! (If ever! :duh: )

I do have wifi on the PC, so in theory I can send MP3s, Videos and software updates over my wireless network. The signal is weak however, so using it for the internet is probably the only thing I'd be good for. But I will get a stronger antenna once the system is up and running!

I've just bought a combi gas soldering iron/gas touch from Maplin. It should allow me to solder my connections properly and then heat up the heatshrinking around it. The connections are near/behind the glove box so I am worried about accidently melting my dash when I'm soldering/heat shrinking!! :yack:

What precautions could I take?

Thanks,

Anees :D

[legendswraith]

@Gavin

I am beginning to believe in the Pain - Pleasure Theory!

With all this pain I hope the system works properly once its sorted! (If ever! :duh: )

I do have wifi on the PC, so in theory I can send MP3s, Videos and software updates over my wireless network. The signal is weak however, so using it for the internet is probably the only thing I'd be good for. But I will get a stronger antenna once the system is up and running! 

I've just bought a combi gas soldering iron/gas touch from Maplin. It should allow me to solder my connections properly and then heat up the heatshrinking around it. The connections are near/behind the glove box so I am worried about accidently melting my dash when I'm soldering/heat shrinking!! :yack:

What precautions could I take?  

Thanks,

Anees  :D

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if you can get something behind the stuff you need to solder and still gain access it would help you shouldn't have to have the heat there for that long on the heatshrink though it does go very quickly

[Gavin G]

As legendswraith has said, use protection

Something like a piece of cardboard should be enough to protect the area you're working near

[Anees]

As I posted earlier, I put my Xenarc screen inside the Sat Nav housing. Trouble is that after about 20minutes use I can smell BURNING!

The touchscreen has also gone crazy and the housing feels warm to the touch.

I now have some pics:

Can anyone see anything thing wrong?

The top: (back cover for screen)

[Brettster]

are all the pcb's insulated from each other?

the one laying across the chip ?

also do you smell burning only when the screen is switched on?

[Anees]

ARRRGHHHH!! :tsktsk:

After soldering and heatshrinking some wiring (+12,+12Aux,Ground) I now get no sound comming from my heatunit at all!! :duh: Bluetooth car kit works fine though.....

However....

I have made progress on the screen front.....

I took the Sat Nav housing inside and plugged the screen in with it sitting on a thick cloth and the top cover of the housing on (to simulate like it would be in the dash. After about 20 minutes the back of the screen was HOT!! I could smell the burning again!!

I then took the screen out of the Sat Nav housing and ran it on my desk for a good 20 -30 minutes. It is warm to the touch. but nowhere near as hot as before.

This means that its the housing that is the problem! :duh: :duh:

After much discussion on MP3Car.com.....the general opinion seems to be that the magnets from that motor in the housing might be interfering with the core of the transformer and causing it to overheat!!

With the screen seemingly working fine outside of the housing this seems to be the problem!!!

SCREEN WITH NO HOUSING:

I can't really move the motor obviously. The transformer/invertor has a very short wire so its going to be difficult to move it far away (don't really fancy cutting the wire and extending)

Anybody know what the best way of suppressing magnetism is? Someone suggested Aluminium i,e Alu foil wrapped part way around the motor and then taped. Also I'll move the transformer as far a way as possible - but it won't be that far.

A fan would be a good idea, but there is not really enough space. Maybe watercooling?? Never touched it!

What do you think?

[Fargo]

im really concerned about that baord thats lyting across the main board chip, put some insulation tape between them..

persoanlly i would simply extend the wires to the transformer,

[Anees]

im really concerned about that  baord thats lyting across the main board chip, put some insulation tape between them..

persoanlly i would simply extend the wires to the transformer,

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Paul,

I have put some thin card between each board so it shouldn't be a problem I hope. Also the back of the LCD has some kind of plastic cover too.

I have reaarange the compnents. just going to stick a pic up.. Let me know what you think! :D

[Anees]

Right.....

Now I have moved the invertor away as far as I can from the motor. I have also put a small plate of Aluminium foil around the motor (the bit facing the circuit board and the side of the invertor.

What do you think now?

Does it seem ok? LOL

[Anees]

I have been running the housing with the cover on for over 2 hours now and its looking good.

The plastic housing is not warm to the touch at all. The circuit board inside I can feel abit of heat coming off it. The invertor is aso slightly warm too. If I smell up close their is no new burning smell at all - just the old one. It looks like HOPEFULLY the problem has been sorted by moving the transformer.

Thanks to everyone that contributed - :) Now the next job begins.............

[Anees]

Managed to spend some time with the car yesterday – it is FILTHY!!!!!!

Made some progress however….

- I put the screen and housing back in – no overheating issues so far.

- I wired up the housing so it flips up/down

- I tidied up my cabling in the boot and put most of my trim back in.

- I ran the audio phono cable front-back

- I put my backseat back in (YAY!!)

- I grounded my PC to the car as much as possible. I connected wires to: Opus PSU, Motherboard, PC Case, HDD. Unfortunately when I put the trim back in the connectors I had used broke! LOL!! Its because my grounds are too short (I didn’t take into account having to go under the trim). I will have to do these again! I grounded them all to a bolt on top of the suspension. (SO NOT DONE YET)

- My new GPS also arrived today too- -not tried it in the car yet, but its FANTASTIC. It was in my room, on my desk and I was getting between 4 – 8 Sats! Can’t wait to see what I would get when its actually outside!! It tracks 20 Sats and can be used with USB cable and Bluetooth both at the sametime. Usually I don’t get a fix at all indoors!!

Had some problems however (don’t I always!)…..

- When the PC was running and I put the PC Case Cover back on it went dead. It turned out that the fuse had blown. When I replaced the fuse it was fine again. Don’t understand why the fuse would have blown. Working now however.

- I am getting slight noise on my screen. It fluctuates, sometimes its pretty noticeable, other times hardly noticeable. Is their some kind of filter that could be knocked up?

- My Touchscreen isn’t working properly……it is way off and everything is inverted. You can guess what I’ve done! Connected the touch screen controller the wrong way round! Now I’m going to have to take the housing apart AGAIN!!! LOL!!

- Since I am going to have to take the housing apart again, I can also change the touch screen overlay too. I accidentally scratched the front of mine. I can however swap it with the first screen I had that ahem..."blew up", so no harm done in the end I suppose. I need to position the screen slightly better too – about 2mm higher up inside the housing should be perfect!

Getting their slowly - as are the pics (before Mr SF gives me the "This thread is useless without PICS" banner!

[Anees]

Good Day overall today………

I had a meeting with the King of Electronics himself – Geoffers!! Due to my constant nagging Mr ProLex (Dave) had kindly allowed me to be the first person to try out the AUX-IN!!

Geoffers (that fine chap) did the fitting. It had actually been fitted a few weeks ago (review on way), but due to blowing up screens and other troubles I’d not really had a chance to play with it; when it was initially fitted I had a terrible whining noise too (obviously grounding issue) and to be honest I hardly had a chance to use it due to me losing all sound in my headunit!

Kind Geoffers offered to take a look at things for me today. It turned out that a transistor had blown – he replaced the transistor and YAY – sound again!! Apparently that had never happened before (but it hadn't had to deal with me before! ) We then turned the PC on and WE HAD CRYSTAL CLEAR SOUND!!

- No Hiss

- No crackle

- No whine

- No need to use a ground loop isolator which can potentially reduce bass

- CD quality.

It really did sound fantastic! The reason for this was because Geoff had discovered something to do with the ground in the AUX-IN. He cut it out (I think). All production versions will now have this changed.

For his next trick –the magician that is Geoffers (instead of pulling a Rabbit out of a hat - old trick) wired a Parrot CK3100 Bluetooth Handsfree kit up for me too. This is another feature of the ProLex Aux-in (dual-input version) and I got:

- RADIO/CD/AUX-IN Mute when I get an incoming call

- SOUND THROUGH BOTH Speakers!

Great or what??? :D :D :D The kit looks fantastic! I ran the mic up the A-pillar and tidied everything up.

It must be said that the AUX-IN isn’t commercially available yet, because the connectors are not ready yet. That is why Geoff had kindly offered to hardwire the AUX-IN. When the new plugs arrive it will just be a straight plug-and-play solution!

Slight problem I had today was that the enclosure I have for the DVD/CDRW blew up! It was an internal failure according to Geoff. Since I got it from the US I’m going to have a hard time returning it!   :( (Oh well....can't win them all)

Almost their now……

Just got to sortout: -

- Tidy Up a few PC bugs on the software side

- Redo my screen AGAIN by replacing the touch screen overlay and positioning it slightly better in the housing.

- Sort out a way of connecting my CDRW/DVD Slot drive.

- Configure my new SIRFIII GPS receiver to work with my Car PC

- Wait for the Prolex reversing camera to arrive – Geoff has one and its BRILLIANT quality! Much better then the one I got off eBay.

- CLEAN THE CAR! (Gord would have a fit! :P )

Want to say a MASSIVE thanks to GEOFF for taking the time to help me. It is appreciated. Thanks to Dave@ Prolex too for letting me be the first person to try the AUX-IN.

I was abit dark when I got chance to post this - but I'll get some pics for tommorow.

I will be doing a proper review of it when I’ve had a chance to play with it properly!

Happy Days……(as Geoff would say! )

[Adie]

Well done mate. Glad its all coming along for you now. Sounds like a great set up you're going to have. I'll have to get a look at it next time i'm "up north". Or JAE perhaps :D

Adie

[TheDon]

wow sounds like your having great fun there !!!!! realy loving the in detail progress that your getting into.

Can i ask a favour as i realy dont wanna bugger up the unit i have, and that is if you could identify the pins out on te rear of the sat nav unit that are required to power it to - open, close etc

would be very greatful as i realy dont know how to test them. plus i have the other side of the plug so wanna keep it "plug and play"

thanks in advance, as you have been so helpful with all the bits i am doing!

[Anees]

wow sounds like your having great fun there !!!!! realy loving the in detail progress that your getting into.

Can i ask a favour as i realy dont wanna bugger up the unit i have, and that is if you could identify the pins out on te rear of the sat nav unit that are required to power it to - open, close etc

would be very greatful as i realy dont know how to test them. plus i have the other side of the plug so wanna keep it "plug and play"

thanks in advance, as you have been so helpful with all the bits i am doing!

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Thanks Chris and Adie.

Chris - I'll try and get a simple diagram for you tommorow so you can follow it. Its not that hard (I mean - I was able to do it! :P :P )

[Anees]

One funny thing however.....

One the way back I was following Geoff when I noticed that sound was only comming out of the one side of the speakers! I horned Geoff and we turned into a quite side-street to have a quick look. Turned out that the audio connector on the back of the PC had just come out slightly!! WHAT AN IDIOT!!