Anees's Car Pc Thread - Advice And Info

[Anees]

Seriously however I am actually undertaking another one (glutton for punishment or what!) for a good mate of mine (insainly not a LOC member).

It is based on an old (put good) Laptop I have and will run off the cigarette ligher socket. He only really wants it for MP3s/movies/navigation so it won't be as powerful as mine but it should be much easier to setup - no wiring into the Battery and much less to go wrong! :D

Only trouble is that he has crashed his car (someone drove into him) so its on hold at the moment (I think) until the insurance company sort his car out.

[alajota]

Good set up Anees

How much will this setup cost

Would like to know

As I have a few things in mind for the RX

And I thot LOC will save me money

Knee caps are cheap compared to an IS :P

[Brettster]

hehe car pc's also never end

you'll always find something else to add to it or somewhere to imporve it

just like the cars they are in "angry money pits"

[Anees]

hehe car pc's also never end

you'll always find something else to add to it or somewhere to imporve it

just like the cars they are in "angry money pits"

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Your right mate - always the temptation to make it just that little bit better!!

Cost wise I will have to work it out but I DREAD to think what it has cost with eveything that has gone wrong.

Really don't want to know :P but I''ll work out based on the scenario that you DON't set things on fire! :D

[lexus_IS_200]

So how much did it cost ya to do it all

[Colin P]

about to finally start my install, well, still need to buy a few bits first!

[vinokirk]

First post! Ive already started on my Carputer even tho i havent got my Lexus yet! Im making my own computer using: Via Epia 800, 300MB Ram, silent 60w PSU, 15GB HDD, all in a modified Scientific Atlanta box (the old cable boxes). Ill give the exact details some other time but im looking forward to getting an IS200 in the near future and getting a great ICE install going!

[Brettster]

make sure you buy a decent PSU for the carpter its the most critical part of the system, I reccomend the OPUS, I had that in my IS and it was fantastic

[vinokirk]

I have a morex 60w PSU, its only for the MB and HDD, ive built many mini itx systems before so i know what im doing! im just missing the car, its really quite annoying!!!!

[Brettster]

that PSU you have will require 12V? but the car cannot give you a true 12V, when you crank your engine it will drop to as low as 9v and when running can be as high as 15-16V.

I had the same PSU as you mention to begin with, then I got another device to stop the power going above 12V and also offer automatic shut down and start up, but when you turned on things like electric seats, headlights or anything more than the radio the power dropped for a split second and reset the PC very annoying, Just a helpfull hint thats all

[vinokirk]

As i said brettster im all clued up when it comes to carputers, ive got the ituner itps to handle the cranking current and give me a clean and stable 12v to the precious PSU. Just wish i had been on this site when Anees was doing his carputer to give some advice!

[vinokirk]

to stop things going off ie when you use electric mirrors or thing like that, just put a nice big Capacitor in series with the electrical system, this acts like a bank where electricity is stored so things rarely drop out!

[Brettster]

well the ITPS is what i got too

honestly it will drive you nuts

Im not trying to say you dont know what your doing, Im just offering you my experience, I had almost the same setup as you, and had nothing but problems with it, and im sure you'll see others agree if you look on mp3car.com the IS 200 is not ITPS friendly.

[vinokirk]

im always open to suggestions thats why i signed up here! so ur saying that thing dropped out when you put in the itps? is it still doing it?

[Brettster]

yes

the ITPS needs around 14V in to give out 12V so when you have a slight voltage spike the power dips below 14V the ITPS can no longer give 12V and the whole PC resets or crashes due to the morex not expecting anything less than pure 12V supplying it.

the OPUS was the only solution (at the time) as it ran from as little as 7volts upto 19V, and it also includes a shut down and wake up feature and allows the PC to enter sleep mode when you turn off the car, and protects the car Battery from being drained, it shuts off the pc totally if the Battery goes below a certain voltage, handy for winter.

I used the ITPS for about a month it was hell.

there are a few users in this club with carputers, Im sure they will tell you the same.

a few other things I discovered along the way, I used a laptop HDD as they provide much better shock resistance and Prolex should be selling the AUX input adapter for the headunit soon so you can have nice sound coming from the cars headunit and have to use a tape adapter or FM transmitter.

but Welcome to the club and Good Luck with the project. :)

[vinokirk]

Really? wow thanks mate i will def get the opus!i also might try getting a dc -dc convertor from some itx website(cant remember which one). Im getting a totally new headunit and amps etc which from what i have read will be a challange but i think it can be done easily enough!

[Anees]

As i said brettster im all clued up when it comes to carputers, ive got the ituner itps to handle the cranking current and give me a clean and stable 12v to the precious PSU. Just wish i had been on this site when Anees was doing his carputer to give some advice!

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Hi Mate,

Welcome! :D

Good luck with your install! Not sure what I can offer on the advice front (apart from if things set of fire its not a good sign) but anything you need just ask.

I got lots of advice from Brettster and Fargo they are the guys that really know!

Regarding my own install.....

I was planning on revealing my big surprise which hasn't worked! It was Digital TV!!! Need more work on that! Can't get a signal

Another website contacted me about featuring my install too! :D

Gonna see what games I can play in the car- just to make it really cool!

Athlon Mobile 2400+, 1Gb DDR Ram, Nforce 2 Chipset (with Geforce MX onboard) - what games do you think should run without stressing the system too much? Unreal tornament (the old one) maybe?

Since its in the car ideally a racing game and 3D Person shooter should be good. Doom 3 would be cool but I think I would be pushing it abit their!! :P LOL! The sames would only be run at 800 x 600 resolution (unless I can get them to run at 800x480 which I doubt)!

Anees

[vinokirk]

wow its Anees himself, feel like im talking to a celeb!

I hooked up digital TV in an old toyota corrola i had! had a compass on me and had to park in a car park at werid angls to get reception!

It works trust me so keep going! How are you doing with the dish?

My car was old so i bolted it directly onto the roof, got some right looks!

As for the games, try half life 2 on low specs, mite work.

Been speaking to Brettster hes come up with some good thing like not using the ITPS!

[Anees]

Thanks for the PM and help.

Celebrity? Me :o :o :o

Read the thread and see if you belive the original poster or not? He claims he was able to wastch skynews at 70mph with a clear picture (not that I would every do that!!)

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread...65&page=1&pp=15

[vinokirk]

Oh i see, one of those things!! i had the full home setup in my car, sky digital set top box and an invertor, with the dish mounted on the roof!! i had all 300+ sky digital channels on a 17"touch screen i mounted on the dash! all my friennds have called me the mad scientist since i was about 13 and after that they really belived i was!

but you could no way do that in a lexus and have it look standard, shame really!

[Anees]

Oh i see, one of those things!! i had the full home setup in my car, sky digital set top box and an invertor, with the dish mounted on the roof!! i had all 300+ sky digital channels on a 17"touch screen i mounted on the dash! all my friennds have called me the mad scientist since i was about 13 and after that they really belived i was!

but you could no way do that in a lexus and have it look standard, shame really!

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WOW!! AMAZING!!

I'm too concerned about the aerodynamic-ness (word??) of the Lex to do that!! Maybe in my A-Team Van!

[Fargo]

cant stress enough as others have said,, OPUS OPUS OPUS...

haev a buthc at my install for some ideas.

http://fargosys.com/html/carputer_project.html

[vinokirk]

Yes ive seen your install before, the Liquid Rigid Plastic stuff is an amazing idea! and im going to stick a nice 20 core cable thru to the front for any future neeeds

[Anees]

Fargo's project is the bees knees!! :D

[Brettster]

Anees, Digital TV can be a right pain to get even if your using your TV at home, you would need a really high gain amplified aerial, have you seen the ones that stick metal strips to the inside of the rear windows? I have seen good things with them for normal TV, not so sure about digital, but Good luck and I know you'll get it sorted in the end :)