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I Have Started Work On The In Car Pc Project


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This week I got hold of my in car PC stuff

I started puting things together today and its taking shape :D

it comprises of a 7" widescreen touch screen VGA with 2 composite video inputs Pic Here.

A 1 ghz EPIA mini itx motherboard these things are very small with everything built on board and can run from 12V and a 10 gig hard drive for now Pic Here.

I found some nice PC software to play movies and mp3's etc called media engine Pic Here.

Media Engine playing MP3's

Windows XP Desktop.

I have managed to get all the PC gubbins into the glove box which isnt as big as it looks when you try to fit a whole PC in there :crying:Pic Here.

And to turn it all on and off I added a very small push switch in the glove box handle Pic Here, its almost invisable when sat in the car :winky:

The aerial thing you can see is a Net Gear wireless Lan card so I can update the MP3's etc from my PC at home and not shown is a slimline DVD ROM drive which fits perfectly under the seat heater and trac buttons.

Only problems I have now is I really need an AUX input for the IS200 Stereo will have to see about getting one from Steve :whistling:

and a way to mount the monitor so it folds away when not in use, It's just slightly too big to fit into the Dash Tray :yack: but it does fit face down into the dash top without the JDM Dash Tray perfectly, Maybe Steve's motorised unit could be adapted ??

I'll post some more pics when I have it in the car fully.

Next things to add to it is a reversing Camera and Full PC based GPS

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The monitor is 19.5cm wide x 12.5cm high x 3.5cm thick and here are some shots of its connectors and fittings etc

Back shot of the monitor

Bottom of monitor the hole is a screw thread which you can attach the supplied stand onto or you can use it on the sliding rail on the back

and a Side shot with Multi input and power input sockets and cable retainer clips

Hope thats of some help Steve and you can sort me out with some wicked folding mechanism :winky:

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That is one crazy setup you have there Brett.

You electronic boys cease to amaze me. I love the idea of a PC in the car with internet....cool B)

Excellent work!

hehe Thanks :)

should be pretty cool when its all in and fully working :D

I can go on the net with it but only when im near a wireless network or I could use a mobile phone for internet link but I think looking at LOC while on the Motorway could be too much of a distraction lol.

Maybe I should get a Nos kit and use the screen to show its usage like in The Fast and the Furious :yack:

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WOW.....AWESOME Brett, cant wait to see it all done matey.

BTW do you have any problems with the cooling of the PC CPU? as it seem you will have it running with the groves box closed....

nice work matey... :D :D :D

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I know someone that has fitted this system in an Audi A4. Also he has a wireless network fiited to it. This allows him to park outside his house and download MP3's via his home broadband connection. Also if your pushed for space in your glovebox, you can put the box in the boot and use a Bluetooth mouse along with the touch screen.

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the board I have used is very low power and in all the time I have had the PC running about 5 hours non stop the cpu's heat sink has been icy cold, it proberly doesnt even need a fan, infact the lower spec 800mhz version doesnt even come with a fan just a heat sinc on the cpu. so im hoping it will all be ok :)

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does anyone know how stable the voltage is to the cig lighter? my pc needs 12V which is fine but will reving the engine and switching things like seats and lights etc affect the voltage to the cig lighter? if so what can i do to stop my psu blowing up??

thanks guys :)

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How about getting a small UPS and a 12V-240V invertor to smooth out voltage sags and spikes?

The Mediaengine software would be what I'm looking for at home so I can play my MP3's through the TV and my HiFi in the lounge. How much and where did you get it from?

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Colin : the psu I have accepts 12V and comes with a mains adapter that outputs 12V but its not designed for car use :( so i need something simple to smooth it out.

James: I wanted to keep things simple and not have to use an inverter, the Media engine is free and I got it from www.mp3car.com

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the power supply to the PC is full ATX spec it gives out 12 volts and 5 volts and powers the hard drives, floppy drives and cd roms etc etc.

the PSU that plugs into the mains to power the DC to DC ATX psu gives out 12 volts at 3.5amps.

I might just buy one of those psu's thats designed to power notebooks from a cig lighter socket they are around £20.00 and provide 12 volts at 3.5amps or 24 volts at 1.5 amp, so i assume there's some clever electronics in there.

does that sound like a good idea? or do you think i'll still have the same problem with voltage spikes etc?

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A quick solution is to add 3 diodes (>5Amp rating) in series with the Battery supply - these shoould drop the voltage to about 12V.

Problem is that with the engine off you would be back down to approx 10V. Also I would advise some isolation from the car Battery to avoid spikes & dropouts (PC's are very intolerant to power supply glitches - the system would be very annoying if it needed reboot whenever the AC or lights etc switch).

Some improvement would be to put a large capacitor or small 12V Battery after the diodes to cope with short dropouts etc although you would still have low voltage whenever the engine was off (you could add a relay to short out the diodes when the engine is off. This would add a little to the complexity and you would have to find room for the extra components).

Ideal solution is one of these but I can't find a UK distributer and believe price is about US$400.

Another solution is a 12V-12V DC-DC converter as used in caravans for TV's etc. These should expand the input voltage tolerance. Problem again is finding room for the extra box.

Let us know how you get on.

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I AM TOTALY CONFUSED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :huh:

WHY WOULD ANYBODY WANT TO DO THIS PROJECT?????????????????????????

HAVE YOU NOT HEARD OF A LAP TOP???????????????????????????????????????

CAN YOUR PC DO ANYTHING THAT MY LAP TOP CANT DO?????????????????????

CAN YOUR PC DO ANYTHING THAT A SMALL AND DISCREET PALM PILOT WITH BLUE TOOTH CANT DO???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

IF YOU ARE REALLY THAT BORED I WANT MY BRAKE CALIPERS PAINTING AND COULD DO WITH A HAND

HONESTLY WHAT ARE YOU LOT LIKE? :)

Looking forward to your replys LOL

No Seriously - well done But WhyYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY????????

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