Saturday, October 14, 2006 - 06:38 pm, by: Justin Cook(Justin)
Hi all!
Well I know I should put this in the ICE section, but I want a bigger audience. I am a bit of a techie and decided that my double DIN stereo was getting a bit long in the tooth. I have always wondered if I could build an in car computer that would fit in the 2.5 din spot we have in the Soarer. I decided I would have a go.
I have never done anything like this before, and I have never modified anything using epoxy etc, but I did some research on MP3car.com and decided why the heck not.
I had been thinking about it a while, but someone on here was selling an Opus 150W in car power supply and a SP13000 Mini-itx board. Anyhow without really thinking I decided to buy them and luckily they were the perfect size!
Anyhow I had a spare aircon controller (bleeding) and stereo holders to use. See below
I bought a VIA EPIA SP13000 motherboard which is 17cm's by 17cm's. I then went to Bunnings and bought some MDF board and cut it out 18x18cms and it fits in the bottom two bits of the stereo holder and screwed it in.
Then I used some MB spacers I have saved up over the years from PC's I had built and mounted the Motherboard on the MDF.
Then I cut out a smaller board which I mounted on the spacers above the motherboard, so I could mount a harddrive and the cables.
The board I decided needed some cooling for the hard drive so I cut a hole in and mounted an old fan I had lying around.
I also bought from MP3car.com a slot loading DVD burner and it cost me $130 delivered from the US!
I then bought a 7" VGA monitor that is designed for a dash board in the car (mount on a stand). http://store.mp3car.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=MON%2D016 I then took this apart and modified it with epoxy putty, and then cut out a spot at the bottom of it for the DVD.
Here is the board of the lilliput, I then soldered some power wires to the lilliputs power connectors (the plug is too big for the space), and I popped out the cable that used to run to the small board at the bottom of the lilliput that housed the IR sensor and 7 buttons. The only button that I needed to duplicate was the power switch and the IR sensor. I then soldered a 4 pin wire connector (3 for the IR sensor) and one for the power switch and made up a little circuit board to house them now (going to mount them in the ashtray). This all works and is tested
I mounted the lilliput screen with some epoxy putty to two metal bars to mount the screen. Drilled some holes and mounted it up. I used some little cable tie connectors to hold the lilliputs MB to its screen (no longer is held by the housing).
The cable that came with the Lilliput was two big once plugged into the VGA on the motherboard (would not fit in the car). So I had to make up a small connector for the 15 pin VGA. I did this by buying a male and female plug from Jaycar and some ribbon cable. Soldering it all together.
I also will do this for the 9 pin connector on the MB. The other end of the cable will come out in the ashtray as well
I also have going in a 4 port USB device (which will be mounted in the ashtray), through this I can plug in ANY usb device (keyboard, camera etc) that I want. I also bought a wireless usb device to plug into the MB and I also bought a special USB soundcard. It has 5.1 out, but I am only using Fronts and Rears (my sub is powered by the AMP). The soundcard powers through the front a 2 channel amp, and the rear a 4 channel amp (2 x rears and 2 into the sub with bass boost). The sound card is plugged into the MB as well.
Anyhow all software has been installed and all devices have been tested. I still need to buy a compact keyboard and the touchscreen is AWESOME!
Still left to do.
Mounts in the ashtray for 4 port USB, and IR and power from Lilliput.
Fit into car. Power from battery to Opus. Mount 2 channel amp.
Saturday, October 14, 2006 - 11:41 pm, by: Marc Vipond(04awe)
I was stoked when I designed and made up my own airbox and ducting, but making up an indash computer well I guess that takes the cake! If you ever want to make a bit of money Justin I would be super keen on one of these in my car as it would be great for tuning
Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 03:31 pm, by: Justin Cook(Justin)
Thanks everyone Once its all finished fitted and working I will think about it
Its not cheap though, although its better than Pioneers $2000 2.5 din deck I was looking at, and probably around the same price.
I never thought I would finish it, but with a bit of inginuity it was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
If you don't want a kit it costs around $1500 in parts (for everything I have) and I am happy to help a little bit in the fab. for advice. Some bits are tricky but mostly just time and patience. Also need to know a little bit about soldering and electronics, but only a bit.
DEFINATELY well worth it. Everyone just can't believe the quality and the size its packed into. I am using a full size hard drive as I had a spare, but you could use a laptop hard drive and save even more space. I am just doing this to test out how long a hard drive will last in my bumpy car. Heck it might all rattle apart in 3 months
Will have pictures of install this week along with where I am putting everything. This includes the opus power supply, wiring, amps, wires, wireless etc.
Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 05:24 pm, by: Callum Finch(Sigeneat)
Beat me too it Justin! >.<
I'm still in the planning stages of mine at the moment..
My plan is to mount one of the Xenarc screens in the same place you have yout Lilliput. Run cables through to the glove box where i will mount a MacMini Core Duo. The reason for the MacMini is so that i can easily remove it and take it inside for a HTPC *taps nose* the Mini also has optical out for audio which will plug in to an Alpine MRA-D550 (optical in).
I'm glad to see how well the Lilliput screen has fit though.
Can you keep a log of how you go with USB TV and radio? I am very interested to see how that goes..
DVICO do a nice USB unit for digital (HD) TV, however the arial is mounted in the side of the unit and im not sure if you can extend it.
Other than that, ~30cm arial wires work well in the boot on either side, behind the boot lining.
I have also been toying with the idea of mounting a USB hub in the centre console box thingy.
Are you using the onboard sound for the PC? From what i have read on MP3car in the past, everyone basically opts for one of the USB Audigy cards, as the only onboard sound available these days is Realtek, and its crap.
Sunday, October 15, 2006 - 05:30 pm, by: Justin Cook(Justin)
Yup got a Zalmann 5.1 usb sound card, so hopefully the sound quality is ok. Not sure if it can drive the amps directly yet, might need some small pre-amps.
Also I thought about glove box, but my fiance will not let me use it for geek stuff. So indash it was! A portable would be good, good for upgrading too. Plus a Core Duo would rock!
Neil Griffiths Trader NSW 212Kw @ 8psi MANUAL Super Charged UZZ31
Monday, October 16, 2006 - 08:12 am, by: Ken Cornell(Dunadan)
That's noice! Wouldn't go the flexy keyboard, too long, and will need something to lean it on. I found one that was like the bottom half of a laptop, with touch-pad mouse. Works great. Very nice work there!
Monday, October 16, 2006 - 02:57 pm, by: Matchy Loi(Ftk148)
The possibilities are limitless with computers. I too am a computer geek, I thought I had some spare xpc cases in my garage that I was going to offer you, but looks like someone already threw them away not sure if they would fit in the console but doesn't hurt to try. Another thing that i just thought of is to just have a computer running in your boot, run a few cables up to the front for video and usb. You could fit fullsize computers in there, not sure how you would power it though hahaha.
Another option to the external usb hub is one of them internal card-readers (lots of them have usb ports) that fit in the floppy bays, it is obviously bigger but would look better I think.
Monday, October 16, 2006 - 04:00 pm, by: Paul Fitzsimmons(Oztif)
I have used a standard 200gb hard drive in my xbox mounted in the boot. Never skips, longevitity with yours should not be any problem. Good luck ,great work.
Monday, October 16, 2006 - 11:02 pm, by: Callum Finch(Sigeneat)
Personally, i would recommend a laptop hard drive if anyone plans on building a system.
Laptop HDD's can plug in to your standard IDE port with the appropriate adapter. The benefit of a lappy hdd is that they are built to be durable rather than perfrom well (low on power also!). Typical desktop hdd's are designed purely for performance. For a CarPC, loading times and performance will never be your highest priority and so the more mobile you can go the better.
Tuesday, October 17, 2006 - 05:27 am, by: Justin Cook(Justin)
Yup I would recommend a lappy hard drive too, but as I said, this one was a spare and I will just whack it in until it dies. I will buy a laptop one if it karks it. Remember though an XBox has a normal size HD and heaps of people have these in cars, without any problems.
Anyhow I guess I will be the yard stick, my car is lowered, and rides like a gocart (very bumpy) so we will see
Previous
....Well done Justin.
..... make sure you post up the end result
not sure if they would fit in the console but doesn't hurt to try. Another thing that i just thought of is to just have a computer running in your boot, run a few cables up to the front for video and usb. You could fit fullsize computers in there, not sure how you would power it though hahaha. 
