f1anatic

when's the beer event ? my shit ain't fully functional just yet but the main hardware is inside the car. Weasel gave me rave reviews.

Well I know my carnetix power supply (which is broken and was sent back to the manufacturer) (i bought it broken apparently) has a feature that if the voltage drops below 12 V or it has been more than 3 days since you last turned on the car; it will shut off automatically. Yeah - they're called smart cause it monitors stuff ! With regards to my project; I am building up the case for the laptop to cover it in the trunk. BMC, I have reached the conclusion that I should NOT power my setup from the cigarette lighter. Search on my issue with the Carnetix pwr supply in the POwer Supply section on MP3car.com. I will take it from the battery (thank you Weasel for running the wire for me). I bought a 15 AMP fuse holder to wire it in at the battery for my power supply. however bad weather in CHicago has prevented me from doing meaningful work on the car. Attention is on the case in the trunk for now. Last major fabrication effort.

No Seb. I am not into CAD. While making your own case is indeed the ultimate custom job for your custom PC; why not try to modify an existing case ? I finally decided how I am mounting my laptop. It will stand flat on the trunk floor, in a box that I am fabricating out of an aluminium suitcase. It will have a cooling fan underneath; otherwise holes drilled for venting and what not. It will stand about 10 cm from the trunk floor and I will be able to put reasonably heavy stuff on top of the case.

Seb, trust me, when I switch to a real custom PC, you are designing my enclosure.

Thanks man. I decided my shine gotta to go. Presto.

Guys I want the paint code for the pain you used on your bezels. I am unhappy with mine.

BMAC, thanks for the advice. Hold on to that enclosure for me...Let me figure out my PSU gremlins first. But it is a phenomenal idea...and looks like the car was bought like that. So you think running the xenarc and the laptop off the cig. lighter should be ok ?

That's soooooo sexy ! BMAC ! Did you make two ? Is it ok to run the Xenarc and the laptop from this PSU which is connected to the front cigarette lighter (NOT USED for anything else) and power for my 2 usb hubs and radar detector from the center console plug ? Or do I have to get juice for the PSU from the battery and then the yellow ignition wire just solder to anything (+) that gets power only when key is ON or ACC ? I will try to merge the red(+) and yellow (ign) wires together and see what happens...if my PSU outputs anything or not ? Had I not used a laptop (which has a battery), I would have had no chance for this setup. But since the laptop may shut off on its own...when it reaches 90% battery power (or whichever way I wanna do it) I wonder if my way works or not ?

It is just that one phucker. Can I just merge the yellow wire with the red (+) wire from the PSU and call it a day ?

I am having trouble with my Carnetix P1900 PSU. Anyone can help me ? If any of you have this PSU; then I will give you the details. http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=97202

And fishbone you say nothing about my setup...How dare you ! Car PCs usually run to about 1000 (+/- 250) once is all set and done. Depends on how much fabrication, how many accessories and software is everyone running - and definitely how much of the assets s/he already has (like in my case a laptop).

naaah i will keep it

the way I am finishing this up...by May it should be ready

the taller they are... Why don't you square up your monitor ? When I will be doen with this shit...I will sell the car. This piece of plastic, rubber and metal called Legacy has eaten up my money, time, energy like nothing else in my entire life so far.

BMAC, here's the stuff I used: Dupli-Color Auto Spray DSGM318 Charcoal Metallic from Pep Boys 5 dollars

Hey peeps... Hey 1st Matelot Sea Weasel... What do you guys think of my control panel ? USB Touchpad (mostly to avoid touching the screen and using the computer w/o the front end software) red start-up shut-down button for PC Escort Passport Remote Controller inside (hidden) in the compartment there uis a USB hub with 3 ports open. When I add camera and OBD-2 functions I will use them. Either I will pull the cable from underneath or simply have it come out to the side, and go underneath the seat. Also inside there there will be the extra video/audio cables for the Xenarc. That compartment is otherwise compromised...(filled up with technology) but the armrest one is completely freePower for my 2 USB hubs (one in the above describes compartment and one next to the laptop, in the trunk) as well as the radar detector comes from the armrest cig plug. Power for the PC and the screen comes from the front. I decided to not try to match the paint. Too much work. It is close enough for all practical reasons. Just like my monitor/HVAC bezel - a little on the shiny side but oh well. As I said, I am just trying to work things out to my liking. It is not gonna be fancy like some of your stuff, but it is going to be functional. For sure...I am not counting on my Car PC to "pull wool" so as long as it is not very ugly, I am sure people will be largely ignorant.

I am at least another 2 weeks away from installing. I am too busy to move any faster.

well I am concerned about overheating and besides, I have a full size (225-45-17) spare tire

Where would you guys mount a laptop in the trunk of a sedan ? And how : vertical or flat/horizontal. Are you guys giving a thought to the horizontal mounting as a sure way to kill your hard drive quickly ? (Ya know...the reading had of the hard drive crashing against the disks?) Are you anchoring it in some way to dampen vibrations ?

@ PRELUDE; SEBBERY The answer is a frightening YES. I did put it on the car. And comes out easily too. i shaved off most of the pins (upper, lower and sides (vents)) and practiced a little cut into the dashboard trim precisely where that vertical metal frame would be. My end structure is very rigid and the only reason I "shaved" the pins and cut slightly into the edge of the dashboard trim was to make sure this thing comes out easily if I even need to. I quite understand your concerns but I have that covered. The role of that vertical metal beam is to provide support as well as bring the screen housing closer to this HVAC/cubby bezel. Unseen in the picture, is a piece of plastic that I epoxied on the lower horizintal edge of the bezel. This metal bar will have one end fitting into it then as you can see it is shaped to follow the Xenarc housing.

B MAC, how did you run it under the carpet between the hand brake portion and the trunk ? Anything I should know before doing this tomorrow ? With regards to the interest level; I think many people would love to do a car PC over a commercially available solution (think kenwood, pioneer, eclipse, alpine) for any number of reasons including price and versatility. However they realize the amount of fabrication - custom, individual fabrication - involved and they are not really educated about the project. It is the job of people like you and I, darkfox, seberry and a few others to describe the process, write idiot-proof instructions and even assist with the fabrication. Indeed a car-specific bezel that can just be screwed in or glued to the space there and just take the "guts" of a xenarc or lilliput would make the car pc business really take off. until then...it is just an enthusiast hobby.

No bro you did not offend me in the least bit. It would be cool if you could offer these people a solution for Lilliput / Xenarc screens - something that will not require lots of fabrication. I just don't see myself getting into this mass production business any time soon.

Well BMAC...not to sound mean...but how exactly do you think I am approaching this issue ? Why do you think it's been taking me so long ? Because when I decide on the install day, I just wanna dump everything in place in a few hours and be done with it. No more fiddling with it, no more doubts in my mind whether I would be able to pull the screen out of the dashboard if shit happens, everything modular, everything unified...everything plug and play. I bought some dark grey (GM grade) paint from Pep Boys and a clear coat. I can provide the exact paint code when I get home. It may be indeed too shiny as Funny Sea Weasel suggested but it can be sanded down with extra fine sand paper or similar. I thought about painting the entire assembly black, did that, resented the looks and decided to aim for the darkest grey/charcoal/petrol look I can do commercially available within 5 miles of my house in 1 trip. I think it is a decent result.

I thought you ultimately found my display relocation decent. Yay Rich, it is a money pit, a time waster as much as it is a proof of automobile coolness. If you just want Navi, get an external unit.

The fabrication is a "slut". A bitch wouldn't quite be indicative. But who knows...I may be talked into selling it. I am yet to mount the PC in the car...but the hard shit is over. You should see the control panel that I am making...complete with on-off switch for the pc, laptop touchpad and radar detector mute button.