Carputer

[Gooch]

Okay I think I have my plan for my carputer.
I went with this config mainly because if you add up all the normal bits you put in the car it should cost around the same also I am not too sure you can run 3 monitor separately this config will allow my 3 totally different kids to make their own choice of movie, games, music or TV etc. MMCS I cant wait until someone can interpret the system (and I cant speak japanese).

1: Toughbook 2nd hand via ebay(army use them says it all) tablet laptop with built in GPS mounted into the dash (so all you can see is the tablet screen) where the radio mmcs and or climate controls went. When i pulled everything out I noticed that there is quite a bit of room behind the dash so once I measure one up I am pretty sure it will fit with its 12"touch screen. I will leave the vents where they are but reposition the controls where the Ashtray is (haven't measured hope it will fit) as I am a non smoker.
2. Two Asus EEE pc's (7"screens- 4gb solid state hdd, shockproof)Mounted to the back of the Recaro's wirelessly networked and sharing a big arse 2.5 HDD connected via USB to the Toughbook and mounted under the dash for easy access.
3.Wireless router mounted either behind the toughbook or in the rear/or maybe under the seats.

This will give me everything I want such as On road dyno, internet, bluetooth, movies HD TV, HD Radio, GPS, Yellow pages (lol) etc etc. turbo timer fuel mix etc.

Budget is just over the 1grand mark hoping it will work if I do most of the work myself. However stuck with the powering of the lot.
I am thinking of getting twin batteries I know now they can quite powerful and small so mount two side by side in the engine bay at this stage however how will the second one which powers the units recharge??Hmmm
please help.
All you techos come out and shoot my down I need to find what I have not thought of yet that will stop me doing this mad arse useless waste of time venture.

 

[naughtika]

thought of it as well.. its kinda costly here in oz at the moment and i can't afford it..

check this link out for a Heavy Duty small pc... which can be used as carputer..

they have nice systems and cased in aluminum heatsink case

 

[Mrk_VR4]

Do you want to keep the second battery seperate from the main battery of the car? That is the second battery is only for the entertainment stuff, and not for cranking over which will be done by the first battery. If this is what your looking at it's like having a house battery on a boat to run accessories and a seperate battery for cranking, so i'd look to use a kit like this: Dual Charge Kit It allows you to connect the two batteries in parallel so that they both charge when the car is running, but isolates one of the batteries when discharging (using acessories and entertainment stuff while car is not running) so that you always have one full battery that is able to start the car. So even if you completely drain your 'entertainment battery', you'll still have one full battery to start the car, and once running it will re-charge the 'entertainment battery'.

 

[Gooch]

naughtika said: check this link out for a Heavy Duty small pc... which can be used as carputer..they have nice systems and cased in aluminum heatsink case.
Man more options best thing is that they are in Vic so will go down and talk to them they look good and would be my preferred option as long as it can multi process on mulitple screens.
Will let you know how helpful they are!
Mrk_VR4Do said: you want to keep the second battery seperate from the main battery of the car? so i'd look to use a kit like this: Dual Charge Kit
I will diffenately get one of these thanks champ I was wondering if it would be in series but Parallel is the way to go otherwise I will have 24v coming off it.
cheers

 

[SiliconAngel]

Bob make sure you use a high-capacity deep-cycle battery for your electronics - if you just use a standard car battery you'll kill it in no time.

If you want to do this properly, make sure you get a custom 12V PSU (power supply) for the computers. This simplifies the electronics and just steps 12V DC input to the voltage the PC expects. Otherwise if you use off-the-shelf PC PSU's you'll need an inverter to convert your 12V DC into 230V AC, which is then converted back down to 12, 5 and 3.3V DC, which is all rather wasteful...

 

[naughtika]

in that site I posted.. they also have 12v dc to dc converter.. which is also integrated with your pc.. also software is included either Linux or Windows

 

[SiliconAngel]

You might find this interesting

 

[naughtika]

damn crazy.. 17" right next to you..

 

[Guest]

Hey Guys, I purcased a Voompc about 9 months ago, and a 7 inch touchscreen as well. ( I had all these toys before the legnum)
I had the Voom fully loaded with Media centre and all ready to be powered up to the legnum, After taking it around to allmost every audio specialist in Adelaide, no one was willing to give it a shot as they have never done them before. So i sold it on ebay,
But The VoomPc's look sexy and are tiny hides under ya seat perfect.

All the best with yours Gooch, cant wait to see some pics

Cory

 

[Gooch]

Yeah sorry to hear Cory about your Voom.

Thanks folks I have a heap to work on here and I will keep you posted with my efforts at the moment the car is in the mechs dam tie rods (three week wait) but still reasearching for best options the links you guys have given me is excellent.

Thanks guys will post some pics eventually when I get the car back and start the work.

Keep up with the suggestions. They are all valuable.

Cheers
Bob

 

[snickells]

no one was willing to give it a shot as they have never done them before. So i sold it on ebay,

What what what? Dude, why didn't you ask us what to do? Website full of IT nerds you silly bugger!

 

[Scottie]

Go to www.mp3car.com there is no better website for car PC's.

Centrafuse is by far the best software to run. There is programs to do what you are after there as well.

I have a Car PC in my Mazda and am about to start putting it in my legnum. I will post pics as i go.

 

[snickells]

I have a Car PC in my Mazda and am about to start putting it in my legnum. I will post pics as i go.

Oh please do! Cant wait to see a leggie running some carpooter action.

 

[Guest]

Yeah i was just over it and didnt feel to comfortable blowing the voom up on a DIY,
all i wanted it for was Solitare to play at the traffic lights....
(joke)

Cory

 

[Gooch]

Pooters

Unreal love MP3car.com. Great source of info and help.
And man a car pooter can do sooooo much more than just solitaire champ I hope you got enough for it.
I will be calling on lots of help from the IT Geeks in the club look forward to hanging at the car wash with the dark knight and trying to work out how I blue screened.
Hope to see your pics Scottie when you get our pooter in the car.

 

[Guest]

im goingt down this route soon and mp3car will be my guide as will vroom

 

[OVR444]

This website has prolly been around here before; but for the price I was surprised what you get.

http://www.mini-box.com.au/purchase/browse-detail.asp?menuId=45&start=1&laCode=ENGAU&productId=189

Then just gotta worry about screens.... Think I may go down this path. Anyone have experience?

 

[MasqUAP]

The screen is the biggest question for me. Does anyone have first hand experience with preferably a single DIN 7" VGA touchscreen? I've had so many good and bad reports about all of them and I'm just not confident enough in any of them to slap down the dollars.

I will be using a netbook for my car PC, I am using an Acer Aspire One (Atom 1.6Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 160Gb HDD) but need a screen that's decent quality.

 

[matchtheclown]

You can fit a 10" touchscreen in the dash if you have a bit of time an tools.

Check the resolution of the 7" double din screens the higher the better obviously.

Both me and minik both have carputers in our legnums. There is a thread from both of us in audio visual.

 

[MasqUAP]

Yah, but I want to retain the audio quality and ease of use of a normal HU without custom modding the dash. I'd like one of the in dash single DIN units so I could use it when I wanted to, but just use the normal HU when I just want to listen to some music.