I Have Started Work On The In Car Pc Project

Brettster · November 23, 2003

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 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

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

SteveAudioX · November 23, 2003

Excellent work :) ......

I might be able to do something trick with your touch screen monitor..

Let me know the sizes .. L/W/H and how the connector mates...

some more pictures of the monitor would be good from, various angles and views..

ifraz · November 23, 2003

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!

Brettster · November 23, 2003

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:

Brettster · November 23, 2003

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:

Wosket · November 24, 2003

great work brett, looking good mate.

i bet u cant wait for it to be all up n running

Maz · November 24, 2003

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

Froomer · November 24, 2003

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.

Brettster · November 24, 2003

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 :)

Scorpion · November 24, 2003

SO WHERE DOES MY LADY PUT HER HAIRBRUSH/SPRAY AND MAKE UP, AND ALL THE OTHER CRAP SHE PUTS IN MY CAR!!

B) B)

Brettster · November 24, 2003

in a carrier bag in the boot !! :P

DUNCAN · November 24, 2003

When will we all get to see it ?

Brettster · November 25, 2003

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 :)

ColinBarber · November 25, 2003

The voltage is not regulated and therefore will go up and down, which is not ideal for a PC! Is the PSU designed for in car use? If it is then should be able to cope.

yemgi · November 25, 2003

Nice job Brettster B)

I think you will need a capacitor for your PC to have a constant voltage

james2210 · November 25, 2003

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?

Brettster · November 26, 2003

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

ColinBarber · November 26, 2003

What output does the PSU give? If the PC runs only on 5v then the PSU should be able to give a regulated supply even with the 12v input going up and down.

Brettster · November 26, 2003

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?

Whitebeam · November 26, 2003

Provided the PSU is a switch mode one (which this one looks like) it will cope with quite a large input voltage variation (above & below rated input).

If you want to relocate the motherboard there are some good, small boxes for EPIA's like this one available from here.

Brettster · November 26, 2003

there alot of infomation about my mini-itx psu here Power Supply infomation

and it states that "The Input Voltage is strictly required between 11.4V~12.6V"

hmm maybe i can get away with it?

ColinBarber · November 26, 2003

You will get voltages of up to 14v when the engine is running and as low as 9v whilst cranking

Brettster · November 26, 2003

DOH

I wont be using the PC while i start the engine so thats not a problem

I just need something to stop the voltage going too high

Whitebeam · November 26, 2003

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.