Project Car Puter!

Arnold

Arnold

www.alanarnold.co.uk
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Ok Guys

I thought i'd set this up as a mini blog for the car puter install in my car. I know the idea has been talked about loads, and i believe Ollie is the only one here to fully complete one, but thanks to him putting the idea in my head, im going to attempt one also

The bits i have are shown below

Carputer1.jpg


1) Ione Mini Wireless keyboard with built in mouse
2) 512MB Ram
3) 90W Intelligent PSU
4) 7" Touchscreen
5) 2 Different touchscreen mounting brackets
6) 2.5" HDD to 3.5" HDD + power adapter
7) 80GB 7200RPM HDD
8) Slot type Dual Layer DVD Writer with added Slot type to IDE converter.
9) Mini Motherboard
10) Two 6CM Fans
11) USB Hub
12) 2 Short IDE Cables
13) Various screws & cable ties
14) 2X3 Foot of fibreboard
Not on display) USB GPS Receiver
Not on display) Compact Flash Card Reader

Now, i've been drawing up a design of how i want it too look, so the plan this weekend will be to make the box up with the main components inside it. I've designed a two shelf style system, in a similar shape to a PS2, with a fan on either side blowing in and extracting air. Short cables used where possible to increase air flow, reduce mess and save space.

I can give further details on parts if requested. Price list to follow when completed!

Deadline - JAE.
 
PSU is it the M1 ATX?? Motherboard looks the same as mine 1.5ghz C7 processor?

Best of luck dude. Any queries you got gimme a bell
 
Yeah mate it's the M1 and i believe it's the same board as yours. Most likely to be the same ram aswell :)

Can you tell me where you wired the PSU wiring to? I was considering using the head unit remote for the switched live, unless you can suggest anywhere better?
 
I made the mistake of using the live, ignition and ground all from the headunit, this creates mild engine sound through the speakers, it's coming from the PC and not the amp itself as it goes when I disconnect the amp from the PC.

I personally would go live straight off of battery, ignition just come off of the HU, and go for a ground wherever you can find a decent one!

I got 512mb DDR II ram. I'm in the process of upgrading from windows 2000 to XP as autoroute 2007 can not use the voice software in the 2k environment, as it uses the text to voice feature in XP, so my gps is a bit pants without "turn Left, turn right, at the end of the road take the ferry" voice
 
Did you read the manual ollie? lol. It referred to PC / Amp related problems. Off the top of my head, i think it refers to fitting a jumper to the motherboard to sort that problem out.

im assuming with the live to the battery, you've fused that connection aswell?

Goldstar, im most likely going to place it on the shelf under the dashboard, i'l be bolting it on to stop it getting half inched. Im really trying to make things as neat as possible, so dont fancy long cables running around the car :) although a VGA cable if it was in the boot would only cost around £20
 
Hey Arnie,

Good work, nice to see someone else trying this. I will be watching this closely as I'm looking to do the same in my golf, mainly for music, but also for sat nav, and then maybe some other features when I get the system in place. I think I'm gunna probably do it the lazy way and use a laptop and docking station so I can take it out of the car when not in use. Good luck with this, looking forward to seeing the outcome. :)

Dan.
 
Today, with alot of help from Ems, we drew up the box on the MDF and cut it out. We were going to begin putting it together but the screws are a fraction too long, so will be getting some more tomorrow. Will post more photos tomorrow :)
 
micra man said:
Hey Arnie,

Good work, nice to see someone else trying this. I will be watching this closely as I'm looking to do the same in my golf, mainly for music, but also for sat nav, and then maybe some other features when I get the system in place. I think I'm gunna probably do it the lazy way and use a laptop and docking station so I can take it out of the car when not in use. Good luck with this, looking forward to seeing the outcome. :)

Dan.
Click to expand...

Let me know how that goes if you do a pc, I use a lappy in car for sat nav but would love to fit a pc but despite the large dah there's no room to fir anything
 
trouble with laptops is the screens are usually quite large, and the docking stations arent exactly compact either. by doing what im doing, everything is done to my specification! Ok its a bit more effort than using a laptop, but you'd need an inverter to do that. The system & screen i have in mine run off 12V with no inverter needed :)
 
Yeah I thought about building a false floor in the boot and putting it all under a flap there, so its all hidden away. But like you say your way is much neater, I was gunna hook the docking station up to a power supply on the ignition, which I haven't looked into enough yet really, then fabricate a screen into the dash. Keep us updated Arnold.
 
Will do lads. Got the screws now so when we're back from a fish shop, we're gonna start putting it together & fit some of the components! :)

-----

Awesome progress today!

Started off by putting the sides on and fitting the input and output fans.

box1.jpg


Then fitting the motherboard & PSU, on typical computer case motherboard mounts

box2.jpg


We then created the top shelf for which the HDD and DVD sit on

box3.jpg


And now we've fitted the shelf, everything's cabled up and looks like this!

box4.jpg


The top of the box is already made, and the front just needs some alteration. Once that's done, it's ready to fit in the car! Got another cigarette lighter socket from another K10 to run the monitor.
 
Lol! well i still want to be able to use my glove box, so by using the shelf, it's neatly out the way. I'l be fitting it into my car later and wiring up the powersupply, via a switch so i can turn the PC off instead of the auto startup kicking in all the time.

Once it's tested & working, i'l seal the box and spray it a different colour. No point sealing it if something's not quite right in there :)
 
The hard disk im hoping will be ok Pete. I've checked out a few laptops at work and they dont have much breating space either, but they work ok!

Im using mesh over the case fans, so may also mesh over the HDD to allow air to escape, will decide that later :)
 
or you could have just got one of these yummy things:
ENC-008-2T.jpg


Job done! even had damping for the hdd!
 
£5 on wood or £69 case.. hmm let me see. Yes i did my research, but didnt see the point in getting one, when the rest of the system has cost enough.
 
Hahahah yeah but the wood will fall appart at some point, and thats not alot for a decent case.

I love it when people spend loads on the hardware then literally hold it together with wood/selotape, rather than doing it all properly etc..
 
We know you well enough to ignore your cruelness now :p

As for sitting in his car long enough, it's sole purpose is for meet's. JAE being the main one!!

And nothing i have made/designed has fallen apart yet, so nerr!! :p
Besides, it'll be treated, as stated above (well he said painted which is good enough)!
 
So what if its made in a wooden case, as long as it won't overheat then I reckon thats a very good starting point. You could always get the proper case once the full system is in place if its needed. Keep it up Arnie and Ems, good progress. :) Not sure if you have mentioned it but where are you buying the hardware from??
 
Even though i have a CD changer in the back of my car, and a MP3 head unit, i still find i never have enough variety to listen to, so however much i stick on this PC, should be able to provide a good enough variety. I agree, DVD writing is probably over the top for a car puter, but, with a compact flash reader also connected, i can copy all images from my 400D onto DVD and clear the memory card for another shoot! might be handy for JAE and other events! If i get a 3G card hooked up, i'l be able to take photos and email them or host them online from anywhere with a mobile signal! Cool eh :p

Last year, something like this at JAE would have been great (when we slept in the car) There are other events such as Donny, where you just loiter around the stand or spend 2 hours getting out the venue, where it would have been handy! Even to watch a DVD or something.

I cant imagine why wood would fall apart anyway. Wooden chairs, tables and other structures don't just fall to pieces do they! As long as they're constructed well, which this one is (thanks Ems!) i can't see there being a problem.

Also when it's painted black, it'l blend in with the plastics inside the car and look alot neater :)

All parts from the website specified above, and from Ebay.
 
Wow, i think this is brill and am looking foward to seeing the finished project.

And to those who find that they must mock or just put people down because they dont decide to buy the prettiest of things.

Sure it would look nice, but then you wouldnt have the satisfaction of building the whole case and designing it around your need.

Thats what Customisation is all about.

So i say well done arnold for going donw the Build it yourself route.

I hope to see many more mods like this!.

Jackassuk
 
Thanks Jackassuk :)

I didnt get much time on it last night due to Xbox distractions and going down the gym, but i'l do the wiring side of things in my car tonight and probably mount the monitor bracket somewhere. I still need to fix my central locking!

Oh boy! I so wish you hadnt asked me how much it had cost, as i had a bit of a shock working it out.

I'l start with the main bits followed by accessories.

Screen - £187.93
Keyboard with built in mouse - £39.99
Hard Drive - £71.72
Mainboard - £92.82
PSU - £46.41
2.5" IDE Adapter - £5.58
Slot CDRom to IDE - £5.29
RAM - £21.13
DVD Writer Dual Layer - £45.83
Delivery on some of the above - £7.70
GPS unit - £21.98
USB Hub - £4.00
Wood - £5.00
Wireless USB - £16.49
Case Fans - £6.49
CD Audio Cable - £2.00
CF reader - £3.98
Camera strapped to the front of the car - £9.98
Misc Cables & Screws - £20.00
Second Ciggy Socket - £0.00

Grand total comes to a whoops i've gone overbudget cost of £614 (i think)
 
wow.......thats alot of money todo this project!!!!!!!! :down:

where is the pc its self and keyboard going to be kept?

the camera.....thats cheap so what kind is it...USB webcam?
 
yeah it's expensive but that's because i've been chucking in extras, like CF readers, GPS, camera stuff etc! You can also get a slot type Cd player instead of DVD, lower GB hard drive, or slower RPM (mine's 7200rpm).

Delivery costs would be cheaper too if i had bought things together, but i ended up buying 4 seperate orders from the same place (i was going to spread the cost over june & july but got carried away).

It's a USB Laptop Webcam and is tiny! A simple cable tie will hold it wherever i want. Probably inside the grille or below/behind the number plate. It has manual focus and does a good image, but hates direct sunlight, so can't have it exposed anywhere.

PC is going to be stored on the shelf in the passenger side of the car. I'm going to be bolting it down in 6 places to stop vibration & make it near impossible to steal in a hurry! (my alarm would be going off anyway by that point).

The keyboard is as wide as the computer (30cm) and is totally wireless, so will just sit on in the glove box or under the seat etc until it's needed. I doubt it will be used much, as the monitor is a touch screen too.

James said:
Could've saved yourself £87 on the screen :upside: ;)
Click to expand...

I know fella, but i like the fact mine's brand new - everything's brand new.
 
Arnold said:
PC is going to be stored on the shelf in the passenger side of the car. I'm going to be bolting it down in 6 places to stop vibration & make it near impossible to steal in a hurry! (my alarm would be going off anyway by that point).

The keyboard is as wide as the computer (30cm) and is totally wireless, so will just sit on in the glove box or under the seat etc until it's needed. I doubt it will be used much, as the monitor is a touch screen too.
Click to expand...

you have a shelf? in the front or back?

really you need a keyboard anyway even if the monitor is touch screen in my opinon!
 
i tested it tonight in the car and very pleased to say it works! It should switch on automatically with accessory power, but unfortunatly im missing a cable for that to work
 
Hmm, im sure i wrote that but it seems to have gone. Anyway, yeah cheers for your help bud! Damn leads. I'd have had it sussed if it was there :p
 
Sure you would have Arn, lucky i'm a Technical Engineer, albeit a Drainage Engineer, but hey ho.

Well hope all goes well dude and I expect another call tomorrow :p
 
Right, i've got the lead i need! Cost me £2, so now i can crack on with the box and wiring her up :)
 
Thread cleaned up :)

More work was done on the car puter this weekend and im pleased to say we're 90% there! Just needs spraying and setting up! We were going to run the monitor cable through the dash, but you have to take the cable out when you detatch the monitor, so will run it neatly down the front instead

All the functions like automatic boot up and shut down work fine, and the monitor runs off a new 12V fag socket which you cant see, so pleased that's all gone to plan!

carputer.jpg
 
does look good Arnold :wasntme:

i didnt understand what u meant about not running the monitor cable behind / through the dash?

are your car speakers and sub link to the computer so sound is through these? did u use a "jack to RCA input" cable etc
 
It will be linked when i get the right cable, to join PC output into Aux input on my head unit, (3.5mm male on both ends i think) but as i still haven't set Windows up yet, thats not important at the moment.

You see the cable that's hanging down from the monitor, well i wanted to run that down the air vent and down behind the dash, but i can't do that if i keep having to take the screen out :)

I just wish the PC was sprayed black now! you wouldn't be able to see it at all
 
i understand now mate.....yes it would be annoying to run the wires through the vent and everytime you want to take it out (probably every night lol) you have to retreive and re-thread it through in the morning.

again good work though.

u managed to cut the box down so it would fit ok in the end i see?

u spraying the wood or adding some black carpet that you can get?

what colour you spraying it / attaching material?
 
Going to be black mate, same as the dash & the other interior plastics. No carpet or material on it, just sprayed. I have to thank Ems again as she's done most of the alterations, reducing the height and depth of the box. We also modified the plastic shelf it sits on to allow it to fit better, and bolted the box to it in four places :)
 
it looks good babe, well, it could have been better/neater but we got there in the end! I might look into making a better box at some point, but this will def do for now :) At least we'll be having fun, in the dry, at JAE now :)
 
Will look 100x better when it's black! it looks quite large in the photo but its actually quite small! If we do a new box, at least it wont take long to make :)

----------

Couple of other photos of it being modified

DSC00282.jpg


DSC00283.jpg
 
Why do you need to see them, you were there :p - i'l change the links in a minute so they might work for you

Another photo i've just done is the view of the camera mounted to the front of the car! I could stick it on the back if i wanted. The quality is alot better than captured here :)

camerascreen.jpg
 
Looking good? How about ordering another monitor connector, chopping the end off your current cable then feeding the cable through and re-attaching a new connector? Then you can remove the monitor if needed and leave the cable in position? Or do you want the whole cable moved?

This is the kind of thing I'm looking to do for the next install/vehicle but with the computing unit all under a front seat and the monitor moulded into the dash (an MR2/T5 looks ideal for this ;))
 

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