Carputer 101

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

Anyways, from what ive found so far from testing in a true SPL vehcile, its difficult to properly burp your setup via a carputer. It became way too inconvienent to screw with a touchscreen during a run...plus everything in the vehicle was vibrating so much, you couldnt keep your finger on the touchscreen in the right place to start/stop the track your were burping on.

I ended up getting a 50 foot remote for doing burps, and it still became a problem. I also went thru several sound cards and never did find anything I liked, I had the M-Audio USB MIDI interface, the Turtle Beach usb dongle, and onboard audio and all of them were fairly noisey. The one device I found that I did not buy, which i sitll might is the Silverstone DAC usb converter for the audio output. They're only $110 but unfortunately only have 2 volt outputs.. and their tech support people are terrible, I had to teach them about their own product.

I mainly ended up using my carputer as a portable Termlab, which has actually worked out great. I highly suggest this to anyone with a Termlab as it comes in real handy.

I never did recomend a carputer for competing,in fact whenever i go to get tested i shut the computer off to conserve power,and use the HU. But as far as daily driving and listening carputers are great!

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

I actually had to put a 1 farad capacitor on the M2ATx because when I burped my setup, the line voltage went down so low that the PC reboot. The cap fixed that.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

hahah lmao,that is probally the only reason I can see someone use a cap, ha computer never expects a "burp" to happen

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

bump

 

[AJ²06 5,000+ posts]

I have this:::

http://photo-origin.tickle.com/image/117/0/7/O/117079963O457958434.jpg

I can get a 100 dollar LCD kit to make it work with anything, VGA, S-video, composite inputs and the rest. Off ebay. BTW, its 17" of goodness... haha Ive been wanting to put a carputer in my car now... but Im not sure where i can start. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif IF only someone caoudl do this for me... :| //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

I have this:::http://photo-origin.tickle.com/image/117/0/7/O/117079963O457958434.jpg

I can get a 100 dollar LCD kit to make it work with anything, VGA, S-video, composite inputs and the rest. Off ebay. BTW, its 17" of goodness... haha Ive been wanting to put a carputer in my car now... but Im not sure where i can start. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif IF only someone caoudl do this for me... :| //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

I can get screens too cheap. prob is you wwould want to have touchscreen. that's why they are expensive. lilliputs are the cheapest best touchscreens while Xenarcs are the most expensive yet brightest best touchscreen. I don't mind helping you on building a carputer.but since you don't know anything I would say read more about it first cause you want to be able to maintain it by yourself.don't rely on someone else to maintain it. you should learn it.

 

[SkwurlyFab 10+ year member]

If only I had the money right now.... I've always thougth about doing this in my car. I've built several PC's and it seems like it would all go together pretty stright forward and easy. I subscribed to this thread, great info here. thanks!

 

[SilverSquared 10+ year member]

Hey mega, I too have built a car pc. I pulled out the single din HU, and single din 7" flip out in replacement of a double din DVD player. Here's my problem, the 7" flip out has VGA input, where as the Double Din has composite (RCA), now, before I got the DD I bought a VGA adapter to RCA/S-Video. I tried to use that, it doesnt work. I need the drivers to make it work that way, or so I am told. I went to the site, and I dont think there's any. I am also running an EPIA mini itx, I just have the 1.3 GHz board/processor combo. Any ideas, or ways I can put my PC back in my truck on the DD hu? It was just GREAT to scan thru 3000+ mp3s, videos, pictures, AND upload my car show pics AT the show, lol.

Appreciate the help already, lol.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

Hey mega, I too have built a car pc. I pulled out the single din HU, and single din 7" flip out in replacement of a double din DVD player. Here's my problem, the 7" flip out has VGA input, where as the Double Din has composite (RCA), now, before I got the DD I bought a VGA adapter to RCA/S-Video. I tried to use that, it doesnt work. I need the drivers to make it work that way, or so I am told. I went to the site, and I dont think there's any. I am also running an EPIA mini itx, I just have the 1.3 GHz board/processor combo. Any ideas, or ways I can put my PC back in my truck on the DD hu? It was just GREAT to scan thru 3000+ mp3s, videos, pictures, AND upload my car show pics AT the show, lol.
Appreciate the help already, lol.

if you have the m10000 Epia(like mine) they have an RCA out and an Svideo(use SVideo if possible,much better even if you are converting it to rca) to actually enable you must get to bios first and enable video out sources. Can you link me to your motherboard? if you have the space and power hook up a video card,get a i dont know the name right off the top but turns one of your pci slots sideways,so you dont take up height space.

edit: its called a Riser card

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

2.5 IDe to 2.5 laptop

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=190

Slim Type CDROM/DVDROM/CDRW Adapt

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=83[/URL]

RCa to headphone cable

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=121

Variety of touchscreens most sizes( i have the lilliput 619)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=25

Gps(use this one cause the other one(303) has an internal battery problem and its not weather proof(by weather proof i do not mean you can leave it outside,itshould be called Water resistant,keep in side say by the window.)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=43&products_id=147

Little keyboard great!(meant for PS2 but works great usb,plug n play)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=43&products_id=104

Neat little BT gadget, there are softwares you can use where you connect via bluetooth and you canactually see whos calling and let it talk through the spkers and you talk on a mic

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=43&products_id=106

HDDs(dont buy from here,try new egg much cheaper.

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=33

RAm(you really dont need more than 3200,but stick with having atleast a 512mb stick)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=34

MOBOS stay away from the pentiums ones,they have a huge heat problem(i think its because they take in more voltage)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=30_54[/url

Powersupplies,cant go wrong with opus,lots of ppl have complications of the M2ATX,but thats only because they installed it wrong! I hooked mine up perfectly i enjoy it.

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=21

MR fancy pants satelite radio(subsription required to use)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=53

I actually built my case,which i recomend to customiaztion,but the one with the blue heatsinks is the best bet for prefabbed

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=28

DVD/cd roms, I got the Pioneer one($145) for like $80 from zipzoomfly.com and its a DVD BURNEr!

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=39

Shutdowns/Startup controller(note the OPUS and the M2ATX already have a built in one)

http://www.mp3car.com/store/index.php?cPath=29

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

for gps software i highly recomend iGuidance, its cheap and its the best one of all IMO. Has 3d (not true 3d) map viewing,you can imbed the software into a frontend,its just over all great.

thats pretty much it,all you need is a nice 8-10awg power and ground wire. I must say it is very CRUSCIAL that you ground it an actually ground,like the chasis,a lot of the weld joints are plastic weldings,it will not ground right,i mean it will ground but you will get a whining noise a long with engine acceloration.

here is a trick that i did for turning on the computer(i recomend this,but i dont want to recomend this for your buisness,just if you really know the guy and you want to hook em up. Wire the powersupply instead o the ignition wire to turn on cpu,wire that wire to the Accessory wire,i mean a reall acceroie wire not the cigarette lighter. do this only for remote start systems,so when they remote start the pc will boot and by the time they get to their car it will be already booted, another note if you are goin to do that be sure to wire the screen to a relay into theignition to complete the circiuit (meaning instead of the screen shining the car while the engine is on and none is there,the screen will be off till u put the key in car. wire the screen its sellf into one of the molex ground a 12v line.

another thing,i dont know if you are allowd to even install these into cars as a buisness, this carputer may very well could be illegal,because it is a distraction,no control of watching a dvd while driving(meaning you are not supose to have a vid runnin while driving), you may not even pass inspection. I always have my computer shutoff whenever i go for inspections,so i passed(despite my 5% tint) Man that was a lot of typing ,if you dont mind i am goin to copy this whole message so i can place in my carputer101 forum,this is very useful for people.

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

bump

 

[prochobo 10+ year member]

There are a few things I don't understand about carputers.

One, is what is the point of having a carputer turn on when you remote start when you'll only have to shut off the car to start it again? I'm guessing when the remote start is running, you stick your key into the ACC position and then shut the car down?

Two, power. I know how you get power to the computer. . . but is the PS wired up like an amp? You know, power, remote, ground? Connect the wires with some connectors and you're done? Also, how do you get power to the LCD? I see the Lilliputs have a cigarette lighter, but I don't want to give up my radar detector. Is there a way to splice that and just hook it up to power and ground?

Three, preouts. Are there any cards out there with a decent preout over 2v. Ideally, it would be 5v. Are you confined to using the 3.5mm to RCA adapters, or is there actually a card that would have at least front and rear RCA outputs?

 

[RSVCHAD 10+ year member]

In addition to prochobo's question above regarding pre-outs. I'm looking for at least a front/rear/subwoofer output with independent level control. Is there a sound card that offers this capability? How about front hi & low, rear and subwoofer outputs?

I would be more interested in low impedance outputs vs. high voltage outputs. Is there a sound card out there that offers this?

How would I do time alignment, crossovers and EQ? Is there software or hardware to handle these functions?

I would be very interested in high quality D/A convertors, such as the multi-bit Wolfson's or Burr-Browns. Do soundcards exist that come with this level of D/A conversion?

 

[Megalomaniac 5,000+ posts]

There are a few things I don't understand about carputers.
One, is what is the point of having a carputer turn on when you remote start when you'll only have to shut off the car to start it again? I'm guessing when the remote start is running, you stick your key into the ACC position and then shut the car down?

Two, power. I know how you get power to the computer. . . but is the PS wired up like an amp? You know, power, remote, ground? Connect the wires with some connectors and you're done? Also, how do you get power to the LCD? I see the Lilliputs have a cigarette lighter, but I don't want to give up my radar detector. Is there a way to splice that and just hook it up to power and ground?

Three, preouts. Are there any cards out there with a decent preout over 2v. Ideally, it would be 5v. Are you confined to using the 3.5mm to RCA adapters, or is there actually a card that would have at least front and rear RCA outputs?

I wired my Lilliput into the 12V line of a molex connecor(so no cig plug blocked) PSU wired exactly like a audio amp,except the remote is now ignition. and since I wired to acc wire ,no it does not it does not shut off until the entire car is off(no acc power now flowing) the ignition (i am talking abouit the statement you made) i wire my screen into the ignition plus a relay so the screen isnt shining ehile its on its on remote start,until key completes circuit.