Carputer ???? Please Help

[fatwake2000 10+ year member]

I have a few questions for those of you who have or know about putting a computer into your car. what i want to do is run a small computer in my truck. please let me know if this sounds right. if i take the red, yellow and white imputs that my indash lcd has and use one of the cable you can get to run the computer to it via the USB port that should do it for my sound and picture(right?) secound for powering it i need to get a power source that can be run to my battery and run a fuse inline between the battery and the carputer. but want do i due so that the carputer doesnt have to turn on and off everytime the truck is turned on and off(or is that how it has to be tought deal). also will it drain my battery quickly or only if i leave it connected for like a week without turning the truck on. sorry for the stupid and long post but this is something i have been wanting to do for a long time now and finally have the money to do so.

thanks in advance for any help

Nick

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[kuijo 10+ year member]

Whoops

 

[smurf 10+ year member]

I would imagine leaving your carputer on for long periods of time with your truck being off wouldnt turn out well, unless you're isolating another battery in the truck bed or something, that way you can drain it and no big deal.

 

[kuijo 10+ year member]

ya even having the dome light on for some hours will burn out your battery, and i'm sure a computer would use more then that.

 

[fatwake2000 10+ year member]

ya i understand that i am talking about when it is turned off a computer still is on is a very limited way so that it can keep up with its basic system things such as the time and date. anyone with carputer experience out there

 

[kuijo 10+ year member]

shouldn't the battery in the computer do that for it?

Ps: Bump cause i want a carputer.

 

[smurf 10+ year member]

Yeah.. computers have batteries installed in the motherboards for keeping up with system time and date, thus the reason its always accurate even once you shut it off. It's actually a watch battery and replacable if it ever goes bad.

 

[OldManTod 10+ year member]

Use a power inverter that would plug into your cigarette ligter with an extension cord running to the back, if you want you can remove the power switch and do it remotely...

Make it so the power can be cutoff to the computer so you dont have to worry about the battery and with a power inverter you can do that... you can put the entire computer in your trunk, but the difficult part will be keeping it cool in the summer...

T

 

[Defiler 10+ year member]

1st question.

Yes, composite (yellow) and the left right (red and white) RCA cable will do that. Not sure on your AUX in to your head unit but what you have described is a very basic connection.

2nd question.

If you leave you carputer on, with out the car running, you will drain your battery within roughly 1 to 2 hours. For supplying the power you have two options readily available for your standard carputer. There are DC/DC PSUs on the market (opus) that are more money and there are inverters. There are pros and cons to both. I use an inverter as it's cheaper and have never had "surviving crank" issues.

I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST headding over to http://www.mp3car.com and do A LOT of research and reading BEFORE buying anything you don't already own for this project.

Also, I would not recomend plugging the inverter into the cig lighter if you are running a higher output PSU. Run the proper size wire to the battery and use an in line fuse.

 

[snebes 10+ year member]

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[FuNKieJuNK 10+ year member]

I WOULD STRONGLY SUGGEST headding over to http://www.mp3car.com and do A LOT of research and reading BEFORE buying anything you don't already own for this project.

Also, I would not recomend plugging the inverter into the cig lighter if you are running a higher output PSU. Run the proper size wire to the battery and use an in line fuse.

definitely good advice.

Unless you are on a budget, though, i would recommend a dc-dc supply (such as Opus). It includes start up/shutdown controller which will automatically turn your computer on/off for you when you start the car. also it doesn't have the noise issues which alot of people report when using an inverter. some people also have probs with inverters surviving crank.

I don't know what your audio setup is, but keep in mind you'll need to get the sound from the PC to your audio setup somehow.

definitely read ALOT on mp3car.com though. tons of info there. just one thing that sucks about that site is you'll most likely get flamed for asking newb type questions... so search alot beforehand.

 

[kickercivic1 10+ year member]

This is what i had.

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=33456

 

[nadir 10+ year member]

Before you guys start a project, it's best to put a price tag on it and stay within those limits.

There are SO MANY options available now.

First, start with a motherboard. Take a look at VIA products, they have some pretty exciting stuff. 1ghz+ is the way to go now if you want a decent media-driven system.

Powering it is your second issue. Most of the VIA boards take a standard ATX power (harness). There are many products available for the VIA boards as well. There are some issues to keep in mind like having the system survive (doesn't reboot) when the car is cranking. Also, most of these power supplies (DC-DC) have features like auto-on when the car starts up and auto-shutdown when the car is turned off. OPUS is one company that comes to mind, as well as many ITUNER products.

Now, worry about your display and interface. Personally, I say you save up for a VGA touchscreen. They are about ~$300 for the lilliput screens. Alot of people have complained about them, but I would recommend them. I have spoken directly with the manufacturer as well as a few distributers and all of them have confirmed that their latest screens have a new power controller (weak link before that people had issues about).

Keep in mind that both lilliput and xenarc use the same LCD screens, just different power boards.

Now, you'll need some sort of GUI. MediaEngine is pretty good, based on winamp. It is skinnable so you can play with it and make something customized to your needs.

If your system is not going to fit in a single or double din (at this point not really possible with mini-itx boards), you might as well get a standard 3.5" harddrive.

GPS is a must-have if you are going to be building a carputer. I recommend the Rikaline GPS mouse that you can easily find on ebay for about $50-$60. The BU-303 GPS mouse is pretty good too. I have both, both of them are great and lock sattelites quickly.

There are different O/S to consider, but for the average carputer enthusiast, you can stick with XP.

As far as all the other fine details, like GPS software, and whatnot, check out MP3Car Forums.

I am working on a similar project... hopefully to be done by Summer. I've spent alot of money and time, testing a bunch of different products, and my feedback here is based off of first-hand experience.

I'm now involved with some of the embedded solutions that aren't found on the consumer-level.... so much available since last year. The project has taken forever now, but soon, I'll have my own hardware and software up and running.

 

[fatwake2000 10+ year member]

if i have a dell inspiron 2100 to use are the computer and a pioneer 6400 for the screen. how does that sound

 

[Defiler 10+ year member]

It could work if the laptop has a composite out but trying to read smaller text will be a challenge...