Car Computer installed.

Been working on the entertainment system in the Prius for a few weeks now. This last week was getting the final piece installed: the computer and touchscreen. The computer is nothing special... just a mobo with on-board video/sound/usb running a 600Mhz Celery processor. It was pulled out of my old car, and I didn't see a reason to spend more money than necessary.

The screen is Xenarc 700-IDT in-dash touchscreen. There were cheaper screens, but I've been using Xenarc for the past 3 years and they do the job nicely. Taking apart the dash was easy thanks to instructions posted here. The hard part was actually getting the screen installed into the slot below the stereo. I had to drill some holes into the bracket and grind down some metal to get the screen in there.

The main purpose of the computer is to provide music. I have my entire library of Mp3s in there. I've also loaded it with various vids to watch if i have to wait around. I also have wireless so I can get access from any open network. In the near future, I'll be installing a GPS for road trips and pin-pointing wireless networks. A computer is not for everyone, but I like the versatility of having a computer vs a dvd deck that can play dvds/mp3s. This ends up being less expensive as well. How 'bout that?

Here's a pic of the installed screen. I'll post up more pics if people are interested in seeing more of the setup. I really need to clean up the amp rack, though. I've had to do some changes from what was originally intended so it looks a bit like a bird's nest right now



[Broken External Image]:http://intdata.homeip.net/albums/dansprius/IMG_0125.sized.jpg

 

Thanks

The computer is currently outputting to the aftermarket amps. Another one of my plans is to install a relay for the stock amp line inputs so I can output the computer to the stock amp, and then switch sources by using a switch to operate the relay. I'm not getting any MFD beeps now.


The computer is getting power from a car computer specific 12volt power supply that i bought off of mp3car.com . Previous versions of my car computer used a regular 110volt 80watt power supply which recieved it's power through an inverter. I could've done the same thing with this, but DC->AC->DC power conversion seemed stupid and inefficient. It was just what was available at the time.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jfh3\";p=\"99758)</div>

Just got a few more pics done tonight. Here is a picture of the package. There is the motherboard on the left, the hard drive on the right, and right behind the hard drive where the capacitors are sticking out is the 12volt ATX power supply. I have it mounted on a 1/4" board, which kinda sucks now that i have it installed. It's pretty weak stuff as screws just tear it up:

[Broken External Image]:http://intdata.homeip.net/albums/dansprius/IMG_0090.sized.jpg


That's it for the computer. Since it has on-board video and sound there's no need to any expansion cards. I will upgrade this in the future when I have more funds. It curently has 320MB of ram, 600Mhz Celery, 80GB hard drive.

Here's how it looks when the driver's seat is in normal position. Ignore the wire coming out it's just the wireless adapter which I don't know where to place yet :
[Broken External Image]:http://intdata.homeip.net/albums/dansprius/IMG_0092.sized.jpg

The next one is a shot of the amp rack. This is the first revision so I'll get it looking a lot better as one of the next things to do. I had the board all cut and then ended up changing the 40watt rms Rockford amp to the Kenwood KAC-649s pushing more power. The amp on the left is an old
Sony XM260G cranking sufficient power to the Infinity Kappa 10" Subwoofer:
[Broken External Image]:http://intdata.homeip.net/albums/dansprius/IMG_0094.sized.jpg
I can put the cover on it to hide it and give it a cleaner look, but my amps will overheat in that space. I am going to cut a board the same shape and size as the stock, upolstered cover, and mount 2 fans for intake and exhaust.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(PhilCase\";p=\"99767)</div>

You'll have to let me know if you find any success in using the MFD for I/O. I know you can at least get a composite video signal to it, but getting the touchscreen to interact with the computer is where I got stumped. Now that I have 2 screens, it seems better. I have better information distribution instead of having to go through menus in an all-in-one MFD.

I am looking into ITX boards as the next step as they are far smaller than a regular motherboard. This nano-itx sounds intriguing. You can really get the computer out of the way with that. I'll have to keep tabs on that.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(chrism07924\";p=\"99842)</div>

I haven't read up on that, but I did consider the possibility of using an mp3 player, but I wanted far more versatility and expandability so that's why I went the route of the computer.

The motherboard is fairly old technology. It's at least 3 years old and the 600mhz Celeron processor doesn't generate much heat. Also, I don't have the motherboard touching the particle board. It is mounted on risers that lift the motherboard almost 1/4" off the particle board so there can be some limited air movement under the board.

Heat was a huge factor in choosing what kind of processor/motherboard combo I would use. I wasn't prepared to buy any new hardware right now so I only had choices of what I currently had on hand. I could've used a 1.13Ghz AMD Athlon, but on hot days that would overheat. Older Athlons would make the heatsink far hotter than a Celeron. The Celeron heatsink is always cool to the touch.

 

The Mac Mini would be a nice car computer that is for sure. It's a powerful little package. Ultimately, I'd like one of those little guys when I have more funds. It's very low on the priority list right now, though. Any computer in a car would do as long as it's current enough to have USB. There's so many peripherals available. Whatever you want to do with the computer, you can probably do it.

Right now, I am using Media Engine. It's freeware car pc software that is very intuitive and easy to use. Their website is http://www.mediaengine.org . The program allows for playing movies and mp3s as a primary feature. There is also GPS software support, but I haven't tried that out yet. It allows for different 'skins' to change the look of the interface. As far as I can tell, there is no Toyota or Prius skin made for it yet.

I've had GPS in the previous version of the car computer, but the USB GPS device was borrowed from a friend that didn't use it except when he goes on annual vacations. It is a basic USB GPS from http://www.deluogps.com . Considering it is more than 2 years old, it worked quite well. There are newer versions out now that are probably more accurate. I'm still looking for a good deal on one in Canada.

I want to get a wifi antenna to snag more networks. I liked to randomly cruise around to see about finding open networks. Vancouver has tons and tons of networks. My friend recently mapped out Coquitlam and there are a few hundred easily acquired access points. If all else fails, Best Buy or their sister store, Future Shop, has a hotspot for websurfing.

Car computing has come a long way in the past few years... I remember when I started out with a Sony PSOne screen and outputting video compositely to get it to display. I used a touchpad for control. It was a functional ghetto car computer . I still have a site for it at http://thiscar.doesntexist.com .