Show us your carputers!

For all of you with carputers. I'm thinking about doing one soon. Show me what you guys got for yours and the details of your install if you have them.

 

I used the MB870 P4 motherboard slapped between two 8 x 8 " pieces of wood, an OPUS 150w supply and stuck it in the space originally occupied by the jack (which is now wrapped up in bubble wrap and pinned against the rear of the spare tire). USB powered DVD-ROM in the arm rest console, along with a remote power and reset button and HD LED (switches, LED connected via a single CAT5 cable - with 2 leads to spare!).

I use it along with a DigitalWheelz touchscreen for:

1. GPS (Alk CoPilot - not impressed, have sent in suggestions, and am waiting for a software update)
2. MP3 (using WinAMP via RoadRunner)
3. XM radio (using TimeTrax for real time recording as well as playing of satellite songs)
4. OBD scanning (using ProScan - though a little disappointed how few "sensors" are available for monitoring - am told this is a limitation of the G35, but not sure about that. Digital gauges supposed to come out in the next version).
5. DVD (PowerDVD, not that I watch it while driving, of course).
6. Games! (the MB870 has an ATI graphics core so runs 3D quite well at 640 x 480). Need for speed 2 is awesome to play in the car while waiting for your spousal unit or to entertain the kids in the back.
7. Rear view monitor (using SAVV RVC5000? rear view camera hooked to video2 of DigitalWheelz screen, automatically switches when in reverse gear - not really a computer function).

I am nearing completion of my "to do" list for the car pc - might finally get a chance to take some pics... it was alot of fun to put together. Have fun with your project. I hope to finally have time to upgrade the audio now... Then performance mods... haha [my wife was asking me after the 1st weekend I spent putting in the touchscreen if I was "finally" done playing with the car - like that'll ever happen ].

 

1. what do you use for GPS reciver
2. where are your Carputer Pictures?

 

The Alk CoPilot came with a USB GPS receiver (WAAS-enabled). It is ok, gets a signal initially in about 10 secs after turning the car on, after that it tracks instantly. The signal strengths are not nearly as good as my Garmin self-contained unit in my Odyssey - but I guess as long as it works...

The pictures - that implies doing some work, ok... I'll take some tonight - I'll have to setup a tripod to take the pics so you can see the blue "glow" coming from the trunk at night...

Ok, I have attached some images - these are of the DW screen. It has been modified to use a thinner frame so that more of the screen is visible (not hiding any of the desktop). I also changed the color while I was at it to a "german silver" to better match the interior.

 

Link in sig

 

Here are more pics of the actual carputer with trunk installation. On the rear deck, I have GPS receiver, XM antenna, and WiFi dongle 802.11g.

The last little device on the rear deck is a USBUIRT to receive infrared signals from a SWI-X device which has an emitter implanted in the front display (by the temperature display for the passenger side). The steering wheels controls and radio buttons cause an IR signal to fire from the front to the back. I then use Girder to control TimeTrax, WinAMP etc based on the IR signal received.

The carputer is installed where the jack used to be - you can see the jack and tools wrapped in bubble wrap pressed against the spare tire in one of the pics. There is a USB hub at the back right of the trunk.

The side view of the carputer shows a 5V and 12V lead using RadioShack adaptaplugs to power TimeTrax (XM satellite radio) as well as the USB hub.

 

Here is a close-up of the pc as well as the rear view camera on the license plate (sorry for the fuzzy shots).

The PC has 4 USB ports, up to 4 serial ports (only 1 fixed in place), TV out, VGA out. There is onboard sound - I use that to connect to the SAT1 input of a PAC AAI-NIS AUX connector up near the radio. I use a second sound card (mAudio 2496 AudioPhile card) to receive digital input from TimeTrax XM radio and send it to SAT2 of the PAC AUX connector. I can "record" any song, even if midway through it, just by touching a button on the touchscreen. This time-shifting ability is really cool - whenever I hear a song I like, it gets added to the car jukebox! (No, I don't distribute songs or use the songs elsewhere, except the car - that would be illegal).

I can actually have someone watching a DVD with headphones while I listen to XM radio in the car! Or the kids can play a game wearing headphones in the back (connected to the PC onboard audio), while I listen to XM using the car speaker output.

Also included is a pic of the trunk with the matting back in place - no extra room taken up by the pc at all!

I forgot to take pics of the USB keyboard that emerges from the rear "ashtray" and is tucked away in the seat back of the passenger seat (see the pic of the rear deck - you can just see it.) It glows blue and is very thin and light (couldn't find one like this in wireless - it is a Zippy brand EL-620 brushed aluminum compact luminescent keyboard).

Cheers all - hope you enjoy.

 

So what are the problems: only a few minor annoyances - a small bit of interference on the LCD display from the hard drive and the DVD drive when they run - have tried grounding the carputer to the chassis and installing noise filters and ferrite cores.

The temperature is also gets quite hot in the carputer - the P4 goes up to about 60 degrees C and the ATI graphics chip goes to 65 degrees. On a hot day, they both go higher. I have fans on the North bridge chip (GPU) and the CPU as well as a "case fan" but it is a low power 2000 rpm fan. Thinking I should put on a more powerful fan. Without that case fan, both temps would hit 70 on a warm day and the system would become unstable.

The primary reasons I built my own case was that it was cheap, no one would be seeing it buried in the trunk, and I couldn't find a case that advertised to accept the OPUS 150W supply. If I had to do it again, I would get the Travla C138? case - making one from scratch was too much work.

Oh yeah, 1 more thing. I would never have attempted this without the DigitalWheelz screen and all the published data on the G35 driver forums. So thanks to the pioneers such as NYCG35 and the great DIY guides published on this site.

And many thanks to Chuck (God_of_CPU)! You have no idea how much more fun my G35 is to me - thanks to you producing a really nice product and doing the upfront trial and error work. For those of you trying to decide whether you can do something like this, you probably can! There is a great guide on the DigitalWheelz site and Chuck provides great support.

Good luck and happy carputing!

 

Does anyone know if the ventilation "ducts" by the bose amp (and also on the other side where I put my carputer) actually blow air in or out of that space? It looks like it prevents air from getting in, but allows it to go out... Where would air flow come from though? I am trying to figure out how to better ventilate that space...

 

I see most of you are usint ATX cases wouldnt it not be more efficient to use a smaller mini-atx or shoe box style computer like what shuttle offers? I am asking this because I am interested in doing a setup like this but I see most people are using large comps instead of small and I ask why?

 

Ummm,

I used a mini ITX board. Sorry if the scale didn't come through. The case is 8" x 8" x 5" above. Anything bigger won't fit next to the spare tire. Since the ITX board is 7" x 7", it's hard to get much smaller and still include the OPUS 150W supply (and it's casing) as well as a PCI card.

 

I believe the vents are for when you are closing your trunk the air can escape. Nice setup, I am planning something very similar.

 

So, I have bit the bullet and purchased a carputer, hope to have most of the parts tomorrow. Will be installing as soon as possible and will post pics as stuff goes in. Here is what I went with:

Cappuccino PC - approx 6"x6"x2" - 1.2G Intel Pentium, 30gig HD, 256m ram
Tview Touchscreen Monitor - vga and usb
Delorme Earthmate GPS
RadioShark Tuner - CD quality recording
PAC-AAi-NIS

Right now my hope is to install the PC up under the back deck in the trunk. USB and VGA running to the screen installed in the GPS center console area. I am hoping I can make mine look as good as the Digital Wheelz, we will see. Using the PAC to interface the audio out to the Sat input on the standard head unit. Frustrated because I cannot find a good solution for my Sat radio input. I would just do away with it but I am receiveing service for free so until they catch up to me I would like to keep it

Playing with Centrafuse for command and control but also like girder. Plan to have USB attached 802.3b wireless adapter to syncronize my MP3's from the house when in the garage. Will also run USB for Cell phone attachment and use Moto Tools to make and accept calls.

More to come

 

Quick Question... Will I Damage A Mini Itx If I Place It By My 15" Subs In Trunk? Should I Run Wires To A Hard Drive In A More Stable Part Of Car? Thanx!

 

You took out your jack?

I put mine on the other side next to the amp




Had to cut a bit off the metal amp bracket but other than that its a perfect fit
I also drilled holes in the bottom of the case so that the studs in the body could fit through the case. That actually secures the case down