ealvar

I've been contemplating a carputer and was wondering if anyone had some pics of their finished product.

What I'd like to do is keep my Eclipse CD7000 in the stock dual-din location and put a 7" double din touchscreen in the 'oven' slot.

Tips?

juzlookzfazt

Mp3car.com has lots of people that put a carputer in their tC's.

ealvar

Cool! Finding some good stuff. Thanks for pointing me in right direction sir!



E

UV7

Liliput 619GL-70NP Touchscreen in the stock dual DIN location.
I'm running a custom mini-ITX setup entirely hidden inside the dash.
2.0GHz Proc
2G RAM
500GB HDD
Audigy 5.1 sound
M2ATX DC-DC power supply w/ programmable startup/shutdown control
Windows XP Pro
Severely customized Streetdeck FE
-Audio, Video, 3D Navigation, etc., etc..
OBDII Decoder
Custom virtual gauges via DashCommand

I've been building carPCs for years. If you have any questions, let me know. I'll help any way I can.

Hix

How long does it take to boot a carputer? I was thinking about making my laptop into a carputer but didn't know about the boot time.

UV7

It depends on the hardware, OS, and the way the PC is designed. I have mine set to hibernate when the keys are turned off rather than totally shut down. This allows me to do all sorts of functions in between the key signal and hibernation, like have my system check to see if my home server is in range, and if it is, check to see if the server has any new info (songs, movies, etc.) that is not on the carPC, then download that new material prior to complete hibernation. This way, I don't have to babysit the carPC while new material is added to the drive, which I do quite frequently.
I am running a 1400cca battery, so I'm not too concerned about the current draw, but I have the PS monitor the battery voltage anyway and if the voltage drops to 11V, the PS sends a complete shutdown to the carPC. Also, if the carPC is in hibernation for 4 hours, the PS will then send a shutdown as well.
My boot time from complete power-down, including shelling to the custom front end you see on the screen in the pic above takes a little less than a minute. From hibernation, it is less than half that.

Hix

Damn. I guess win7 with SSD and the dual core Atom would be pretty good then... I might end up doing this mod. You up to helping me out

UV7

Yeah, I can give you a hand.
Your only downfall to a machine with a hot processor is going to be power. Most DC-DC power supplies aren't running any higher than 160w and don't have the additional 4-pin 5V that is necessary to run the higher end processors. If you want to go this route, you may end up having to use an inverter to run the PC rather than the programmable power supply.
I'll check around and see if M2 and a few others have built their updated DC-DC supplies yet. I know there was rumor of a 320w that would support the AMD Athlon x2s, but I don't know if it ever was released.
Edit:
Found it!
http://www.opussolutions.com/index.php?p=product&id=49

beandip007

iTrader: (1)

Ive beeen thinking about doing this, but I am not very computer savy, I don't even know where to start

Hix

The dual core Atom is a super low power processor. It is like 25w or something ridiculous like that at full load. It is 1GB memory and a 150GB SSD. So super low power and quick enough for a carputer. My laptop might be a bit much though so I will just turn that in to a tuning machine

UV7

The processor's power consumption isn't as much the issue as the power need through the mobo. Most higher-end (newer) processors still require an additional 4-pin with 5V on top of the typical ATX 20-pin power cable. With the exception of the Opus 250 and 320, all the DC-DC power supplies only run a 20-pin. In those cases, you either run a different mobo/proc setup (which is what I had to do with my current system and the few prior to it), run an inverter and an AC-DC supply with a 20+4 pin (which sucks!), or modify the power plug to accommodate the additional plug and hope that the power supply's rail is sufficient enough to not have problems. Unfortunately, the last one is too big a fire threat for me to consider it for a mobile solution.
Also, keep in mind that there are quite a few more possibilities in the ITX and Mini-ITX range now than there were in the past. Mini-ITX makes it very easy to use a MUCH smaller form-factor setup. My current system is ENTIRELY inside the dash of the xB without removing anything or modifying the top of the dash in any way.

UV7

Shoot me a PM. I can get you more than started if you're interested in giving it a shot. I've been doing these things for a LONG time.
I am also about to start working on my next setup with a different mobo, proc, memory, and power supply. This means that the brains of my existing setup will be up for sale if anyone is interested.
What would be up for sale would be:
VIA EN15000G w/ processor
2GB memory
M2 ATX programmable power supply