My carPC project: ongoing thread

[nduda78]

Originally Posted by Wombat

Closer pictures would be awesome! I was thinking of going with the SB 24-bit as well, but wanted to see what the mobo soundcard could do in the meantime.

I purchased some ground loop isolators to hopefully get rid of all static (I had a ton of noise with my head unit). I also bought a power distribution block to power all of my equipment. I have two 4 gauge power wires coming directly from my optima battery so I should have more than enough juice to power it all. I just worry about my alternator when my lights are on, my heater is cranked and I'm sitting idle at a stoplight

I also plan on using the M2-ATX to send the remote power signal to my amplifiers, but I was reading somewhere that you need to connect a relay in between. Did you have to do this?

I didnt use a relay. I have my PC rigged up to accessory power to toggle on the M2....basically when I turn my car on (accessory or start) the carPC starts up and comes out of hibernation. When i kill the power the M2 does its thing and keeps power to it enough for the PC to hibernate.

I've sat at lights, heat on, music cranked and never had a power problem, and I draw a lot of power.

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by nduda78

I didnt use a relay. I have my PC rigged up to accessory power to toggle on the M2....basically when I turn my car on (accessory or start) the carPC starts up and comes out of hibernation. When i kill the power the M2 does its thing and keeps power to it enough for the PC to hibernate.

I've sat at lights, heat on, music cranked and never had a power problem, and I draw a lot of power.

Good to know. My alternator is still the original so it has seen better days. I have a voltmeter on my amp and it has dropped down to 12.2 volts at times so I'm kind of scared what will happen when I put the touchscreen and PC in

I also have that accessory cable plugged into my M2-ATX...just never used my voltmeter on it to see what it outputs when it is turned on.

For hibernation mode, I know you have to enable it in windows, but is there anything special you need to do to the M2-ATX to tell the PC to hibernate or does it do that by itself?

[nduda78]

Originally Posted by Wombat

Good to know. My alternator is still the original so it has seen better days. I have a voltmeter on my amp and it has dropped down to 12.2 volts at times so I'm kind of scared what will happen when I put the touchscreen and PC in

I also have that accessory cable plugged into my M2-ATX...just never used my voltmeter on it to see what it outputs when it is turned on.

For hibernation mode, I know you have to enable it in windows, but is there anything special you need to do to the M2-ATX to tell the PC to hibernate or does it do that by itself?

You need to configure the M2 with the jumpers...check the manual, I havent done it in over a year.

Keep a volt gauge installed. I use(d) the NEO, and see always high 12v into 13v readings. I removed the NEO so installing a digital 52mm gauge now. I'm on the stock alternator also (far as i know).

[Wombat]

Wetsanded the faceplate with 800 and repainted. Still not satisfied with the texture or finish. You can kind of see in the bottom left that there are some imperfections that were made by the epoxy/sanding process. Going to see if I can find some filler putty at a hobby shop to take care of that and a couple other small holes left by the epoxy.



Some more imperfections in the top left corner as well. Hoping filler putty and some sanding will take care of those. This pic also makes it look like there's something funky going on in the upper right hand corner, but that's just a glare



Edit: Supposedly Bondo plastic filler works real well for fabrications such as this. Might check that out tomorrow to make this piece perfect and something I can be proud of.

[LP_Stealth]

Hey there, Nice setup so far the only thing keeping me from doing this very thing is well money and trying to find a way to make the screen fit nicely. I feel you have solved problem number 2. Do you mind sharing some secrets?

1) how does the screen actually mount to that front cover?
are there clips on the back or screw holes........ (mind sharing a picture of the back?)

2) What are all the buttons for other that the initial screen setup and are they relocatable?
as in are they on a ribbon cable of some sort so they could be hidden behind the display or are they necessary?

3) what was your starting point? Plexiglas or a metal sheet behind there?

4) does it just sit in there?
or does it clip in like the stock piece?

Thanks if you answer these that is a real work of art IMO (well after you get out the imperfections)

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by LP_Stealth

Hey there, Nice setup so far the only thing keeping me from doing this very thing is well money and trying to find a way to make the screen fit nicely. I feel you have solved problem number 2. Do you mind sharing some secrets?

1) how does the screen actually mount to that front cover?
are there clips on the back or screw holes........ (mind sharing a picture of the back?)

As soon as I get back home, I can snap some pictures of the back for you, but here's a little step-by-step on how I did it.

First thing I did was completely disassemble the LCD touchscreen so that the front faceplate of the LCD screen was free.

Next, I took our stock radio bezel (trim piece) and rough cut an opening to fit the LCD faceplate (the 7" Lilliput LCD face plate is slightly larger than a double DIN radio, which is why I needed to cut the opening larger).

Next, I set the LCD touchscreen into the radio bezel so that the left and right hand sides were flush with each other. The problem with this was that, now, the bottom and top of the LCD faceplate sat about an eight inch higher than the radio bezel. My solution to this was to build up the radio bezel using an epoxy and then sand it smooth later.

Before I began to apply the epoxy to the front face, I put it everywhere I could on the back face to secure the LCD faceplate to the radio bezel. The epoxy I used is called QuikPlastik. There are definitely some cheaper alternatives (someone on the mp3car.com forums said Wal-Mart sells a similar product), but I was told this was the best for strong adhesion and a smooth finish. I can definitely attest to both of those...this stuff worked great as long as you let it dry overnight before sanding. It bonded to the plastic on both the LCD faceplate and the radio bezel as if it were superglue. It doesn't bond right away and has about a 30 minute working time, which is great to smooth it all out to make the sanding process easier. I will post a picture of the back as soon as I get home.

2) What are all the buttons for other that the initial screen setup and are they relocatable?
as in are they on a ribbon cable of some sort so they could be hidden behind the display or are they necessary?

There is a button for power on/off, AV input, volume up, down, and mute, and menu. Don't be fooled, though...the volume buttons are for controlling the crappy internal speaker that is on the screen, not for controlling the PC volume (although I'm sure some modification could be made to do that). They are on a ribbon cable and can be easily relocated if you wish. I guess as long as you have the power on/off button remotely mounted, the rest aren't really necessary after the initial setup.

3) what was your starting point? Plexiglas or a metal sheet behind there?

No sheet metal or plexiglas anywhere. My starting point was to rip apart the LCD and figure out how I could fuse it together with the stock radio bezel to make it look like a factory install.

4) does it just sit in there? or does it clip in like the stock piece?

It uses the stock radio bezel with the stock clips. The clips will need to be slightly modified, which I haven't gotten around to. I'll also need to take out some material from the center console as soon as I reassemble the LCD screen as it currently won't fit in the console opening, but we're looking at maybe 10 minutes worth of dremel work.

Thanks if you answer these that is a real work of art IMO (well after you get out the imperfections)

Thank you for your kind words. I've put a ton of hours into the faceplate alone, but it's also my first time doing anything like this. I'm sure I could speed along the process if I were to do it again. The most annoying thing was waiting for the epoxy to dry before I could start sanding it.

[Wombat]

I bought a tube of Bondo glazing and spot putty, which has worked pretty well so far. Filled all of the small imperfections and sanded down pretty easy with 400 grit sandpaper. Going to respray this afternoon and I'll post some pictures.

[Wombat]

Almost forgot...here is the back of the faceplate and radio bezel.

[Adollarwodbnice]

Good work man keep it up! When I get done the mods I wanna do the most i'll eventually get to this myself.

[BamBam]

Originally Posted by Wombat

Wetsanded the faceplate with 800 and repainted. Still not satisfied with the texture or finish. You can kind of see in the bottom left that there are some imperfections that were made by the epoxy/sanding process. Going to see if I can find some filler putty at a hobby shop to take care of that and a couple other small holes left by the epoxy.



Some more imperfections in the top left corner as well. Hoping filler putty and some sanding will take care of those. This pic also makes it look like there's something funky going on in the upper right hand corner, but that's just a glare



Edit: Supposedly Bondo plastic filler works real well for fabrications such as this. Might check that out tomorrow to make this piece perfect and something I can be proud of.

I admire your "not good enough" attitude...this looks really nice...