Building a computer inside the dash of my car!

[slacker69]

I am gonna build a celeron 500 mhz with 192 mb of memory svideo out video card and sound blaster sound card out. It will be displayed on a 6" visor lcd screen. I will be running a dvd player and GPS and will be hooked up to my pcm at all times for autotap. Main purpose. I am building a touchpad in the center console of the car for a mouse and will have a roll up keyboard just incase i use the keyboard. will have a 6 gig harddrive for storage and mp3s and video files. I am going to use the air conditioning duct by the glovebox to help ventalate the computer. as well as two case fans mounted above the motherboard.An suggestions or comments please post.

[Steve Presley]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by slacker69:
I am gonna build a celeron 500 mhz with 192 mb of memory svideo out video card and sound blaster sound card out. It will be displayed on a 6" visor lcd screen. I will be running a dvd player and GPS and will be hooked up to my pcm at all times for autotap. Main purpose. I am building a touchpad in the center console of the car for a mouse and will have a roll up keyboard just incase i use the keyboard. will have a 6 gig harddrive for storage and mp3s and video files. I am going to use the air conditioning duct by the glovebox to help ventalate the computer. as well as two case fans mounted above the motherboard.An suggestions or comments please post.<hr></blockquote>

Instead of building one, it may be cheaper to get one of these.

I would try to get a DVD drive that is shock-resistant... if you can live without the DVD, you may want to look into a solid-state device (no moving parts, so unaffected by bumps) such as an iPAQ.

[Seal]

wow, i dont think anyone will need a 1ghz car comp [img]tongue.gif[/img] do they have any slower ones? [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[slacker69]

i can get a 500mhx celeron and motherboard for 35 bucks and i have a harddrive and powersupply and dvd is not really a issue cause i can rip the movies onto harddrive and watchfrom there. I have a ipaq also and it is cheaper to do it this way than it is to buy a cable kit and softwaare for the ipaq to connect to the pcm. I can get the whole thing in for $350 or less

[knowledgefreak]

plus it is much more cool to be a hacker than just to buy something.

What do you plan to use for the power converter?
DC/AC converter?

[slacker69]

yes to conveter the pwer of the power supply

[DrMilhouse]

any time it's brought up, I have to wonder why you'd bother with a power converter. Think about it and just use the correct power components. You're already dealing with DC. Instead of going from DC to AC and then back to DC with power converter. The output of a power supply is 12v DC and 5v DC, just use your head on that one and save your self one big component by using the correct step downs for the DC from the car.

[Backfire]

Is the car power stable enough to run computer components directly? I am just guessing that you could use some sort of regulated DC/AC power supply for a stable power source. Never done it, so maybe its not an issue. I guess the PCM and other electronics function fine

[Steve Presley]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by seal:
wow, i dont think anyone will need a 1ghz car comp [img]tongue.gif[/img] do they have any slower ones? [img]tongue.gif[/img] <hr></blockquote>

They used to have a 750mhz version, but not sure if they still have any..

[Steve Presley]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by slacker69:
i can get a 500mhx celeron and motherboard for 35 bucks <hr></blockquote>

As can I, but will it fit into your dash?

I'm not trying to be a spoil sport here, just have had experience with friends building their own mp3 machines to put in their cars and have had nothing but problems from the platters on the hard drives getting scratched to the thing rebooting every 5 minutes when the power fluctuates...

I'd say if you can go the iPAQ route, it's probably the more stable way to go.. plus, you can take the thing with you.. don't have to worry about someone ripping you off..

[ June 06, 2002: Message edited by: Steve Presley ]</p>

[Birdie2000]

Steve, will this device even work properly with a car's electrical system? It says that it requires 18 volts in, a car's is only like 13.8-14.4, or 12 without the engine running. Is there some sort of device that will step up the voltage?

[TokFan]

I've been toying with similar ideas for a while.
Probably your best bet of having a stable power source is a good dc/dc converter.
That will also save a lot of space and need for cooling of the power supply...

[nikon]

hmm I to was thikin of doing this...only im using an old p100 Texas-Instuments laptop....right now its sitting on my seat :D but Ive been looking at the visor screens for like 130$..were prolly looking at the same ones...anyways, as for constant power use a capacitor, when the computer needs that extra power, say for the HD it will just draw from the capacitor then recharge the capaactior....I posted this subject on a computer board...here see what these guys from the UK say

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthrea...&threadid=9617

that should explain the fluxuation of the cars battery....and as for the MOBO where exactly are you gonna put it...and what operating system are you going to be using...since its going to be a celeron it can prolly handle XP which means dual monitor support ;) twin screens right? if ya got the money that'd be sweet....

mp3car.com maybee some mroe ideas for you...some cool programs to....personally im running win 3.1 :D all you need for monitoring car...oh ya you have the Autotap cord hooked up under your dash 24/7 right? I do to...wonder if we can move that thing so you dont see s big connector sittin there...

[Steve Presley]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Birdie2000:
Steve, will this device even work properly with a car's electrical system? It says that it requires 18 volts in, a car's is only like 13.8-14.4, or 12 without the engine running. Is there some sort of device that will step up the voltage?<hr></blockquote>

It will if you use one of those car/plane voltage regulator/power ocnverters..

[ June 07, 2002: Message edited by: Steve Presley ]</p>

[slacker69]

As far as what people are saying about haveing problems with a harddrive messing up and stuff. I am using a laptop harddrive so it is made to be mobile. It will also be put in a soft drive cage as well to help absorbe some of the shock.