Car PC setup, install and some fabrication

[ankur]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

The prices are a little strange. For example a digital FM tuner costs just 10$ or so in the US!!

I should have elaborated. This is an internal tuner that connects to the USB header on the motherboard and allows connectivity to the car antenna.

http://direct.xtronic.be/shop/produc...products_id=28

[Mugen_Power]

Ankur,

Nice idea..
You are going good, and if possible post some more pics.


Cheers,
Mugen_Power.

[ankur]

Ok had a peaceful day with the kids away and managed to get a lot done. This the image after the body filler slathered on :





I spent many hours then first rough sanding it with the dremel sanding bit and finally wet sanding with a fine grain sandpaper for a very smooth finish.



After this i filled in the imperfections with some more filler, this time used my finger to shape it. I wil then do the final wet sanding tomorrow if time permits and then its ready for paint, phew!

cheers.

[speedonline]

Hey Ankur,

Looking great, yup that wifi solution should work out well. Boy does that motherboard have a lage heat sink, I dont think that the fan does it justice.

It possiable post some more pics .

Hey one more thing how are you going to power that speakers and stuff. If you need a hand with the pc setup drop me a line

[tsk1979]

Ankur, though you have a great heatsink, I would advise you to get 5 case fans.
2 at the front to push air in. One exaust on the side, and 2 exausts at the rear.
the total power consumption would be some 35W for all 5 fans(Get 5W ones, they are enough).

[ankur]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Ankur, though you have a great heatsink, I would advise you to get 5 case fans.
2 at the front to push air in. One exaust on the side, and 2 exausts at the rear.
the total power consumption would be some 35W for all 5 fans(Get 5W ones, they are enough).

Tsk,
I am not going to stick in any fans right now, the motherboard is a low heat generating board plus it has a thermal shutdown. The case does have 1 fan that blows air out. The weather is also kinda cool now, for the summer next year i will explore cooling options if the cpu gets too hot. These are things i can add as i go along so i will take it as it comes , besides i dont know the exact placing of the case yet so i cant plan airflow for now.

cheers.

[ankur]

Originally Posted by speedonline

Hey Ankur,

Looking great, yup that wifi solution should work out well. Boy does that motherboard have a lage heat sink, I dont think that the fan does it justice.

It possiable post some more pics .

Hey one more thing how are you going to power that speakers and stuff. If you need a hand with the pc setup drop me a line

Hi,
Thanks. The heatsink was a design change VIA did at a later stage during production, initial demos did not have that large one. That also caused a problem for me as i planned to install a PCI vga card, but no room for that now and i will have to do with the onboard.

Sure i can post pics, what do you want to see.

I dont need any help with the PC, got that part covered but thanks anyway. Its all setup and running my chosen front end Centrafuse on a desk. I will however need help in the audio part. For now i plan to take a 4 channel amp (got one in another car that will swipe) and use that for front and back component speakers. I would replce the stock speakers in the Innova but i would like to keep them in the original grill, concealed. For the sub, i would probably start with a bass tube that i will keep in the back on velcro strips. But i will replace that with 2 shallow pioneer 10" subs (less than 3" in depth) when finances permit . Those i think i can stick in the rear hatch door, not sure though.

cheers.

[speedonline]

Ankur, good plan. The only thing that i am not able to understand is that how do you plan to route the audio from the PC to the Amp's, are you using a head unit?

Ps. I agree with tsk1979 you do need to look at the cooling solution a bit more. where do you plan to install the pc???

[ankur]

Originally Posted by speedonline

Ankur, good plan. The only thing that i am not able to understand is that how do you plan to route the audio from the PC to the Amp's, are you using a head unit?

Ps. I agree with tsk1979 you do need to look at the cooling solution a bit more. where do you plan to install the pc???

The PC has virtual 5.1 sound using 3 headphone jacks in the rear panel : Front, Rear, Center/Sub. I will use standard headphone to rca cables to take this audio to the amps.

I agree i will have to look into cooling, just not yet, maybe after the lovely cold weather has past . The Innova has a lovely cavity above the glove compartment. Normally this holds the airbag but not in my variant. It seems like i will be able to stick the case in there.

Here are some pics of the case. Please note the connectors on the back are not the same, slightly different in my case. The pictures are with an MII motherboard installed hence the PCMCIA slot and CF slot.

[tsk1979]

Whoopie... you got just one case fan. This is not done man. this is delhi, and when cold weather passes you wouldnt want to again get into fabrication etc.,

I would suggest that cut a whole on the right side and fix a fan there. Make the front fan inlet, and this side fan as exaust., and you should have a cool enough setup.
To be on the safe side, I would suggest a 30 sec delay in PC startup.
This is for summers.
for 30 seconds just the fans come up and cool the interiors, and then your PC powers up.
HDDs are not good candidates when it comes to heat, and make sure you have S.M.A.R.T etc., enabled, and you also have temparature sensors of HDD enabled. Use any commonly available software then to monitor the health.

[speedonline]

Yup tsk1979 is right nothing kills a Hard drive faster then heat, well maybe a sledge hammer might do the job faster . Not being pessimistic or anything but there might be an issue with the audio setup, as normal car amps have a remote switch to switch them on which is normally taken care of by the HU.

[ankur]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Whoopie... you got just one case fan. This is not done man. this is delhi, and when cold weather passes you wouldnt want to again get into fabrication etc.,
................................................
HDDs are not good candidates when it comes to heat, and make sure you have S.M.A.R.T etc., enabled, and you also have temparature sensors of HDD enabled. Use any commonly available software then to monitor the health.

I will do any cutting IF needed in the summer. The CPU right now runs at a cool 32 degrees and will shutdown if any component reaches critical temp. In the meantime i will add airflow to the cavity where this case will be installed. I may change my case eventually so i am not looking long term at this setup.
cheers.

[ankur]

Originally Posted by speedonline

Yup tsk1979 is right nothing kills a Hard drive faster then heat, well maybe a sledge hammer might do the job faster . Not being pessimistic or anything but there might be an issue with the audio setup, as normal car amps have a remote switch to switch them on which is normally taken care of by the HU.

My power supply has a remote on lead for turning on amps and such .
Ankur.

[iraghava]

Ok Ankur I'm gonna disturb your thread a bit but for your benefit only. I just discovered during a friend's birthday celebration last night that speedonline is actually one of my close friends. I would seriously advise you to be wary of this character since he's a GEEK/NERD of the highest order!!! And he's gonna seriously confuse you at some point of time or the other!!!

And Pranav you .... read the damn rules first & post an introduction ......

Post edited by Navin. We do NOT tolerate ANY abusive languange on this forum even in jest.

[speedonline]

Originally Posted by iraghava

Ok Ankur I'm gonna disturb your thread a bit but for your benefit only. I just discovered during a friend's birthday celebration last night that speedonline is actually one of my close friends. I would seriously advise you to be wary of this character since he's a GEEK/NERD of the highest order!!! And he's gonna seriously confuse you at some point of time or the other!!!

And Pranav you ... read the damn rules first & post an introduction ....

Completely off topic, Howevery i agree with Ishan about being a Computer Geek and applogies for not posting an introduction.