My First Car PC Install - Research and Planning Stage

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by sys_whiz

Alpine PXA-H701 DSP unit which is a Digital Dolby and DTS compatibility and supports 8 Channels. It has also Digital in, which I can connect with my LAPTOP SPDIF port for digital experience.

Currently I have Sony Xplod Speakers (6938 for Back and 1640 for Front)and Sub, going to buy...

sir the pxa -h701 is a very nice piece of hardware it has great capabilites...some features are x-over with slopes, 5-band parametric Eq, 31-band graphic Eq, time aligment, for each channel independently.....dolby, dts 5.1 processor....and what not...it can be easily used in any car installation perfectly.....also I myself is using one....If interested checkout my signature..

but one thing you would require a interface to control the pxa...that is the RUX-C701 or any compatible alpine HU will be required other wise it is total waste.....also it has 6- inputs 3 analog and 3 optical....so i fear you cannot connect it with the laptop SPDIF ......

[sys_whiz]

Originally Posted by Argus

Great effort pal. I wish to draw your attention to one point that bothered me.


Shock-factor can be taken care of upto an extent but please be aware that lappy's are usually cramped for space and hence bad dissipators of heat. And Hyderabad has already started to heat up like hell at noon times. Good thing that you do not plan to leave the lappy in parked car. But do keep the heat issue in mind.

Also after a while it may begin to seem cumbersome having to carry the lappy and attach/reattach connectors everytime you park the car for a longer duration.

Good luck in your endeavour

Thank You for your sugestion. Yeh I know Heat is a major factor in India, specially in cities like Delhi, Hyderabad etc. I have a plan to overcome the heat too while the Vehicle is in Move. But when it is parked in noon, we can't help it out. This is another factor I have choosen the Laptop with Port replicator. All the time I need not to connect all the cables. Just place it in the Dock and start the ingantion. All the wiring will be fixed permanently. To auto power the laptop I am planning to use the "Wake-On-LAN" feature of the laptop. I will build a circuit by playing with the "Loop Back" concept and placing two Relays. Once the relays will get the power from the Ignation, it will simulate the loopback signal and is sufficient to power-on the laptop. I will post The detailed diagram with the pictures of this clever small unit later on. First I want to do a PoC then will share in this post.

Thank You all for encouraging to do my project.

[sys_whiz]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

sir the pxa -h701 is a very nice piece of hardware it has great capabilites...some features are x-over with slopes, 5-band parametric Eq, 31-band graphic Eq, time aligment, for each channel independently.....dolby, dts 5.1 processor....and what not...it can be easily used in any car installation perfectly.....also I myself is using one....If interested checkout my signature..

Thank You...After doing lots of research on Digital Audio, I found this unit is ultimate. It has count less features. It supports all three surround sound formats as of now, DTS, Dolby and Prologic. The Time allignment feature impressed me very much.

but one thing you would require a interface to control the pxa...that is the RUX-C701 or any compatible alpine HU will be required other wise it is total waste.....also it has 6- inputs 3 analog and 3 optical....so i fear you cannot connect it with the laptop SPDIF ......

Yes this unit is of no use if a compatible HU or control is not in place. I am planning for C701 too. Instead of going with another HU, I will prefer the C701. It is specially designed for this type of DSP units.

I don't think there will be any issue connecting my laptop SPDIF port to this unit. This unit has three Toslink optical connector and my laptop has RCA SPDIF connector. I know I can't directly use the Toslink optical cable between this unit and laptop. But there are many solutions to over come this. One of them is a Toslink to RCA adapter, which can convert RCA signal to Toslink and vice versa without signal loss. There are also Toslink Selectors which cal take input in both the format, RCA and Toslink and output as Toslink and RCA. So anyof them can solve the purpose.

Audio Gurus : Pls guide me, if there is any other and better option which stated above. Your Help is very much appreciated.

Thank You

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by sys_whiz

I need help understanding the OBD interface my car has. I am not sure which protocol it usages. I am very new to OBD. If any one can help providing info about the OBD interface I have. My car is Maruti Suzuki Baleno 2006 Make.

Thank You
--Ranjit

Hey Sys_whiz,

try these threads for the OBD questions (as well as some car PC stuff) -


1 (OBD (On Board Diagnostics) On Indian Cars...)

2 (PC to ECU Interface (OBD compliant cars))

3 (Car PC setup, install and some fabrication)

4 (ApexI AFC II , OBDII compliant port for Baleno)

5

6 (Prototype Car PC)

cya
R

TIP - when searching TBHP for a keyword <4characters, go to google.com and search with the following string
(eg. OBD in this case)
OBD site:www.team-bhp.com

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by sys_whiz

There are also Toslink Selectors which cal take input in both the format, RCA and Toslink and output as Toslink and RCA. So anyof them can solve the purpose.

Audio Gurus : Pls guide me, if there is any other and better option which stated above. Your Help is very much appreciated.

the toslink to rca where are you getting it....it is nice way to connect two different interfaces.....

also if you are going for such detailed install would recommmend to get good amps and speaker also as the sony will do no justice to the stuff you are going to install.....i would tell you search for better stuff also....

[ST7677]

Ah Sys_whiz, this sounds quiet interesting, I will be closing watching your thread...

Lately this car PC has caught my attention and I have a spare laptop to sacrifice for my beloved (car)...

[spadival]

I dont understand the point of putting a laptop in the car.. what are the advantages??

[sys_whiz]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

Hey Sys_whiz,

try these threads for the OBD questions (as well as some car PC stuff) -


1 (OBD (On Board Diagnostics) On Indian Cars...)

2 (PC to ECU Interface (OBD compliant cars))

3 (Car PC setup, install and some fabrication)

4 (ApexI AFC II , OBDII compliant port for Baleno)

5

6 (Prototype Car PC)

cya
R

TIP - when searching TBHP for a keyword <4characters, go to google.com and search with the following string
(eg. OBD in this case)
OBD site:www.team-bhp.com

Thank You Rehaan....These were very useful...

[sys_whiz]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

the toslink to rca where are you getting it....it is nice way to connect two different interfaces.....

also if you are going for such detailed install would recommmend to get good amps and speaker also as the sony will do no justice to the stuff you are going to install.....i would tell you search for better stuff also....

I tried to get these trype of adapters in India, but seems not available. I gave asked one of my friend to bring from USA.

Thank You for your sugestion wrt Speakers and Amps. I will consider these points in my install ( Budget is increasing...)

Thank You...

[sys_whiz]

Originally Posted by spadival

I dont understand the point of putting a laptop in the car.. what are the advantages??

By putting a laptop in Car we can get the n numbers of features. It will act as a fully loaded ICE system. Some of the features I am listing here :

1. Media Player (MP3, WMA, Real Audio Media etc)
2. Huge Media collection in the internal HDD(No need of a CD Changer)
3. Plug and play any USB Media like External HDD, Memory Stick etc.
4. Play Video, Play DVD, MPEG etc.
5. FM Radio.
6. Satellite Radio.
7. View Pictures.
8. GPS.
9. Reverse Camera.
10. OBD - View Realtime Statitics of your Vehicle, View and analyze Engine Errer Codes, which can save you money by figuring out the problem in time.
11. Internet, E-Mail etc.
12 View Television.
.
.
.
.
.

The list can grow. You imagine it and you can get. One should be little creative to get the features. Even you can Turn your Car PC(rather I should call as Carputer) to an Automatic Climet Control, which is not available in most of the cars in India(Except few costly Vehicles) or simply control your HVAC using the Carputer.

Integrate Your Phone with the Carputer and drive safely. Just enter into the car, your Phone will be automtically connect with Carputer and you can answer your phone calls using the Car Speakers(No one Hand Driving and no fear of caught by Cops), send SMS etc.

If you own a transport company, track your Vehicle using your Carputer. It can tell you the exact position of your car, the direction your car is moving, how much KMs your Car have run, how long it will take to reach the destination etc. If required imobilize your Car sitting at Home.
.
.
.
.
.

Huhhhh...I think I can write a Book on this.....

Thank You

[babhishek]

BALENO uses the CANBUS protocol under OBDII.
AB.
--------------------
Originally Posted by sys_whiz
I need help understanding the OBD interface my car has. I am not sure which protocol it usages. I am very new to OBD. If any one can help providing info about the OBD interface I have. My car is Maruti Suzuki Baleno 2006 Make.

Thank You
--Ranjit
---------------------------------------------------------------

[sys_whiz]

Hi! LBM,

What AMPs and Speakers are you using in your setup. I am going to place the order for this unit and want to make sure which AMP and speakers will be the BEST for the setup. Also are you using component for front. If you can post your complete setup, this will help me to decide on buying these.

Thank You

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

the toslink to rca where are you getting it....it is nice way to connect two different interfaces.....

also if you are going for such detailed install would recommmend to get good amps and speaker also as the sony will do no justice to the stuff you are going to install.....i would tell you search for better stuff also....

[navin]

Originally Posted by sys_whiz

What AMPs and Speakers are you using in your setup.

Warning: when LBM and hsi cohorts ask you for a budget please remember to stick firmly to it. There is evidence to prove that some people spend many times more on ICE than they initially recokoned they would.

KB! where art thou? :-)

[sys_whiz]

Thank You Navin. I will stick to my budget. Because I am spending a huge ampunt on my Car PC Setup. So I will be limited to the amps and speakers, but decent one.

Originally Posted by navin

Warning: when LBM and hsi cohorts ask you for a budget please remember to stick forumly to it. There is evidence to prove that some people spend many times more on ICE than they initially recokoned they would.

KB! where art thou? :-)

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by navin

Warning: when LBM and hsi cohorts ask you for a budget please remember to stick firmly to it. There is evidence to prove that some people spend many times more on ICE than they initially recokoned they would.

KB! where art thou? :-)

lol...Navin Ji just got me......good one.....

anyways sys_whiz I am going for a big upgrade regarding the amps and the subs will keep you posted on that....but the speaker I am using are DLS Iriduim 6.3 here is a link for your reference....

DLS Iridium 6.3i

right now they are running in 3-way passive setup soon to be made 3-way active as i can arrange the funds for the same....also there are no rear speakers in my car as i dont need them.......

for my earlier setup you can use the link in my signature....