My First Car PC Install - Research and Planning Stage

[shrivz]

Hi, thats a great install..
Wanted to ask you about how you're planning to mount the worldspace receiver? And also, how good is the reception?

cheers!

[satish_appasani]

Ranjit. Great Install. When can i have a look at it?

I have a suggestion. Can you secure the laptop with rubber belts the way battery is secured in some cars and bikes. Rectangular rings at both ends of the strip and some hooks on the MDF board on either side of the laptop dock station to hold the rings tightly.

Is it safe to put the laptop at that angle continuosly when HDD is being read.

[sys_whiz]

Originally Posted by satish_appasani

Ranjit. Great Install. When can i have a look at it?

I have a suggestion. Can you secure the laptop with rubber belts the way battery is secured in some cars and bikes. Rectangular rings at both ends of the strip and some hooks on the MDF board on either side of the laptop dock station to hold the rings tightly.

Is it safe to put the laptop at that angle continuosly when HDD is being read.

Thanks Satish.

Now the way the laptop is mounted is more secured than the rubber belt. I hope it was not clear on the picture I posted. I will try to explain it in the following pic.


This is the original Picture.



The Green outlined is the complete MDF on which both the AMP and Laptop Port replicator are mounted. Also in the middle, the Inverter is mounted which is used to power the Laptop and Worldspace Receiver.

The red outlined is the actual laptop Cover, which is designed like a half box shaped door pannel, which opens and closes like a door.

The Blue outlined is just a piece of MDF board which was fixed to hold the magnet type of Clamp(I am not sure what it is called).

The Yellow one is the holder to open and close the door.

The two circles in the black are the hard gel type of material. which is semi-soft in nature and fixed on the door pannel. The same way two more rounded hard rubber type of material is fixed on the MDF Board. When the laptop is docked and the door is closed, all four items hold the laptop very tightly. The door pannel is then locked by two BRASS Lock(I am not sure what it is called, but in Hindi it is called "Kundi"), located both side of the door.

I don't think there should be any problem for the HDD in this position.

Any time you can have a look on this, just give me a call and we can fix a time near hitec city.

[shldn]

Hey Ranjit, nice install. Congratulations !

Just out of curiousity, why aren't you using your CarPC for GPS, it has a bigger screen for starters.

Do you have a provision to remotely startup/shutdown the laptop, how do you go about it ?

And have you looked into controlling the worldspace receiver from the PC. Can't make out your receiver model, but some of them are listed with having a USB cable for PC interface/control. Just a possibility.

[spadival]

Cool install.. However, I think ur laptop HDD is susceptible to crash on prolonged usage. Also, the heat generated inside the boot on a sunny day would be too high.. and I dont see any vents in the MDF board for heat dissipation. Does the CPU run without any problem? Normally, it will shut down automatically if the temp is too high.

Originally Posted by sys_whiz

The Blue outlined is just a piece of MDF board which was fixed to hold the magnet type of Clamp(I am not sure what it is called).

Heard someone say HDD's could be affected by magnets. Dunno how far this is true. But in ur case the magnet clamp and also the speaker magnet is pretty close to the HDD !!

I have a Dell D600 which already has 2 crashed HDD's after regular usage. And the heat generated by this laptop is just too much. Hope the D620 is better off.

[rishibravo]

sys_whiz. As pointed out by spadival I suggest you make a small heat sync . Cut two holes in the box and install two small computer cabinet fans otherwise you might end up screwing the laptop on a hot hydrabadi summers.... But, I love your innovation and resourcefulness... keep the good work and keep us posted

[monty9991]

hi..
where did u get the screen form and for how much and what make?
u probably might have posted this before, but again let me know.
coz m also starting this project soon in my ALTO..
thanx

[gigy]

sys whiz,
nice install you have. can you give me the size of space you made for the monitor. did you trim the sides also or only the bottem part. do you have record of original space available & how much you enlarged it to.

[spadival]

Don't think Sys_whiz is active on TBHP lately..

Originally Posted by monty9991

hi..
where did u get the screen form and for how much and what make?
u probably might have posted this before, but again let me know.
coz m also starting this project soon in my ALTO..
thanx

Judging from the LCD screen model, I think he bought from Car PC based Vehicle Infotaiment Systems | iRide Technologies. Mumbai, India .. Not sure tho.

Originally Posted by gigy

sys whiz,
nice install you have. can you give me the size of space you made for the monitor. did you trim the sides also or only the bottem part. do you have record of original space available & how much you enlarged it to.

Side trimming is definitely not required. In my case, no trimming was needed to be done around the 2DIN slot area, as the LCD was mounted over the console (as against behind the console in sys_whiz case) using the head rest shroud that comes with the screen. If I remember correctly, the 2DIN slot height was short by 2cm for the monitor to fit in. No problem with the width, it matches almost exactly.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...tml#post597985 (My Baleno (I)ride - CarPC / Carputer install)

We had to cut the cigarette lighter and the ashtray out to accommodate the Head Unit. Let me know if you need more details.

[gigy]

thanks spadival.
i hope to finish my install by next week, only thing remaining is the trackball mouse. shops in lamington said they are things of past. i though it was something new. dont want to spend on air mouse since it will make the proposal costlier than touch screen monitor.

[spadival]

Originally Posted by gigy

thanks spadival.
i hope to finish my install by next week, only thing remaining is the trackball mouse. shops in lamington said they are things of past. i though it was something new. dont want to spend on air mouse since it will make the proposal costlier than touch screen monitor.

okk.. How about starting a new thread outlining ur install.. Re track ball, it will only help you move around the screen. how will you enter data? Suggest you get a laptop style keyboard with touch pad like I have - eBay India: USB Keyboard with integrated Touch-pad Mouse (item 180179820116 end time 20-Nov-2007 08:52:53 IST)

BUT this is tucked away in the dash compartment - I use it only when I require lot of text input.

[gigy]

thats a good option but mouse is required to be out all the time. will definitely need a keyboard but was looking at the rubber kind of stuff in small form factor (without numeric key pad) which can stay inside the glove box bottom and will take the shape. trackball will be kept with velcro on the center console box. leadtek winpro tv tuner remote will be used to switch on and off the pc. i only saw this written in their site , practically does it shout down completely or goes to standby is to be seen once i get it in hand. anyways i will need it for the fm reception. dont plan to keep the car player.

[spadival]

I had a look at the list of equipments u already have in ur car and I can only say WOW.. Now add a CarPC to that and ur car is virtually indestructible !!

Request you to start a new thread with details of these equipment and where and how much did u buy them for:

• electric air pump
• hydraulic jack 2ton
• nylon tow cable 2000kg load
• jumper wire set
• tool box
• first-aid box
• 2kg fire extingusher
• digital tyre pressure guage with seat belt cutter and a led torch
• high power britelight led torch 1km range
• pepper spray can
• spare headlight bulbs, travel pillow, Mumbai and all India maps, umbrella, tissue box, 2 lt water can.
• tubeless tyre repair kit, and emergency repair pressure can, tyre shine and polish, upholstery cleaner

[gigy]

i dont think mods will be interested in new thread for that anyway here are the price and location information for you.
electric air pump { marks and spencers uk 5pound. quite cheap actually and it is still running. i use it regularly to top up air in all tyres. had earlier bought a chinese make and it didnt last 6 months for 600rs}
hydraulic jack 2ton {600rs from opera house}( this cant lift my car rear wheel off after i installed a spacer.
nylon tow cable 2000kg load { a petrol pump in scotland 4pound}
jumper wire set {same scotland location for 4pound}( used it twice to start unknown person car out of town){ you can make a better one here using finolex cables and big clips from lamington road.
if i could have driven back {and the money}from there to india i would have taken a truck to bring back stuff from his pump. i was amazed at the tools and stuff he had for cars and trekking.
tool box { local market 1000rs}
first-aid box { local chemist,200rs a waste since it didnt have everything. suggest you buy a box and put in items as per requirement.
2kg fire extingusher {zenith fire extingusher in ghatkopar 2000rs with 5 years warranty}( refill cost 400rs)
digital tyre pressure guage with seat belt cutter and a led torch { gift from a friend from france, its not costly but working fine till now}
high power britelight led torch 1km range {2600rs from alfa store,irla}
pepper spray can (alfa 200rs)
spare headlight bulbs{halonix 180rs}, travel pillow{samsonite}, Mumbai and all India maps,{ maps were 200rs } umbrella{160rs}, tissue box{400}, 2 lt water can.
tubeless tyre repair kit{170 from tyre shop in lamington}, and emergency repair pressure can(200}, tyre shine and polish{250}, upholstery cleaner{200} all from shoprite mulund.

[sameer_dg]

VIC Ltd-NAVISURFER,CAR COMPUTER, CAR PC, TAXI COMPUTER, POLICE COMPUTER, AMBULANCE COMPUTER, COURIER CAR COMPUTER, MARINE COMPUTER
May be this would have been better.