Making of a budget car entertainment, navigation, diagnostics setup

[clipto333]

Hi gigy,

you doing great. wanted to ask something.

how are you going to mount the HDD? just a shock can damage the drive.

and i have a suggestion too. don't know if it works.

get hold of an old car cd player or a cd changer. they have the rubber damper things. if you can somehow mount the drive on those dampers, i think there will be less chances of drive failure.

if you cant get it, let me know. i have an OE ford HU which has the dampers. i can send it to you.

if you want a picture, let me know.

one more thing. static current can damage a motherboard. i hope you have taken care of that. :-)



cheers
clip

[gigy]

thanks buddy. have grounded the case to prevent static.
hard disk is on a foam base as of now and given a delibrate play in its fix. the hard disk case is stuck by double sticking tape. the box itself will be on another foam base. lets see how its doing.
i will have to control my speed on the potholes

[dinar]

Do not mount the HDD flat on , mount it vertically , this prevent the read/write head from touching the magnetic plats and damaging they in an event of the car bouncing violently.....it's been used by most of the in car PC guys around..... Have not tried it myself but , I think it should work...by the way how do you want me to send you the circuit diagram for temperature controller?

[dinar]

Do not mount the HDD flat on , mount it vertically , this prevent the read/write head from touching the magnetic plats and damaging they in an event of the car bouncing violently.....it's been used by most of the in car PC guys around..... Have not tried it myself but , I think it should work...by the way how do you want me to send you the circuit diagram for temperature controller?

[clipto333]

Originally Posted by gigy

thanks buddy. have grounded the case to prevent static.
hard disk is on a foam base as of now and given a delibrate play in its fix. the hard disk case is stuck by double sticking tape. the box itself will be on another foam base. lets see how its doing.
i will have to control my speed on the potholes

good then.

don't know if foam really helps. you using a 2.5 HDD right? ill try to modify the cd transport in the HU and see if i can fit a HDD. the cd transport is mounted on the dampers and springs. if this does not help you, it might help me in the near future

[gigy]

today i got really frustrated waiting for the DC-DC powers supply to come and just listening to music through the mobile in car. evening opened up the pc setup , changed the hard disk positioning after cutting out the pcb as much as possible . had to take the HD out of case to stick it to side of box.
put in a smps and powered up through the inverter. working is saticfactory. only problem remaining in this setup is in case i have to restart the car after pc is running the it will restart.have a 12v bike battery lying in house. thinking to put it in parallel through a diode to prevent this.
the box is sitting on half smiles to give cushioning effect. they are soft enough for the job i think.
Installed a freeware headunit also called media unit and it is working beautifully. i think should change over to windows me for even faster operation.

[dinar]

nice setup gigy...... try using a sealed battery from a ups or a laptop... I think it should work fine to give a backup you need..also can try putting in a setup which automatically turns ON / OFF the comp ..I think it's possible to do something like this...you can take a pick line from the ignition and use it do something like this..
Also once you load the OS, remove the non essential programs from the startup so the system boots up fast....

[gigy]

my initial plans were to use the powersafe ups itself but when tested realised its battery has gone dead completely. didnt even last 2 sec on load.
Some more pictures of the media engine. its good enough for music, videos, gps running other applications also. although its made optimised for touch screen works well with mouse also. music starts even before windows boots up completely.






the volume control, start and reset switches, power led and hdd led.


the wait for the arrival of parcel continues.....

[spadival]

Hey gigy.. Which site did you order the DC-DC powers supply from? Is that the IR receiver for the mouse peeping out of the ash tray ?

[gigy]

ordered it from short-circuit.com.
item has cleared customs in India on 10th of this month, but has not yet reached my address.
yes its the IR receiver of mouse in ashtray's position. i dont smoke, so could remove it off

[spadival]

How did u wire the keyboard to the usb port? Did u have to drill a hole thru the glovebix? I am asking because I have a similar keyboard sitting in the glovebox. Wondering if I can put another USB hub in the glovebox.

Also, is there a way to pull a USB cable to the top of the dash without any drilling thru one of those vents on the top ?

Have u thought about getting internet access on the go. I am considering BSNL EVDO data card, but they haven't launched it yet ( Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd- Latest News )

[gigy]

keyboard is just kept in glove box, not fixed. wire comes out from behind (front of ecu) (no holes drilled anywhere) and goes behind the side panels and comes out below the seat to one of the usb port in motherboard.

[gigy]

you can pull out wires from side and bring it up, remove the A pillar fairing and drop the wire inside. there is also a center piece which can be removed but i have not tried it.
i am using vodafone internet through gprs as of now. slow by today standards but ok for general use.
need advice on GPS:
wanted to take satguide for gps but after seeing so many bad reviews i am confused now what to do. does anyother service provider gives gps support for laptop. i asked map my india; they dont as of now. satguide for a city is coming for 6k with bluetooth receiver.
can i later change operator later and use the same receiver?

[gigy]

had talk with satguide also and they dont have satguide s\w for pc or laptop. i think as of now will have to use mapmyindia through gprs for guidance. where to source the gps receiver now?
another option left is a software which gives the phone display on the pc, use satguide on pocket pc.

[spadival]

You can use Destinator compatible maps with free PC based programs such as Freedrive and mapmonkey. Also paid CarPC front end software such as Centrafuse support Destinator maps.

Since satguide maps are Destinator compatible maps, you can use them with these programs mentioned above.

Also, have a look at mgmaps. Mobile GMaps :: View topic - Mgmaps on Windows XP?

While mgmaps does not support driving directions yet, you can create an offline cache of maps (Google or Yahoo or both) and track your location.

For GPS receiver, I suggest you go for the satguide offer of GPS Blue Tooth Receiver with SatGuide + 1 City Map + All India Map - all for Rs 6000.
(http://www.satguide.in/Cart/NewCart.aspx?pid=36). This is the best deal in India so far for a GPS receiver.