Making of a budget car entertainment, navigation, diagnostics setup

[gigy]

pin A11 of ECU receives the start signal from the ignition switch . a SCR controlled input through carputer can do this i think using parallel port.otherwise,
when does usb ports power up? if it does after UAC is enabled through password then its enough.what if i use that 5v to trigger the SCR?
let me see how StevieG's Access Control works.

[spadival]

BIOS these days have USB support enabled to allow for booting from a USB hard drive. Check your BIOS settings. If its available, you can use USB interface for the UAC as the PC loads up OS. Unless of course, you plan to modify the BIOS to do some magic stuff like asking for password !!

Not many MoBo's come with parallel port these days. Does yours have one?

[gigy]

yes, this motherboard has a parallel port. it also supports boot from usb.
wanted to know if bios password is enabled, will usb ports get power before it or after it.
i just feel the hardware way will be more reliable than software to enable start circuit.
any idea of the price and availability of stock ECU, just in case. in the worst case will have to go to kartik

[spadival]

Pulse from the USB port to substitute pulse from the ignition??? Sounds a bit far fetched. Check if the ignition pulse is 5volts.

Baleno ECU are available on eBay UK for around Rs 20k !! Suzuki Baleno 1995- Engine Management ECU 3392064G60 on eBay, also, Suzuki, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 28-May-08 17:52:53 BST)

Note however, that the part number on the Indian ECU is 3392065GM0 (112000-7930),so not sure if they are compatible.

For Indian prices, You can PM TBHPian alankarmotor (Team-BHP - View Profile: alankarmotor) who has a Maruti workshop. I believe these guys can check the parts price on their system.

Rest assured that the price will be in the region of 20K. So please dont fry your ECU !!

[gigy]

the 5v on usb will trigger a SCR (which model will have to check in lamington road, whichever will trigger with 5v and take 10-20v on main terminals.i dont expect much current flow in this wire as its a start signal during cranking only) which will remain latched on till the car is powered down. SCR should be reliable enough compared to relay.
the over ride will be bypassing the SCR

[spadival]

Brilliant!! If it works.. that is. If the thief knows his hardware stuff, he would know that the BIOS password can be bypassed

Simple way to check if USB is powered up before password prompt on BIOS. Just plug in a USB device with an LED (like a pen drive) during bootup. Check if it LED lights up after the password is entered or before. Have a feeling its after BIOS is thru with password confirmation.

[gigy]

can the bios password be bypassed that easily? i didn't know, my limited knowledge. the car thief must be a computer geek also then. i think our local guys are only expert in breaking branded stuff like autocop door keys and mechanical locks. he might not be computer literate at present.

[spadival]

BIOS password reset isnt that easy unless you are a geek. Anyway, how is the wireless keypad connected to the PC? Through the PS/2 keyboard port? If so, then its fine. Just wondering how you'll enter the password without the USB port getting powered up.

[gigy]

wireless is through the usb. the keyboard is connected to PS/2, so will have to lean over a bit to start the car, useful when the other gender is sitting besides.
will have to solder this particular usb connection or use hot glue or rtv to hold the ports firm.
i am thinking of putting the motherboard on a plain board and install it open in the glove compartment, when i change to a ITX board or mini ITX. dual display project is stuck since cant figure out how to take the second audio?
running short of cash now since oil change is due(3k), wiper motor is dead(3k) valve clearance to be checked(?k), engine head seal to be change(?k),timing belt to be changed(1.5k). she has crossed 80k run now.

[nisarg86]

excellent project bro ! You should have gone for Intel Desktop Board D201GLY2. very low power consumption.
Intel® Desktop Board D201GLY2 / D201GLY2A Overview
I am currently using it as my Torrent Rig. Soon I will install it in my new swift.

[gigy]

nisarg86,
how much you bought that intel board for? are you using the fanless one. how is the performance in running multiple applications? how are you planning to install in swift; location and cabinet. which display/touch screen?
i am planning change to gigabyte GA-MA78G-S2H with amd x2 4000+ for multizone application. navigation in front display and audio video for my little one in back seat to keep her busy. selected this board because of dual vga and dual audio.cost 4850approx.(it plays blue ray content is a bonus at this price)
i could not find a intel board offering this facility (at this cost)(else would have preferred E2180),if anybody have a better suggestion on motherboard please let me know.
this is a overkill for a carputer since the same board with amd x2 6000+ and sapphire 2600pro will be in my htpc also.
A colleague of mine with ford ikon is hooked on to similar project now, will check out OBD in his car once done.

[nisarg86]

I ordered it online from delta peripherals.
http://www.deltapage.com/
Yes i am using it fanless one. I have turned it into LAMP Server (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP). Multitasking shouldn't be a problem with 1 GB DDR2.
Bro i am yet to get my swift.

[harjeev]

Originally Posted by gigy

nisarg86,
how much you bought that intel board for? are you using the fanless one. how is the performance in running multiple applications? how are you planning to install in swift; location and cabinet. which display/touch screen?
i am planning change to gigabyte GA-MA78G-S2H with amd x2 4000+ for multizone application. navigation in front display and audio video for my little one in back seat to keep her busy. selected this board because of dual vga and dual audio.cost 4850approx.(it plays blue ray content is a bonus at this price)
i could not find a intel board offering this facility (at this cost)(else would have preferred E2180),if anybody have a better suggestion on motherboard please let me know.
this is a overkill for a carputer since the same board with amd x2 6000+ and sapphire 2600pro will be in my htpc also.
A colleague of mine with ford ikon is hooked on to similar project now, will check out OBD in his car once done.

Hi
Firstly I would like to say that I truly admire your work and it was after reading posts by you, spadival, and many others who have put together their own CAP PC's I got the idea for assembling my own.
I got in touch with IRiDE, Mumbai, and Sheldon, there, has been of great help.
I have started the research and basically not able to finalise what M/b to go in for and hense not able to proceed further.

I am not able to decide between the Intel D201GLY Intel® Desktop Board D201GLY Overview or Intel DG965SS Intel® Desktop Board DG965SS Overview

Now if I choose the D201GLY I have everything ready. I mean that I can buy the board from the market(IRIDE), get the cabinet power supply, screen etc from Iride or from other H/w vendors and start building my CAR PC from there and put it piece by piece together. The thing that is stopping me from going in for this board is that its supports Celeron 1.2 and a max of 1 GB of RAM. this is what I am not very comfortable with.

Now if I go in for the DG965SS I get the Core2Duo and RAM expandable upto 8GB. (though initially I plan to put about 4GB) This is what I would like but I am totally clueless about the what cabinet should I go in for in this scenario cause the cabinet that is supplied by Iride would not accommodate this M/b as this slightly bigger.
Other than the higher processing power and RAM the 965 chipset also has better audio and video capabilities, more USB ports etc.

But I am totally clueless on what cabinet to put, what power supply would be compatible with this motherboard. I am planning to install the CAR PC in my Tata Safari.
Please help

[shldn]

CarPC Systems are generally based on low power consumption and small form factor hardware.

IMO the DG965SS based setup with 4GB ram and a desktop Core2Duo would be serious overkill for a CarPC application. Will you be encoding video and playing crysis while driving, to require so much processing power ? Moreover a desktop setup with something like a E4600 (65W TDP) will also require you to take your power consumption into consideration and select a power supply that will reliably power your setup. The following guide will help you in this aspect, FAQ: Will <insert PSU model> Power Supply work with my system? - MP3Car.com

Also in this case more energy used ==> more heat ==> bigger/noisier fan, bigger heatsink and bigger case. Ideally you want to keep it as small, cool and quite as possible.

If however you still require the processing power, consider a mobile core Duo/ Core 2 Duo instead. The TDP is around 35W max in this case and you can also use a mini-ITX board such as Jetway J9F2 series for a small footprint.

As for 4 GB of RAM, i would suggest you scale it down to 1GB if not 512MB. You see, hibernation is widely used as a means of quick boot and shutdown by many Car PC enthusiasts. Resuming from hibernation is significantly faster than a cold boot, that means you get to hear your music that much sooner and your media player will be at the same point in the same song it was playing when you hibernated. Since the entire contents of RAM are written to the HDD, then restored when the PC resumes from hibernate, a smaller memory size will definitely speed up things here.

The Intel® Desktop Board D201GLY2 / D201GLY2A uses a Celeron 220 with 1.2 GHz clock speed and TDP of 19 Watt. The power consumption of the entire board peaks around 35-40W max and it can easily run your typical Car PC applications of music/videos/gps without any lag. Its relatively low cost and small size make it an ideal candidate for CarPC applications and with this setup you can get started with most Car PC cases and power supplies that are on the market today.

[gigy]

hi harjeev,
i have not seen internals of safari, so can you let me know how much space is there between the side panels around the third row of seats. if you have plastic trims there open and see if you can place a microATX board there on a MDF board.you will not require a cabinet then. the wiring has to be done neatly though giving ample space for maintenance and addition of components.
other location is below third row seats, a zebronics dhoom cabinet (Rs2500) should sit in nicely. if there is more space a iball baby(Rs1500approx) can also be used.
why 965 chipset? its also a full ATX size so will occupy too much of area. why not G31, G33,G35 based boards which are microATX and support new intel 45nm processor which need less power.