wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

Im looking at the manual now and pin 12 is called C Signal, not sure what C is. I think there is a 3rd party app to bring down your native signal to 640 x 480.

jaymurff25

Hmm, do you have the 2007 manual? Or do you have a different year TL? I'll check again in a few hours when I get home to make sure that mine says that pin 12 is the sync but I'm fairly certain that's what it is for my year model. I do know that my DVD player has plugs in different places than prior year models as I originally used a 2006 TL install guide for the Dom converter and it looked different on the back.

Any idea what that app might be?

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

have you tried to use the software program powerstrip to get the 640x480 native resolution.

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

sorry i have a 2008 TL-Types but what year is yours and ill look it up real quick to make sure they are both the same.

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

just researched 2006 to 2008 and pin 12 is the same all the way through. C Sig.

jaymurff25

Nope I haven't tried PowerStrip, I didn't think that could change the resolution that is output, I thought it was just for moving the image on the x,y axis' but I hadn't looked into it too much.

Thanks for checking, I'll look at what my manual says when I get home. What pin are you showing is the sync pin on the 20A harness?

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

whats your email address ill email you the wire schmatics that i am looking at and the location of the program.

jaymurff25

Cool thank you! ... it's jasonbm76@gmail.com

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

email sent

jaymurff25

Okay so I checked my Acura manual and 12 is CSIG as you mentioned but that stands for composite video synchronizing signal ... so we were both right LOL.

Here is the scan of the 2 pages, sorry for the quality

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

ok so everything is in order, which does not make sense as to how you are not getting any bars across the screen. Try power strip and see if that works if not you may need to mess around more with the black box.

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

Wow, I have just finished this whole thread, complete with the linked threads within it. You guys are doing a great job of figuring out these issues. Like a great thriller, I can't seem to put it down! lol
I too am in the initial planning stages of my CarPC. I also want to maintain the touchscreen control. My PC is actually a laptop and I will be using either Centrafuze or DigitalFX (RR Skin). I installed my NavTool 2 weeks ago with my backup camera and I have the Blitzsafe unit in the mail to me for sound integration. I also have a ScanDo 800 waiting to go. My main question is about power. How are you powering the PC and ScanDo? I saw the links to the actual units you were using, but my question refers to how the power is being controlled and conditioned (for lack of a better term). Do you have a delay setup so the unit does not start sending power until after the engine has cranked and is running? How are you handling shutdown controls? I'm thinking that I can sidestep some of these issues by using the laptop and setting the power control options within Windows to handle the shutdowns, which still leaves the power on questions. Don't really want to send surges to my equipment.
Again, thanks for working through all of this and sharing your experiences with the rest of us. I certainly appreciate your efforts and can't wait to see the final DIY come from all of it.
Dave

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

The carpc i purchased comes with a 12v converter M2-ATX. Here is the link with specs http://www.mini-box.com/M2-ATX-160w-...3Bcategory=101 The converter will us the cars 12v to power the carpc and it ties into the ignition so when the car is turned off the carpc goes into hibernation by using the constant 12v. Also off this M2-ATX has a 5v optional power source that was meant to power a cd/dvd rom drive but i will use it to power the scan do 800. As far as powering your laptop i dont know what the required amount of voltage and amperage is needed to power it up. Just ask any questions if you have them Jay or I would be more than happy to help you out.

jaymurff25

Alright well first I'm a moron ... I had the closed and common wires going to the wrong connector, I switched those wires and re-tested and after a bit of playing around I now have video on my nav screen!!!

But there is an extremely noticeable flicker and I'm not sure what's causing that. I have uploaded a video at the following URL ... maybe you have some thoughts on it?

http://www.hawksquawk.net/dolfan23/m...cker%20Vid.avi

Oh and thanks dwb933, wrxyboy has been a HUGE help as you can see throughout this process and while it's been extremely frustrating the majority of the problems for me can be chalked up to being a newbie at this stuff but even with that I'm getting close. As for powering the scan converter I am using a device that I bought which was recommended on mp3car.com as something better to use than the PCs built in power supply. Whether that's true or not I don't know but it works beautifully for me. Here is the link to it: http://jopeldesigns.com/acppsv1.html

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

That looks a lot like a screen refresh rate issue to me. I believe it is PowerStrip that can set that for you.

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

It could also be a bad ground but check what dwb993 said and try power strip to get the refresh rate in check. Damn good job Jay. There is hope after all.

jaymurff25

Thanks guys, I'll try PowerStrip tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. I'm pretty sure it's not a bad ground as the ground is being daisy chained through that power device I bought and that goes to the ground that has a bunch of wires grounded to it by the factory, although I suppose it's possible that it being daisy chained is causing the interference.

I still can't believe I had the common and closed wires backwards, I guess I wasn't thinking too clearly about which of the plugs goes to where. I'm just happy to know that the scan converter works and that I'm close to getting this to work. Talk about exciting

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

i bet you are excited i would be too. I am close to finish my huge project and than its off to learn how to make the carpc operate functions that i need it to do for my car. Fun...

jaymurff25

Yeah if you can get that stuff to work that you were wanting that would be really cool!

I was able to get the video working in my car today at lunch, I just tried an older laptop with XP on it instead of Vista and it worked fine without changing anything. I did install PowerStrip on it because I couldn't get the laptop any smaller than 800 x 600 and that caused the display area to be larger than the navi so it scrolled left, right, up, and down. I didn't have time to really mess with PowerStrip to see where I can force a display size but it did report that the navi was capable of displaying 640 x 480 but only at 16 bit color. That should still be good enough though to run RoadRunner on it.

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, movies and everything else you can do on a computer. I dont expect to live in my car but the convenience of having it all there is well worth it.

jaymurff25

Well how about this, PowerStrip to the rescue! I found the setting where you can force the output resolution and I set it to 640 x 480 and 16bit color and I was pleasantly surprised at the results! Here is a quick video that I took with my Blackberry and although it looks pretty good it's much better on the screen.

http://www.hawksquawk.net/dolfan23/misc/Acura_X-Men.avi

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

Awesome and video quality is good enough and being able to retain all stock features of the navi unit makes this very well worth it. . Glad that this is finally a finished product with alot info in this thread.

jaymurff25

I was very impressed with the video quality that's for sure. I wish it would do 800 x 600 so that I wouldn't have to use PowerStrip but I'm glad that is available to make it work.

Yep there should be lots of info in this thread for anyone else wanting to try it based on all of my screw ups LOL. Now I just need to get a little money together to buy an actual carPC and then I'll be set. Once again I sincerely appreciate all of your help!!

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

Very cool, Jay. Glad to hear its working for ya.
I'm not quite ready to begin working on this full time---still collecting parts and right now I'm having issues with the headrest monitors I want to use. Once I get ready, I'm sure I will be hitting you guys up for guidance.

jaymurff25

I have been thinking about doing headrest monitors next, what are the issues that you're having with them? Do you have any that you recommend?

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

I bought a set off Ebay and they need some re-soldering. I have never soldered before. Luckily, my roommate is mil-spec certified in it. I just have to get his ass to do it. He doesn't realize it yet, but he may be doing my touchscreen controller, too!

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

I did the easy escape on the touch screen controller and bought 1/8" female connectors from ebay and crimped them on. So all i had to do was plug and unplug to make changes on the relay very easy, the only soldering i had to do was the fcc connectors from the touch screen and fcc connectors from relay to circuit board. I would recommend buying heat shrink wraps so after you are done you just heat shrink them and you are good to go they are very cheap less than $2 at home depot. Also make sure you buy really good rca connectors as they will make a big difference in screen quality as compared to the generic brands.

Narbs

Hey guys... First I'd like to say great work on figuring this out! I stumbled upon this since I purchased a 07 TSX and was looking to use the factory touchscreen for my carpc. I have a few questions that maybe you guys could answer for me.

1) Why use a bulky relay when you could just extend and run the flat flex wires directly to a toggle switch which would switch between the factory unit and usb controller?

2) For the video, I read on a separate forum that you could hack into the backup camera input and supply the screen with a RCA video input which you could easily supply from a laptop or such. I wasn't sure of the method you supplied the factory display with video. A link would be appreciated.

Thanks.

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

To answer your questions.
1. Because there are 4 wires from the touch screen, 4 wires from the usb controller and you need take all the info from either of those 4 wires back to the factory circuit board. So there are a total of 12 wires and a relay makes it possible to only control one item at a time either the carpc or factory navi system. I think you would need to do a minimum of 8 toggle switches to work the carpc or factory navi.

2. Main reason being that video quality on a RCA video input is very poor as compared to the native signal of using the Scan Do 800. There are two units that you can use to get the signal to the navi screen, doms unit and navtool both of which comes with a plug and play harness. Here is the users manual on the scan do 800 http://www.blackbox.co.uk/technical/...A%20Manual.pdf Hope that helped clear up some of your questions.

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

Hey guys! Been a while, I know. I am finally getting to turn my attention to this project and I needed to check on the parts list for the relay and touchscreen taps. Is this parts list still valid? Are there any additions/deletions I can make based on your experiences?
Here is where I am currently:
Dell XPS Gen2 or Latitude D820 laptop base PC (D820 has a dockstation I can use, too)
Lind Auto power adapter for Dell PCs (on order)
CarNetix P2140 185 watt power supply (for ScanDo 800 and any other equipment needing clean 12v power)
NavTool video and BlitzSafe audio (already installed)
I have been able to hookup the PC to the ScanDo to the Navtool and control it with a BT mouse---all using external power. It works nicely but merely points out how close I am to actually achieving what I want (touch screen control).
Also, have either of you looked into mapping some of the other radio buttons to control the PC---I have seen threads from others where they have been able to make this work, too.
If csmeance happens to be viewing this thread (or if either of you have communicated with him) has he been able to make the PnP touch screen controller I have seen mentioned in threads? (I guess I will PM him directly).
Finally, have you had any reliability issues or any other commentary on the general experience? Can I count on you guys if I run into serious trouble?
Thanks a lot!
Dave

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

As far as i know csmeance has not finished a pnp touch screen controller. But the list above should be just your basic amount of items but i bought extra since the damn things are so small. I did buy this which made whole lot less soldering but you will need to electrical tape the metal since the relay prongs are so close that they might touch. http://cgi.ebay.com/100-Solderless-R...3286.m20.l1116

I thought about looking into mapping other keys but have been busy with other projects on the car so once all that slows down than i can read into mapping other keys.

So far the system has been working great and i would love to incorporate a nice sound system but one thing at a time. I am usually always online during work hours so if you have any problems i should be able to help you with it. Let me know if there are any thing else i can do for you.

dwb993

iTrader: (13)

Thanks, man. Slight wait for parts and plans review, but I'm sure you will hear from me.

wrxyboy

iTrader: (2)

Not a problem it was a lot easier than i thought it would be. But i will help in anyway i can.

Styop05

I have been working on my carputer for about 6 months now and I am very close to being done. Im using mac mini with Extron 109XI converter ... how do connect the BNC wires get connected to the relay? when cutting the BNC wire to expose the internals... there are two wires in each cable.. is on of these a negative? if so where does to connect to.. terminal 13 ground in the car harness?? i tried connecting the grounds to the chassis but it fried my mac mini as a result... any ideas?