01cl_blk

I'm building a car computer to be installed in the trunk of my black '01 CL. The specs on the system are:

EPIA MII12000 mini-ITX motherboard
Lilliput 7" Touchscreen (haven't ordered this yet)
CarNetix CNX-P1280 Dual Output 80 Watt 12V DC-DC Regulator (haven't ordered yet)
40Gb laptop hard drive
laptop slimline CD-RW drive
USB-powered GPS unit

I havent decided on the case yet, but I'm looking at a couple of the casetronic offerings.
The motherboard has an onboard PCMCIA slot, which will be used for 54G Wireless. The motherboard also has an onboard CompactFlash adapter, which will probably be used for loading custom GPS routes, etc.

There are a few parts of the process which I haven't completely figured out yet.

1. Is the Lilliput the best way to go? I see a lot of positive comments on here about the Xenarc. I definitely want a touchscreen, the thinner the better, speaker is not necessary and actually I'd prefer a screen without speakers.

2. What's the best way to run power cables from the battery to the trunk? I already tried prying up the plastic edging on the floor next to the driver's seat, and I think I should be able to run cables under the carpet from the drivers seat, under the rear seat, and into the trunk, but what's the best way to get from the battery to the driver's seat area?

3. Cooling issues... The trunk of that car, (pretty much any car) in the summer, gets... well, very hot. I'm not sure what methods people use to counter that. One idea I'm toying with is a pair of 120mm computer fans, one as an intake, one an exhaust, running through some kind of venting in the trunk floor... Another idea is a custom fan-vent fit into the trapdoor between the rear seats, on the trunk side.
I've considered building the system as small as possible so that it could be installed into the glove box, but I really do want to be able to use the motherboard's PCI slot for an audio card at a later date, and don't want to have to completely rebuild everything just to hook it into my speakers later.

4. This bring me to the audio card. Has anyone here done any work with having a computer run all the audio/video in the car, rather than a headunit? Is it even possible to run the car's speakers from a computer audio card? Do you have any recommendations for headunits that will take RCA inputs, and possibly computer audio inputs as well through an AUX input? I've looked on crutchfield.com but their configurator doesn't work for the '01 CL. Basically, I'm trying to get an idea of what my future options are for headunits that could handle computer audio signal as an input...

5. Placing/mounting the touchscreen so that it's easily viewed but doesn't get in the way while driving, and relatively easy to remove if I want to hide it completely. I've thought about some kind of dropdown or fold-down from the ceiling, but I think that would be hard to use while driving... Our dashboards are soooo damn long that mounting it against the windshield isn't really workable. Another idea is mounted right on the steering column in front of the gauges, on a fold-down hinge... Another idea I have is using a bendable metal arm, the kind that's used for holding sheet music. It could be bolted into the floor and then easily accessible by driver or passenger by positioning the arm. This is one of those aesthetic kind of issues that concerns me when it comes to installing the screen. I'm also concerned about keeping the cables as close to completely hidden as possible...

I know this is a real long post, sorry for that. I've been researching the machine itself for so long now, it's time to build it, but these are some of the nagging issues that I havent been able to really work out a solution for and I'm hoping someone here has come across them before and might be able to shed some light...

Thanks for any suggestions.

A

elduderino

Heat is the biggie, glad you hit on it.

It's important to remember than fan cooling - forced convection -only works if the air you're forcing is cooler than the heat sink you're forcing it over. Beyond a certain point, you're only moving air. Humans tend to forget this because we sweat in high temps, and the evaporation cools us - but not electronics.

The person I know of with the most experience doing what yoou're talking about is Brian at Benchmark Motoring in the Seattle area - formerly of Innovative Audio. Whether he'll help or not I don't know, but www.benchmarkmotoring.com.

I have some serious prejudices against in-car computing, so I'm a bad person to ask... but Alpines can have RCA inputs with an Ai-NET cable, and what would be cooler is if you had the PC control the HU thru a modified remote emulator.

Couldn't the monitor go into the navi LCD position (with that dash part?)

DerrickM

Wow. That's an ambitious project.

About the only question I can answer is the power wire. There's a grommet about half a foot above the gas petal (in the TL at least) that's perfect for that.

Besides cooling, I'd also be worried about clean power. You don't want spikes or dips going to the pc. I'm curious what you're planning to use--a special 12-volt computer power supply, or an inverter going to a normal 110v power supply?

elduderino

Oh, I forgot - my preferred method of pulling power wire is to either turn the wheel to full lock or take off the F wheel, and pull the plastic inner fender. Then you can fish from the top into the engine compartment and thru the kick into the pass compartment.

It can take longer than a grommet - but it's cleaner and looks factory.

01cl_blk

It's the CarNetix DC-DC regulator, wired between the battery and the computer, but wired directly to the motherboard on the computer. The power button on the computer case will be removed. When the ignition key is turned, the regulator waits 5 seconds and then boots the system.
Shutdown is jumper selectable. When the car is turned off, the computer either goes into sleep mode, hibernate mode, or shuts down smoothly after 30 seconds or after 15 minutes.
The CarNetix is designed to power a computer in a car. has self-resetting fuses, voltage regulation, power monitoring... For example, if the car's battery voltage drops below 10.5v the machine will auto-shutdown...

Check it out here:
http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=68
The manual is very detailed, available as PDF.

01cl_blk

Actually, the PSU I'm going to use is the M1-ATX Smart Automotive Power Supply

http://www.mp3car.com/store/product_...products_id=67

This one is wired directly to the motherboard of the computer. The CarNetix PSU requires the DC PSU that comes with the mini computer cases. The M1-ATX gets wired between the battery and the computer's motherboard.

[edit: it has the same features as the carnetix for power monitoring and shutdown control.]

optiq

i am looking into getting the liliput monitors for my head rests. i have a laptop mounted above the shifter and i have had it for 3 years. i use a stand from jottodesk.com. i used the blitzsafe adapter for the rca in and i have a ipower Dc adapter from radio shack hard wired to the cig lighter under the dash. lemme see if i have some pics.

damn i will have to take some

Brain

for audio, you can look into those USB sound devices that typically go into headphones but can also output to speakers...