Nrgizerbunny's Carpc Thread

[nrgizerbunny]

okay, todays update.

Well I ditched roadrunner front end and replaced with freeice. works well.

Radio works ace too! i was worried by that but the corolla aerial seems to work even though on the back of the radio it says 75ohm. I used 50Ohm cable and butchered it into my silabs tuner and wahoo it works, crystal clear.

[chenks]

have you tried the centrafuse frontend ?

i played about with the trial and was impressed with it.

[Kerby]

i can recommend centrafuse as well. i had it running on my car pc when i had my yaris. great piece of kit and really easy to use

[nrgizerbunny]

problem is centrafuse is not free!

current progress: Steering wheel controller being built! Got all the resistor values, just need to build the comparator.

[chenks]

problem is centrafuse is not free!

current progress: Steering wheel controller being built! Got all the resistor values, just need to build the comparator.

you can download a free trial to see what it's like, but yeah it is a tad expensive.

[nrgizerbunny]

current progress. I'm building my interface for the steering wheel control. Got 2 of the triggers sorted, just need to get back home tomorrow and do the others. Its a ballache! also need to add some more components

[shazzbaa]

Proper desk that is :D

Nice work BTW .

[chenks]

so is this all complete now then ?

[nrgizerbunny]

I'm having a mare putting the steering wheel controls in. I had it done then my exciting soldering iron action caused me to fry 3 joypads on the trot! whoops.

[chenks]

is this utilising the existing controls on the steering wheel ? or adding new ones?

[nrgizerbunny]

using the existing ones, but i'm trying to get it so that if you press lets say the "mode" and the Vol+ button it does something extra. but on each button if that makes sense.

[nrgizerbunny]

Right, I finally sorted out the steering wheel controls, after much swearing and blinding and 2 fried joypads due to my excited soldering.

I've got the following options.

Vol +/-, Seek+/-, Mode

The above held down for 1 second

Then a combination of Mode and another key pressed at the same time, ie Mode and Vol- , Mode and Vol +,

I think i've got about 12 possible combinations out of 5 buttons there.

I'm going to do a final install on my car over the weekend.

[-T- Sport]

Well done!

Can't wait to see the pics. Sounds awesome :D

[nrgizerbunny]

well despite the woes with the black diamond bits and pieces. here's my carPC, in and functional.

I've got FreeICE, with the following bits of Kit:

Steering wheel controls - works a treat. If anyone wants the schematic e-mail me. You can also use this for Pioneer/Clarion headunits. Total cost was £2.50

Silabs Radio

Wireless bluetooth Keyboard

bluetooth Rx (works with the phone as well, so you can dial/text and stuff from the carpc)

Wifi

DVD, CD etc all that.

Unfortunately in this last picture the flash picked up the gap between the hvac system and the radio, you can't see it in normal running but it shows up on here.

[borodaz]

amazing you must be a very clever bloke, how much you charge to set it up in my car ? LOL

[farhanali89]

I Really like that your finishing was really flush!

u should charge for fitting it! if possible i may be interested in fitting a double din screen if for the right price i may come to you to fit the screen etc as you know your stuff.

[-T- Sport]

Very well done to you sir! Have a cookie.

[cabcurtains]

Superb job, your obviously a man with patience and dedication

[nrgizerbunny]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

Funny you should say that, since doing my carputer i've had a large number of requests for doing "fabrication" work. Might start it as a business on the side. I didn't think it was that good to be honest. If anyone actually wants one doing, then PM me, cos it was good fun and i'd do it again. I will post up the circuit diagrams and stuff just in case anyone else is thinking about doing one. Most of my time was spent building steering wheel controls etc.

I'm going stick a dvd player and usb port in the little cubby hole above the ashtray and below the hvac.

[farhanali89]

No definitely if you can do work like that do some work in fabrication because that looks great! and there is good money involved in labour costs there. If you find it fairly straight forward then why not.

[maddatta]

Good stuff!

[shazzbaa]

RE: 'fried joypad'

Don't know if you know but you can get a can of spray to freeze delicate components to save damaging them while soldering .

[nrgizerbunny]

yeah, i managed to short the joypads out - had some dodgy connections so grounded the wrong wires = fried joypad.

[macdonb2]

Just after finding this thread now all i can say is...................wow !

This is the type of thing we should see more often, people doing something new and not holding back on their know how and installation procedure, hat off to you pal.

I spent weeks trying to connect a genuine toyota sub to the head unit as i didn't have the lead so had to make my own could have done with a man of ur expertise!!

[bitman]

very nice job!

at the moment i`m also building my carpc for my rav 4. it's a bit easier since i don't have steering wheel controls ;)

thanks for sharing your experience with us, very useful.

have fun,

bt