Is this possible or am I dreaming? LCD monitor mounting.

Hey all,

The front end is Centrafuse. I am using their demo at the moment but will buy their SE version (USD$124) soon. No need to pay USD$275 for the satnav function because if you can get hold of the Destinator 6 Aussie maps (PM me if you want to know how) you can easily add them and then you have the full XLE version for the price of the SE version.

Hakhawk, I would love to give RoadRunner a try but had a go at installing it on my Laptop and it took to much configuring for my liking and I wanted something I could get going straight out of the box (so to speak). If you could help me in a few weeks time when all this is finished I would love to give RoadRunner a go. Because it is open source there are so many plugins that it can do almost anything (except drive the car for you while you watch a DVD).

Anyway, here is a bit of a update on the progress.

* pulled the laptop apart and hotwired a switch to it and mounted the switch in the dash (just in front of the T/C button) otherwise I would have no way to turn it on and off once mounted under the passenger seat. Never done this kind of stuff before but found some good info on MP3Car.com - Your source for mobile computing solutions! I had 3 screws left over after I put it all back together . . . but it worked.

* had to remove the IR remote sensor from the circuit board of the LCD and attached it to an extension cable (just used telephone cable as I needed 3 wires). Mounted the IR receiver inside the A/C vent on the centre console. It works a treat and the only way you can see it is if you get a torch and take a close look inside.

* got sick of having to use the remote to turn the monitor on so I decided to try and hotwire a switch to it using what I had learned from my experience with the laptop switch. Much to my amazement it worked and I mounted the switch next to the switch for the PC (in front of the T/C switch)

* thought I was pretty clever and noticed that I had 1 spare spot to mount a switch next to the T/C switch so I thought I would install 2 USB port in the centre console. Not sure what I am going to use them for but everyone that sees them goes WOW! I guess I could put a movie or music on a memory stick and plug it into the dash or use them to charge some of my portable electronic devices that charge from USB.

* I got a price from Holden for the factory buttons and they were going to cost $21 each plus $12 for a new bezel ($53 total). The 2 I used were from Dick Smith and only cost $2 each. I pulled the USB ports out of an old computer at the office.

* have used a few spots of silicone to hold everything in place inside the pod (monitor mount) to be able to do a road test. I still have to pull the pod off again to get a panel beater to spray it for me.

* tested the satnav and the media functions of the front end (Centrafuse) and it all works a dream.

* did some daytime driving today to see what effect the sun would have on the visability of the screen. The result was good, you can always clearly see what is on the screen but it is not as good at is at night. I would say at night I would rate the screen 8/10 (it is only a cheapie and need better contrast) and by day it would be a respectable 5/10. Some have suggested that I would not be able to see anything during the day but that is not the case.

* the touch screen was easy to setup and works perfect. Just install the drivers and plug in the USB and away it goes.

* had to run some new wires from the fuse box (never done this before either) as I already had my bluetooth car kit wired onto the back of the cigarette lighter and thought I would draw too much current if I ran both the LCD screen and Computer off this as well. After a lot of soldering and testing with a mates multimetre it all worked first time.

* I should mention that all none of my switches or wiring for accessories are hard wired. I have wired everything to plugs so if I want to remove the centre console again I can unplug everything very easily.

* mounted laptop upside down under the passenger seat and it is held in place by valcroe that is bolted to the floor (used self tapping screws).

* had to mount an unpowered 4 port USB hub under the seat aswell because the laptop only had 2 USB ports (and bluethooth was using one and the touch screen the other). Will be using a USB wireles adaptor to connect to my home network and upload music and movies. Will also do a bit of "wardriving" and find a few unsecure wireless networks around the place to use to check my email and stuff during the day. I can also connect wirelessly to my network at the office (I own a real estate agency).

* the pod still needs some fine sanding to be absolutely perfect but I will wait until next weekend to do this as I am really over the fabrication thing at the moment (over 50hrs of work went into it and the dust was insane . . . I worked outside but alot blew inside and put a fine coat of dusk over everything).

* I will post a few pics of the switches below. I should have taken a photo of the laptop before I put the seat back in but forgot (I will take one when I pull everything apart to get the pod painted).


In relation to the next project . . . . I am going to wire the laptop audio out directly into the head unit as per this website GTO Hard Wire Tutorial

I was going to use Phreddy's mod but it looked like a lot of work. I don't mind if my CD player is spinning all the time with a blank audio CD in it. If it eventually wears out who cares (I never listen to CDs anyway).

Here's the pics:













The only work I plan on doing this week is hard wiring the carputer to the head unit. I can't do this until I get my new head unit (old one is getting replaced under warranty as the plastic cracked . . . before I begun my project - lucky). New head unit is supposed to arrive this week. I ordered it weeks ago but I think Holden forgot. I rang them on Friday and they said it was due in on Moday - convenient!

 

That is actually why I bought the Lilliput screen. I have seen the posts on mp3car that enable auto-on. I just have to punch a series of numbers in through the remote but haven't got around to doing it yet. I wanted the hard wired button anyway so I did that first.

 

Thanks for the encouragement Burnie.

In my last post I forgot to mention a problem that I am having. I am going to post in the mp3car forum about it but maybe someone here could help too.

The laptop is connected to the car electrics via a power adaptor that I bought from supercheap auto (I cut the cigarette lighter off the end and hard wired it to the fuse box).

Anyway, when the laptop is connected to the car electrics this way it puts a small amount of interference onto the LCD screen. The interference comes in pulses that coincide with CPU usage. When the CPU is idle there is no interference. If I park in the garage at home and connect the laptop up to the 240v adaptor there is no interference on the LCD screen at all. I don't know a lot about electronics but I presume that the 12v car adaptor is responsible for the interference.

I have heard of "ground loop" interference somewhere in the distant past. Is this the most likely cause. The biggest confusion is why the interference comes in pulses that match the CPU usage?

Is there some kind of filter that I can buy to get rid of this interference?

I should mention that the interference is not real bad. If I have my sunglasses on I can't notice it at all. Sitting in the garage at home or at night the interference is more noticable.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

 

I have no idea what can be done. I have also posted on mp3car to try and find out.


BTW, I went to see a panel beater this morning that is a friend of a friend. He said he would spray my "pod" for $30-$40 cash. I asked him if I gave him $100 cash would he spend some time doing a bit of sanding to make it look absolutely perfect and he said "hell yeah".

Will get the spraying done next week.

 

Hi Guys,

Here's this weeks update:

* no more fabriaction this week. Drove around all week road testing everthing and it went excellent.

* have definitely decided to start prototype 2 as soon as proto 1 is finished and installed in my car. All my mates love it and it isn't even painted yet.

* proto 2 will definitely be a lot sleeker design. Driving around all week looking at it I have decided the bottom of the screen could be brought forward and down by about 10mm (but this might require a small amount of cutting inside the cavity in the dash).

* the side wings on proto 2 will be smaller, thinner and rounded rather than square edges (to try and match the round edges on the speedo cover). Screen will be tilted down slightly more.

* after playing around getting the wiring and mounting right on proto1 I reckon I could install one of these (including the buttons/switches) in a VZ in less than 2hrs. I have pulled the centre console out of my car so many times I can do it with my eyes closed now.

* I have made the unit so it is totally removable and can be removed without any tools in just a few minutes. I think I would only remove it if I was going on holiday and parking at the airport for several days or something similar.

* I am very interested in the 2 posts about the possible commercial use of a product like this. As a coincidence I was a police officer in Qld in 1995 when in car computers were first introduced (I was in the Highway Patrol and we were the first to get them). This product is far superior to what is being used by the police in QLD (I have 3 relatives in the Qld Police still) however my product is custom made for a VZ commodore. The Police always have the latest models as they turn the vehicles over so quick (40,000kms in 6mths). The currunt in car computers are basically a laptop mounted an a custom made metal arm which is bolted to the floor on the front passenger side. It doesn't look beautiful but it serves its purpose and is quite functional.

* I think that there is definitely a marked for a product like this but I honestly don't have the energy to drive it to a commercial release. If there is anyone out there that wants to get into a joint venture (it wouldn't really need any capital injection just a lot of leg work) then I'm interested to discuss it further.

* the actual cost of the screen (fully assembled with LCD, but not installed in the vehicle) would be around $500. The screen cost $250 of ebay (I guess that you could probably get them for less than $200 if you bought 10 at a time) and the cost of the fibreglass material would be about $100. The other $200 would be the labour involved with fabrication and assembly of the electronics.

* am going to go to a wrecker and try and buy the top part of the centre console before I start proto 2 as I am sick of the dust in my car from testing proto1 whilst it was being shaped.

* those that have commented about the size would be amazed if they saw the pod installed in the vehicle. I don't know why but when I look at the photos I think it looks big too, but looking at it in the car with the naked eye it doesn't look half as big. Put it this way, no-one that has seen it in real life has commented about its size (I'm still talking about the pod . . . . not my anatomy!)


Once I get proto1 back from the panel beaters next week I will take a detailed set of photos of the assembly and installation and post them for future reference. I feel like I am really starting to get close to having the final product in my car now.

 

Holden Logos - Graphic Desing Help?

I'm taking proto1 to the panel beaters to get sprayed tomorrow so over the weekend I have been configuring the "front end" that I will be using to control everthing.

As mentioned in a previous post I will be using a front end called "Centrafuse" which can be downloaded at http://www.fluxmedia.com.au

The program is skinable but my graphic design skills are quite basic. I really only wanted to customise the skin on the main page and this is what I have come up with so far . . . .



My attempts to customise the skin have not only been limited by my graphic design abilities but also by the lack of Holden logos and VZ SV6 images available on the internet. If anyone can help me I need the following:

1. Good Quality SV6 logo (the one I am using is from a photo but there must be a proper logo out there somewhere)
2. A Holden font (if one exists)
3. Some hi-res Holden logos (silver lion, red lion, Commodore, SV6, VZ etc)
4. A really good photo of a blue VZ SV6 on a black or dark background
5. Someone with some talent that would volunteer to help me with the graphic design of the skin (the main page only). Button must remain in same position as I can be bothered totally re-doing the skin . . . I just want to change the main image to customise it.

Please PM me if you can help with any of these.

 

The graphics are PNG files (with a transparent background) so I don't think you can animate them. It is easy enought to convert a JPG or BMP file to PNG so if you have anything that looks good let me know.