lol carpetting and such are all planned, but I'm (surprisingly enough considering I just did this mod) unemployed and really short on money.

 

Powersupply came yesterday. Seems as though the seller sent me a defective unit, which I'm assuming is why he was selling in the first place. Trying to talk to the manufacturer to make sure it's defective, if so I'm going to try and return it to the seller. If he won't give me a refund, it'll be another month or two before I can afford another power supply.

 

Booo! That's no fun! Did you buy it on ebay? If you don't mind me asking. Keep us posted!

 

Yeah, really kicking myself in the ****. I paid about $180 for it off ebay, when I could've gotten it for $170 from mp3car.com's store. DOH! Atleast a store I can trust more than a random seller.

 

Just to update, the company that the ebay seller bought the power supply from actually is allowing me to send the power supply to them, and they'll replace it for me as I guess these can be defective. So, she's been running off the inverter and regular 110 power supply. Finally got a streaming video, though, and it doesn't take long to load:

This video is a walkthrough of some of the main features of the carPC
http://videos.camaroz28.com/Player.a...F7470C698D&p=0

 

Have you ever used anything but an inverter?

I've been thinking about the Opus 150 and how to wire it. Is that the one you got on e-bay?

I'm thinking I'll trigger the opus through the regular radio IGN wire. That is the wire that is controlled by RAP (retained accessory power).

I'm thinking I will power the monitor using that IGN line so that the monitor powers up and down just like the radio does. I like that plus it will turn the monitor off when you open the door. I'll probably set the opus to 20minute delay so that when you get out, the monitor turns off, but the computer stays running for another 20 minutes.

Turning off the engine doesn't turn off the radio for about 10 minutes (RAP) so that would be fine. I could turn off the engine and turn the key to ACC and the monitor won't even flicker.

I thought about doing it this way so that the monitor won't stay on after I get out of the car so as not to attract thieves. The monitor can be wired to turn on with IGN or ACC and will go off like I mentioned above.

Is this how you have yours setup or have you tried it like that?
If not, how is your monitor powered and controlled and do you like it that way?

 

I tried getting the Opus to work, but no luck. So it's just been running off the inverter and regular ATX power supply. The 150 is an excellent choice -- as long as it's not defective lol. I originally used the switched power source that goes to the radio, but I was only reading like 8v from that wire. I ended up running a wire straight to the radio's fuse, where I know it'd be a solid 12v switched with the ignition. I was planning on powering the monitor off of the opus as well, as the opus does have a few 12v outputs I could just use that. As for the shutdown delay, I'll be doing 10seconds. I don't really see the point of having it on after the car's off and you're walking away. It'll drain your battery fast. I already had to purchase a new battery because my old one just wouldn't power the carPC and radio and amp and subs for that long. My computer shuts down using hibernation mode, so how long it's running after the ignition is turned off is purely based off of how long you want it running when you're not in the car. In my case, with the inverter and ATX power supply, I also power the monitor right now off the inverter. It works decently, I get slight humming in my audio from the AC part of it, but it's not too bad. I have my carpet up covering the power supply and inverter as much as possible, so it's not TOO noticeable aside from the ATX power wires lol. I'm just dying to get the new Opus so I can get it 100% fully installed and finished, I don't mind manually pressing hibernate when I want it to power down and then flicking the inverter on and off with the car, but it would be nice not to have to worry about that anymore.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the lilliputs made for car use and have a range of voltages that you would see in a car? Like from 11-14 or around that? I meant to check, but I'm not sure.

What I planned was powering the monitor from the car battery (plenty of voltage) and then use a relay in that circuit that was triggered by the IGN line. Whether I powered the monitor from the PSU or the car I still planned to use a simple relay to make sure the monitor acted like the radio as far as powering up and down.

I haven't really decided what delay I would use on the opus. 20 minutes sounds nice, but like you said, it may be a bit too long. The 10 seconds may work out better. I figure if I want to keep the puter on while getting out I can turn the key from RUN to ACC in less than a second or 2 so that may be the way to go. It's just one of many details I have yet to figure out.

 

You also mentioned yu had a 10" screen in the car. What happened to it? Why go with a smaller screen?
I plan to use a 10" in my car so any info would be appreciated.

 

how much would it cost just to do the carputer? and where can you buy it from? Looks good! i really like the carbon fibre center console!

 

Check out the pic below for a rough guidline.
If you already have a PC them that saves a lot of money. GPS can be added for about $80 plus some "found" software on the web. The biggest PSU would be the Opus 150watt at $160 instead of the M1 at $80.

So basically, $270-$300 for a nice monitor and $160 for a good DC-DC PSU. The computer is up to you.

Monitors and PSU's can be got at MP3car:
http://www.mp3car.com/store/

 

They do have a wide range of inputs, but again same with the whole power regulator situation, voltage drops dramatically during engine crank, which could then potentially damage the electronics of the monitor. Having it wired through a 12v source of the opus will protect it, some even say to use a fuse between the opus and the monitor but that seems overkill IMO.

As for the 10" screen, my original carPC that I purchased was a 10.5" touchscreen kiosk. I had the entire bezel fiberglassed and ready and went to install it when I realized the motherboard on the kiosk PC was way too large to be installed in the car. So, that's when I purchased the Via Epia mini-ITX motherboard. Well, the kiosk PC's motherboard was proprietary and the touchscreen & LCD would not work on the Via Epia motherboard, so by that point it was either reverse engineer the plug that was made for the LCD and the touchscreen, or just buy a new screen. I decided to go with a smaller screen, which really is a better decision IMO as the 10.5" just did not fit right, and the bezel was huge. Atleast with this system that I have now, it's just a customized stock bezel and it fits right, I really didn't change too much of the bezel to get the screen to fit. Also, when the screen is right there, 7" is a pretty good size to press buttons and stuff.

For my entire setup, roughly a grand is how much I spent, but that's including the original kiosk PC that I spent $150 on, and parts that I ended up not using. Not bad, though, if you ask me... for the price of a new computer, I got a new computer in my car lol. Thanks for the compliments on the carbon fiber console, so far it's been mixed on what I really think of it. The shifter piece works well, but the console lid isn't as good so I'll probably end up redoing that.

 

Looking Good. Rex

 

Thanks Rex.

 

i have to agree it is a little to musy for me also but the main thing is it is your can you do toit as you please.

 

I think the camera really does play tricks on that, though. When you're actually in the car or seeing it in person, it really doesn't seem busy at all. The red is there, but you don't really notice it all that much. S'all good, though, to each their own, I wasn't modding my car for other people to like it, I'm modding it for myself.

 

I see a few people have commented on how Meissens PC doesn't look "good enough" for them. Keep in mind you can do them any number of ways. Molding in a screen can be done so many ways, your only limited to your imagination. Here are a few pics of other F-body installs. See what you think.

 

Now those look professionally done!

 

Yeah, I'm seriously jealous of people with 97+ interiors because they have the lovely dash that is MADE for the screens. Unfortunately, mine wasn't, so I had quite a bit of custom molding that I had to do to get mine to work.

 

My point is that none of those are professionally done. They were all done by normal guys building stuff in their house.

I think Meissen's unit could look 100 times better with another coat of bondo to fill the low spots and some more sanding. Then maybe a textured finish in flat or semi flat black. That would give it a stock look for sure. I mean, you already did a lot of work and have a nice molded shape. Your just 90% there.

In my opinion, I think the monitor buttons really give it away that it's not stock. You would never see those buttons on a Lexus, etc...

So Meissen, what you might consider doing (if you really don't need front access to those buttons) would be to move that little circuit board to the side or rear or some place out of the way and fill in the button holes. What that would let you do is wrap the whole unit in a nice matching vinyl.

I'm around car audio guys all the time and they could stretch and wrap the vinyl around that and made it look like it came with the car. Seriously.

Have you considered that?