Thread: USB socket in dash solutions? show me yours!

yeah maccess over here sell them for not a lot. did look pretty ugly but i might hide it away in the glovebox

I've seen those on a few UK sites. What size hole did you need to drill? Do they come with the screws for fitting? Pleased with the final result?

One thing you can do is just go down to Fry's, or whatever cool computer store (not big box, they won't help much) near you, and get a bracket made for a add-on card, or they even sell them with the cable attached to connect to a USB connector on the motherboard. I'm sure you could find it online, too. THey are usually made from aluminum so are easily bend-able and paintable to match the location you're putting it into. Plus, you get the cool little usb connector insignia. No pix for ya but that's what I did. You'd never know it didn't come with the car. I owe the board a bunch of pix on my work log so I'll try and get those up within the next couple days.

I remember seeing some of those used a few years back. Like the plate that goes in the floppy drive or 5 1/4" CD front panel. They have multiple USB ports, Firewire, headphone, mic, buttons, LEDs, LCDs, all kinds of stuff. Some are plastic too, and some could be cut down to fit an ashtray.

I've had two versions in my car. The first was just power only and a serial port to a GPS receiver. I was using an iPaq 3670 with TomTom 6 for my navigation back then. The left and right LEDs are TX and RX for the serial port. The center LED is a USB power indicator.



In upgrading to a full CarPC, I swapped out the connector for a different design. This one connects to the USB hub I have up front so it has both power and data. The top center LED is a USB power indicator.



In both cases, I wanted a flush-mounted look without the two screws usually used to mount the USB connector. I used the plastic ribs inside the switch blank to secure a basic perfboard which has the USB connectors and LEDs mounted to it. Then I used a USB cable from a dead mouse to run to the hub.

I like my design because I think it fits in with the Saab look but the new Fiat 500 has a nice USB connector that looks like it could be installed easily in other cars, i.e. it appears to be front mounted through an opening in the center console.

did it that way in the end, buy poking a standard lead through and carefullying filing a rectangle into the panel. works ok i spose

I use a panel mount ps2 connector from datapro to interface with my ecu. Imho anything that isn't expertly fabricated or the right tool for the job just looks sloppy.

Datapro panel mount usb

They even have some that go straight to the mobo

I grabbed one of these, took the dual USB connector off, and bolted it to a hole on my dash. The hole matched the cutout in the metal bracket. Most computer stores will stock these (or similar) brackets.

Originally Posted by CapnBoost

I use a panel mount ps2 connector from datapro to interface with my ecu. Imho anything that isn't expertly fabricated or the right tool for the job just looks sloppy.

Datapro panel mount usb

They even have some that go straight to the mobo

but you still have to cut the correct shape slot out which is where the error is usually, and the 2 screws look hideous. i'm happy with mine tbh, i got the square the right shape but had to bend the USB slot to fit into the hole so it looks a bit bent, but it's 1. in the ashtray and 2. you can't see it when theres something plugged in so meh