Need some help here (long)

**EclipseMP3** · 12-03-2000, 02:42 AM

I would just like to say that I can ask these questions legitimately because I have used the search feature more times than I can count and have read posts starting back in December 1999 up until about June 2000 until my eyes started burning....so don't flame me.

From my research I have figured out pretty much everything except some key questions that I just can't figure out...thats where you MP3 veterans come in.

First I will say my intentions then the questions. I want to put a system into the car that I can expand later on. I have a 2000 Mitsubishi Eclipse. I want a character display 40x4 that I will mount in a factory pod in top of the dash (seen <a href="http://www.totaleclipseonline.com/images/myafc.jpg">here</a>). I will be running windows 98 (98Lite maybe) on the PC with a DC-DC PS and a keypad inteface for now. I can do all the PC stuff i just have some questions about the display.

Questions:
1. I am pretty confused on what type of display to get. Reliability is a major issue. Some people say that their backlit LCD's get majorly hot after about 15 minutes. I also like the inverted LCD's (green on black backlight) and the VFD's. I know the VFD's handle temperature better but man are they expensive.

2. Do any of the displays have brightness/contrast controls? Either hardware or software?

3. All the pics of displays i see are of a PCB with a display attached. Are these ready for our cars as is.....aside from the soldering. Do they need polarized lenses or additional connecters aside from the serial/parallel cable that runs from the PC to the LCD?

4. Where do you ground the LCD at? Can you use the head unit's ground and tie into that? or will this create problems?
Basically I am just making sure I know how everything works and interconnects before I buy the parts. Later on I want to add a color TFT and DVD-ROM and still have the char display output music info. Any comments/recommendations/opinions are welcomed.

Thanks

**also for all the windows users you can use a software CPU cooler to lower the heat of the processor. I use CPU-Idle and my processor temp is 2 degrees above room temperature while winamp is playing (~20% CPU utilization--Celeron II 566@876--the chip going into carPC not oclocked though).

**kane2g** · 12-03-2000, 04:48 AM

Ok, im going to answer only what i know for a fact.

A2: If youre going with 4x40 lcd you have 2 controls (hardware) backlight brightness and text contrast (darker lighter) and they are done by using the 100 and 100k potentiometeres on most kits that i saw

A3: All you need is the dispaly, 2 pots, and cable. conect everything and voila. Simple instalation.

A4: I use the ground from the PS. You have four wires that would connect to your Hdd, red is +5, black(there are 2) is ground and yellow is +12, so i just ran a wire to the lcd, but you can also ground it through your parallel port, both methods work.

hope i helped.

**DodgeCummins** · 12-03-2000, 08:09 AM

Yup, the LCD thing is easy (other than the soldering).

Mine never gets hot, but there is some heat generated by the backlight.

I used a ps2 cord for the power and ground (plugs into mouse port) and the parallel cable for data.

I used a small project box to hold the resistors and wiring connections, then just ran a ribbon cable to the display.

My display had a 16 pin socket, I used the male end of a drive cable (probably a floppy or something like that) carved off 16 pins and wires and used that.

As long as the wiring is correct, it doesn't matter how you get it there.

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http://www.geocities.com/mr_bubba_zanetti/

**Aaron Cake** · 12-03-2000, 01:53 PM

Originally posted by EclipseMP3:
**also for all the windows users you can use a software CPU cooler to lower the heat of the processor. I use CPU-Idle and my processor temp is 2 degrees above room temperature while winamp is playing (~20% CPU utilization--Celeron II 566@876--the chip going into carPC not oclocked though).

For all intents and purposes, as long as you have a fan worrying about CPU temperature is a waste of time. Who really cares if the CPU is only 2 degrees above room temperature? The CPU is designed to operate for long periods of time at high temperatures, and with a fan you will stay well within the CPUs temp range. And as for reliability, the CPU will be obsolete 20 years before it will fail due to heat. If your machine is crashing due to excess heat, don't waste time with software. Instead, actually fix the problem by replacing the fan.

------------------
Aaron Cake
London, Ontario, Canada

Player: Cyrix 200, 32MB RAM, 10.2Gig Quantum HD, Onboard EtherNet/Sound/Video, Custom Lexan Case, Arise DC-DC, Win95 Kernal w/Custom Player
Car: '86 Mazda RX-7 w/Basic Performance Upgrades

**blkdragon6** · 12-03-2000, 04:25 PM

EclipseMP3,

Good choice of car man

.

If you have the money, I would just go for the TFT LCD. If you have even more money, I would buy a double din indash lcd so if you're worried about tearing up a new car, you don't have to (like me). Secondly, I wouldn't worry about cpu temperature too much. As long as the case your building has decent circulation of air and a cpu fan, you'll be ok.

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www.geocities.com/blkdragon6

**EclipseMP3** · 12-03-2000, 05:30 PM

Hey thanks I didnt expect such a quick response.

I meant to say you could use the software CPU cooler instead of a fan on the CPU. I was looking for a way to just have two fans in there...one pulling in front and one pushing out at PS. Mine is going under my seat so I just wanted to cut down on noise. I guess if its in the trunk it doesn't really matter. Anyway it was just a suggestion...the cpu idle takes insignificant amount of overhead.

Thanks for the info guys.

incidentally, about the backlight heat problem....do the inverted LCDs (color text on black backlight) get hotter than the regular LCDs? Like one of you said...it might be better just to go with the TFT. I still wouldn't mind an character display LCD readout of music while something else (GPS, game, etc.) is going on the TFT.

**EclipseMP3** · 12-03-2000, 05:48 PM

Hey blkdragon6,
nice setup man
I saw the pics on your site
do you have any of the finished product pics or have you done everything yet?

where did you find that in-dash LCD? I didnt even think of that one. The only ones I have seen would require me ripping the entire car apart.

if i could get one like that I would certainly go the TFT route if those aren't too expensive.

**cenwesi** · 12-04-2000, 07:12 AM

Ok I will try and Answer your last question. With CobraIII, it is very possible to have both TFT and LCD output at the same time. CobraII can do it since it has all the LCD routines in it, but i just NEVER applied them. I wrote that app simply for TFT screens.

------------------
abcd-1
Author of CobraI and CobraII.
For more information on the COBRA Application's please visit the link. For the latest or updated info on CobraII please click on the link. Get new updated files for CobraII here. ftp://pictures

ictures@128.8.187.126/d:/newdlls
You can contact me on AOL instant messenger....nick is Cenwesi
Webpage comming soon!

**blkdragon6** · 12-04-2000, 05:31 PM

Actually I bought it on ebay for 700, including shipping, at the time. As long as you buy a double din type of indash lcd you won't have to tear up your car at all, installing it wasn't all that hard and will probably be the least of your worries.

I posted some pics on this <A HREF="http://www.mp3car.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000080.html">message</A>. I haven't yet updated my website, but hopefully soon now that I have a bunch of new pics (man I'm lazy).

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www.geocities.com/blkdragon6

[This message has been edited by blkdragon6 (edited 12-04-2000).]

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