Thread: Listen to my newbie idea! (mini touchscreen on door panel)

Well it woulnt be orignal, but in the door it would be. in other words, its been done, but a touch screen in the dash to replace all the other ac controls locks ect ect. Besides, unless you can program a PLC or some sort of microcontroler, it would suck to wait for a carputer to boot just for the ac to come on =-/

Originally Posted by cheerio

it would suck to wait for a carputer to boot just for the ac to come on =-/

Not if it was used to only change settings. The AC will the same as when you turned the engine off.

Then if you want to change it you wait <1 min

well a control panel just for settings like the windows or simple things like that wouldnt be such a hard task would it?, i mean it would be cool just to see give someone ideas and see other people try to do it.

Cheap way to do it, use old Palm Pilots or CE PDAs. Mold them into the handle where you want the screen, and run a serial cable from them to a PIC (like a Basic Stamp, if you're not familiar with the term). You have three serial lines to the PIC, one from each PDA and one from your carputer. The PIC controls the relays to do each thing on its own, so you don't need the carputer running to use it, you're using the PDA to issue immediate commands to the PIC over serial. As a bonus, whenever the computer is on, it acts like it's own controller and just tells the PIC via serial when it wants stuff to happen, that way you can write a pretty interface for the carputer.

Finally, you take a cradle for the PDAs and wire regulated power into it so that it keeps the PDAs charged.

You can probably find used PDAs for super cheap if they're not the latest/greatest.

Things needed:
1. PDAs to serve as touchscreen controls
2. Cradles for PDAs to handle serial and charging, probably comes with each PDA.
3. A microcontroller to control the actual relays.
4. A program for the PDAs to display your UI and take commands and send them over serial.
5. A program on the microcontroller to listen on the 3 serial lines and control the relays based on received commands.

Estimated cost for everything except the actual relays: $150 plus time.

Originally Posted by Enforcer

Not if it was used to only change settings. The AC will the same as when you turned the engine off.

Then if you want to change it you wait <1 min

then wouldnt you have to have some sort of microcontroler to reinstate those settings. In my car the AC componets are via switch, analog, nothing digital. So if i wanted to change the HVAC to a computer controled setup, the comptuer would have to turn it on after it boots, OR i woudl have to have some kind of micro controller inbetween to do it for me untill the cpu is up to do it. Does this make sence?

If you have manual AC then yes you would prbably need to build some sort of interface.

thats cool thanx for all who responded, what do yall really think about this project? doable or non doable? cause if i do indeed go through with this it will take alot of time yes and i of course need a expert for the micro controller and to connect everything

I think it's a nice challenge, and if you've got the time and money got for it.


I must say it's given me some food for thought. But I've got to get my main install fully finished first.


Another thing I am thinking off is having small scrrens inside on the doors and have small cameras where the side mirrors are.

just another thought

the Camera idea is HORRIBLE, just immagine, your going 80mph, your screen gets 30fps, and a car cuts you off, and you gotta change lanes with the quickness, you look in your side veiw, it says its clear, BOOM, you get hit by another car going 140 that your camera didnt update to see yet. heh, just hypothetical.