Thread: New Guy, thought I'd say hey *pics of carpc included*

So Hey!

I finally have a chance to set down and make an introduction after frequent reading of this forum for about 6 months.

I will make it sort and simple and will include some photos if its ok.

First off I wanted to thank everyone involved with the upkeeping of the site/forum and for providing everyone with all this nice lovely data, I understand how hard it is to keep up with everything as I am an administrator and co-owner of a local import site here where I am from. I decided to build a carpc not having a lot of knowledge on frontends or PC GPS but thanks to everyone here and their experiences I have finally completed mine and hope to do upgrades and even more carpc's in the future.

I work 2 jobs and so does my lady but in the mean time I researched the Lilliput and IGuidance and finally put it all together in her 2000 Explorer. I did take some ideas from a couple other ford guys like the headunit faceplate pillar mount and molding techniqes, but its all my work and this is only my 2nd post.

My PC was just a temp solution but it works great for what I need, heres the specs and everything I purchased/built for the carpc:

- XMD1000 Receiver module $20 ebay
- XMDKEN100 Kenwood XM to CD Changer Adapter $20 ebay
- PAC SWI-X Steering wheel control interface $50 google search
- 4 port USB w/ Activity LEDs $1.50 ebay
- Lilliput 7" Touch Screen TFT Monitor $270
- Lilliput 7" Dummy Case $15
- IGuidance V2.1.3 (3 cd set) w/receiver mouse usb $175 Inav
- E-PC 40 20gig 1ghz 512mb cd-rom $100 ebay
- Mobile Impact Front end (just cause it was simple and easy) $0.00
- Camis NTSC Composite Color camera (reverse image) 75deg view $45 ebay
- 50ft Flat CAT-5 cable for faceplate relocation $30 radioshack
- Kenwood KDC MP628 reciever (sirrius ready/HD ready) 64 color Dot Matrix $0.00
- Shutdown Controller w/custom LED output header (last two pics) $80.00
- 7ah 12v Battery $25.00
- Isolator Diode $20.00
- Bondo $0.00
- Marglass $8.00
- Misc Expenses including glues, tapes, cables, plugs etc $175

FYI for newbies or low budget builders:
I Read somewhere that USB 1.1 is limited to 6ft. I dont know where those figures came from because I am doubled at 12ft and the only problem I EVER had was a touchscreen malfunction on occation due to low power from the inverter I am using. Once I setup my Tank - everything has been fine. I tapped into my Power and Ground from my amp and sub setup for power to my inverter and circuits and I've never noticed any hums or distortions in my sound system. All of my circuits are mounted behind my rear passenger (4 door) seats and travel in the factory wiring harness container to the dash and split off from there, I've never had any low voltage issues from the length of the DC power. Make sure your main ground is 1 to 2 ft however. Also dont run high current 12+ lines throughout the car, whenever possible only run 12v- or use relays to minimize short circuits or fires. Zipties and Electrical tape is a must to keep your setup nice but lay everything out first and let this be your last step or you will have random zipped wires and tape everywhere that you'll need to cut off and redo later. If you bondo, use a sanding block or something straight so your work looks good, dont just settle for moderate quality when it could be so much better, always sand your primer too! Goodluck! and remember to

Here's some pics, they may be deleted if needed - they are also listed in more detail on my forum http://www.nwaimports.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7473