Thread: 2004 Mitsubishi Lancer - Ralliart

I replaced the back seat ash tray with a 110V GFCI outlet and a metal outlet cover made it blend in with the rest of the car.

-Forgive the black sheet and towels in the back seat. I case you didn't notice the enormis amount of hair in the car, suffice it to say, I have a dog. The fitted black sheet and towels is the best option I have found to keep the upholstery nice while being able to transport the dog.-

Setup works great for long road trips with laptops/cell phone chargers. Less of an issue with longer battery life in current laptops. Was awesome in 2005.

Here is the general design of the system. Knowing what I know now, I would definitely build it differently. However, considering I designed this when I was a freshman engineering student and built it as a sophomore, the system has worked great.

There have been two hardware failures in 4 years. The <AudioOut> on the motherboard failed (replaced a protection diode to repair), most likely due to circulating ground currents. The inline FM modulator failed in the same time frame (failed transistor, replaced), most likely due to circulating currents. Failures happened after 2 years. I corrected the issue by adding an isolation circuit, and have had no other problems. Tank circuit has started to get a little weak. Good for about 30-60 seconds instead of the original 10 minutes depending on temperature. Considering it easy experienced +2500 startups, and a lead acid battery just isn't made for that, I'm satisfied with the performance.

Below are slides from a class presentation on this project.



POWER CONDITIONING OF INPUT



COMPUTER SYSTEM



*Note, hard drive is installed outside computer case. Resides in a foam holder, vertically mounted for shock. MII-12000 motherboard in final build. MII-ATX in final build.

AUDIO INTERFACE TO STOCK SYSTEM