Thread: StevieG's Ford Focus Car PC

Originally Posted by Nic

buy some new speakers

No these ones do the job!

OK... I'm driving around CarPC'ed again for the moment, though the car is actually in pieces with half the plastic trim in my shed...

Right... So as you know, I've had the screen back for a while, tested it worked etc.. I'm now starting to build the new wiring loom for the system and bought a bunch of wiring to finish it all off. However for the moment I'm running the system on a different set of wiring to make sure everything works... and because I can't live without the Car PC!

So first off, with the dash disassembled, here's why the lilliput cannot be just 'fitted' whole in the fascia panel..



Quite simply, it doesn't fit. (Even cat in the right can see that)

So lucky I sent it to an expert!

With the original fascia panel off, I removed all the various switchgear, sockets etc and screwed them onto the new fascia panel..



And once together, it looks a lot more like it belongs in the dash (and weighs a hell of a lot more too..)



So... car in pieces (Im driving around with it looking pretty much like this right now while I lay wires...)



And in the house, the final testing of the setup in my secret lab mwwhahaha OK its the box room..



After laying the temporary wiring (using a karputer KCU, to be reviewed soon) it's thrown into the boot. Note, I'm using my OLD old case now for testing... I had to take the lid off though after a test drive to keep everything cool - this is where the testing is useful as I can gauge how much cooling the enclosure I'm designing will need..



And after getting that in, it was the screen...



and



Looks good in the above pics, and even better in the flesh. You wouldn't believe this, but in the name of 'testing' the circuit board for the lilliput is literally hanging behind, held by the various connectors to the screen. Not a permanent solution, I know! But after a few days of 'careful driving' I completely forgot and have been hammering it as usual. Suffice to say I will be cutting an MDF piece to support it properly for the final install.

Oh yes the final install... Well V4 will be the final one in this car and I won't be changing it (will re-read this in a year and see if I am eating my words) so even if I'm not using a feature I need to wire it in. To save regrets in the future, I won't be using any of the original stereo wiring. Power is as usual direct from the battery (now using hefty wiring) and sound will be going from the amp directly to the speakers using high quality cabling to make sure when I get round to changing the stock speakers I'll be happy with the quality. I'm also going to be taking the stock steering wheel to pieces to rebuild it on a keyboard controller for volume, tracks selection etc, and wiring in everything for reverse light switch, handbrake switch, light sensor etc (still finalising everything I should need auto-switching for) and fitting the reverse camera in. First things first I am finishing building the 'basic' wiring loom for the power and audio, and designing the diagram for where it's all going from/to over the weekend.

I'll tell you what, I'll be glad when it's finished and I can concentrate on the software side!

Originally Posted by Spaghetti

Looks pretty good Stevo - that fascia is indeed, excellenté....

Thanks, excellente avatar

i think that looks f@cking beautiful!, wish i could buy a car that had a good dash to play with

Stevie,

Where did you take the DC-DC power supply 12v input from when you had the PC boot install?

By the way, quality Carputer. It gives the Focus the ICE that it needs to match the drive. I have been very pleased with my Focus over the past two years that I have had it.

Originally Posted by Davefocus

Stevie,

Where did you take the DC-DC power supply 12v input from when you had the PC boot install?

By the way, quality Carputer. It gives the Focus the ICE that it needs to match the drive. I have been very pleased with my Focus over the past two years that I have had it.

I took the live +12V in the previous version from the rear cig lighter (the wire was good enough gauge) however I wired it from the actual wires themselves, I didn't leave wire it into the lighter socket.

Best way however is deffo. to use the battery though.

I guess the best way would be power supply line, direct from battery, down one side of Focus and aux line down the other side to reduce interference.

Originally Posted by Davefocus

I guess the best way would be power supply line, direct from battery, down one side of Focus and aux line down the other side to reduce interference.

Yep.Running the wire from battery is pretty much a sinch anyway, took me about 10 minutes for my new install.