2000 Range Rover - the basics

**J-Dub** · 08-25-2006, 08:26 PM

So I am obviously new here with my first post. After reading for the past two hours I am so happy with what I have found... mp3car.com that is

I am completely amazed at what some people do for fun! You guys certainly rock

I have been working for my company for 10 years. We design and manufacture custom PCs for vehicular market, mainly the emergency vehicle market. Our systems usually are installed by car stereo techs or auto techs. People that don't usually understand much about a PC, or we get IT people that don't know much about cars. I am commonly finding myself training people on how to "bridge the gap" and learn PCs or learn about cars.

So getting back to the PC, we are currently in production on what we call the M5II. This system is a mobile PC that has:

*1.8 Intel PM processor
*1GB RAM
*4 USB 2.0 ports
*2 IEEE-1394 ports
*1 type 3 PCMCIA slots (or 2 type 2)
*3 Com ports on the external panel
*10/100 Ethernet port
*2 PS2 ports (keyboard/mouse)
*Audio in / Audio out on 2.5mm audio jacks
*mic in
*Internal GPS (optional)
*Internal video card in order to input video on an RCA connector (optional)
*Power Control Module in order to shut the PC down in case of a low battery scenario or a timer based on the ignition switch.

We also have three different size touch screen displays to accommodate the police and fire customers. 8" 12" & 15" Please be aware that we design these displays (the entire PC for that matter) in a way that the average joe can install and maintain, so it needs simplicity. This PC is deployed into fleet vehicles (not personal cars) so they need to be rugged as well. Since we need to keep the price down we need to manufacture as few designs as possible to accommodate everyone. Our system runs off of the vehicle battery and is able to survive the voltage drop the car battery experiences when the V8 of a Crown Victoria starts cranking. It has been fun battling hard drive failures and temp extremes over the years. We manufacture our product with the temp specs of -25 to 65.5C.

I just installed one of our latest systems into my Range Rover so I can test the new product and to show customers the system and its versatility. By no means is this system on the level of the installations that I have seen in here, but I thought you might like to see anyway. I am obviously not on the level of most of you and my install is meant to showcase my product more than to customize the Range Rover, but comments suggestions, and ideas are certainly welcome!

**J-Dub** · 08-25-2006, 08:28 PM

Please be aware that one of the main reasons for the size of the display (thickness) is that it is over 1100 nits at full brightness. This is what we had to do in order to get this brightness and be able to operate at extreme temperatures (like Las Vegas, NV). All of our displays have a touch panel on the front as well.

**J-Dub** · 08-25-2006, 08:30 PM

A pic of the car, nothing special just a Range Rover.

**Pacheco** · 08-26-2006, 01:43 AM

just a range rover? lmao my dad has a 2003 discovery and its a really well made ride, you can feel that its well built while driving, its solid. As for your setup, its nice, but seeing that ur new on here like me, ull notice theres some big ingenuity on this site, these guys make them look factory...and thats when you know uve done a good job,

**jthiani** · 08-28-2006, 10:03 PM

Nice job....so tell me...how much do those monitors go for....i could use 1100 nits of brightness in my range rover...

Oh yeah it not just a range rover

its "THE RANGE ROVER"

**sciontC** · 08-29-2006, 02:19 AM

yeah can you sell the screens seperate? or even to the general public for that matter?

**Wiredwrx** · 08-29-2006, 12:10 PM

Originally Posted by sciontC

yeah can you sell the screens seperate? or even to the general public for that matter?

Don't get your hopes up to high. These types of ruggedized products are HELLA EXPENSIVE, but, I do look forward to hearing back from him.

Michael

**seanshine** · 08-29-2006, 12:14 PM

This is exactly the same setup that's in the bus I drive every day.....my company had some 600 odd of them installed last year.The screens are nice and bright,and are definitely daylight viewable,nice capacitive touchsceen overlay.Same computer as well.....and the hard drives die quite often,but,then,they were intended to go in a softly sprung cown vic,lol.

@sciontc
I can get you a screen if you'd like,with our discount,they're only $2,000.00

**FC3S** · 08-29-2006, 12:21 PM

hahaha

ONLY 2000

**J-Dub** · 08-29-2006, 03:15 PM

Well, looks like you got it right from the horses mouth. My company did sell some 600+ systems to a bus company in Utah. The product is expensive and we do not market them to the general public. We have to manufacture these systems for the technoligically challenged to install and maintain them (this comment is not directed towards a specific cusotmer). We just have some small police departments (our main customers) that don't have an IT dept to support them, so often times a police Sgt is the person who is doing the troublshooting and/or installation. Cops can sometimes do their job really well, but that job is not to work with PCs (installation/troubleshooting). All we do is what most of you guys are doing, buy LCDs, touch hardware, backlights, etc and put them into a metal box. As you well know, not many people have the talents to do such a thing so we make a profit (as what happens in business).

FYI- am looking to hire a project manager/installer/repair tech. Anyone intersted in this can find a post on that job hereLooking to Hire (Bay Area)