Thread: My Install - 2006 Altima

Originally Posted by Yevmeister

alternative for volume control is PowerMate

workes great for volume control

Yev

i thought of that too...but there was few reasons which made me use this volume control...

the first reason was the installlation and the way it look in the car is a lot better then PowerMate.

another reason is that, if you notice the keyboard, other then this volume control, there are other quick launch buttons which are 100% programmable and can be used for any application.
the software which comes with this keyboard is really cool and you can program any keys for any action.

my future mods includes using those buttons for some good quick launch which i use offten.

Here is another upgrade to my install....the most important (atleast for me)

i have just added 3 more CCFL'z at the back of my LCD for more brightness in the day time.

this whole setup weight almost equal to the lcd panel itself....so, there was no issues of holding it with the lcd panel.

all these extra backlights goes just a little warm after running it for couple of hours...so, there are no issues of heat in this upgrade either.

installation is done in a way that i can switch these extra ccfl off anytime and run the lcd with stock CCFL at night.

this was a really pain in the neck job....but, its done and the result is 2.5 times more brightness without loosing any saturation.

my approach to add CCFL'z is a bit different then some other people who have added ccflz....

i have only used 3 extra CCFLz ...but, i got much much better results then a standard ccfl upgrade

the brightness i am getting by doing it this way is equal to about 9 CCFL stacked behind the lcd...

i have used three different light guides - two at the bottom of the screen and one on the side.
all three light guides and backlights came out of toshiba 10.4" cracked panels which was handy...

other then these pictures, i have also made a small video for difference between standard CCFL and 3 additional CCFLz by turning the extra ones on and off.

i have uploaded the video at rapidshare.de. its about 2mb....any of you who want to see it can download it from:

http://rapidshare.de/files/35305525/clip.avi.html

hey man, good going

these screens are great in the sun as-is, because of there transflective properties, I mean you can definatley see them in the direct sunlight, but at the same time, while you can see them, there not super bright & vivid under those conditions....

now, by bringing her up from 200 nits to over 500, it should be vivid & bright, even in direct sun.... which is a good thing just for others information too, the light guides are a great way to harness the add'l ccfl's most efficiently, as they even the light behind the screen by even dispersion, & are much more efficient than rear lighting, simply because they require no add'l diffusion, so you harness almost 100% of the light added, rear lighting is much less efficent, with typical losses of 40%-60% or more, meaning exactly what you said, these 3 lights give the same results as adding 8 bulbs behind the screen, then diffusing them...

these screens also lend very well to a backlight upgrade because of there unusual construction of resting at a black screen powered up instead of a white screen, so no matter how much light you add there is much less washout & loss of contrast.... you now have one of the best indash screens possible with current tech, congrats & enjoy

Back again with a major work on my install....

like many other, once you have a carpc, and start using it, then you will find out what is missing and what more can be done to enhance the use of carpc...

after using this for a while now, there was few things i wanted to do and modify....

first was to have my phone controls all the time on-screen...
since the size of my lcd allows me to have multiple features on a single page, i came up with this skin which is a mod version of BMV skin. In this, i have used phonecontrol skin on the lower area and this stays there all the time except when video is being played in full screen or when i am using IGuidance in full screen.
other then this, phone control is always on screen and allows me to use or answer the calls anytime without changing the skin pages....

Second mod, and the most complicated is to have my climate control through RoadRunner.

This project is - at the moment - under-development.

In this project, i am using a single high speed microcontroller from microchip clocked at 40MHz.
Programmed in C language, with I/O's defined for each section of the interface on a single chip like, existing AC Interface, Serial protocol for RR, Embedded 3.5" color touchscreen LCD, Temperature sensors, Blower motor speed controls and some future spare I/O's for additions to the same interface.

The interface links to my stock AC by means of optocouplers/digital switches (Not Relays). This interface is stand-alone as well as can be controlled via Serial port of a pc using a small plugin for RoadRunner (RoadRunner ONLY at the moment).

Using two highly sensitive temperature sensor (inside and outside) in the car via I2C bus which are taking care of the temperature. Have builtin fan blower speed control (1 to 10 - low to high) and Auto AC control according to temperature adjusted.

For direct controls of the AC, i am using a 3.5" color touchscreen lcd directly connected and controlled through this interface, which controls all the features of AC. the lcd also display the temperature (indoor/outdoor) and some other info.

Graphics on LCD is skinable like RR. means i can put the same graphics as i am using in RR and upload the BMP file to the LCD prgram stack for use.

The whole projects is versatile and with a very very minor modifications, can be used on most of the Vehicle models after 1996 (obd2 to be specific)

This controller does not have any stepper motors at all (I hate to mix analog with digital)

at the moment, this project is not complete and is still in testing...but, will complete very shortly.

by the way, you can check more info on this project at my website www.carclimatecontrol.com

i will also update this thread for the updates.

for now, some of the skins for a sneak preview.

that's the same climate control interface that's going in my minivan...

big screens are nice, & a climate control through the screen can open up the posibility of a big screen install for many more cars... I like these portrait big screens, & I'm going to do another similar to this one actually....

keep an eye on this ac interface, it's going to be cool

I'm interested in how this climate job is going. Those CAN sensors/acutators look like a bit of a hurdle, I haven't got very far with how to to pull from and send to them. I've come a ways with the traditional controls, but I just sold that truck and now I'm starting with this myself. If you wouldn't mind giving an overview of that part of the project, I would appreciate it much. I've searched for info on data bus interfacing with Nissans but only found ECU stuff.

where can i get info to do this type of install on my car using my old laptop?