My Own front end - from the ground up

**Greeno2k8** · 08-27-2008, 06:21 PM

Minor update i know, but the software is almost done. Just finished the GPS. Wouldn't dream of writing my own so am using Garmin Mobile, not too expensive and has regular map updates:

Working full time on the physical installation at the moment, I know its not software related but here's a quick circuit for the power distribution to give you an idea:

Hope it makes sense to someone out there, lol.

**DroStar** · 08-27-2008, 06:52 PM

Very cool!

But I have to ask. In the power distribution circuit diagram, what's with the power being on the right and ground being on the left? Is that a UK thing?

**Greeno2k8** · 08-27-2008, 07:01 PM

lol, tbh i have no idea, was probably drunk at the time.

As long as they're the right way round in the car, thats what counts!

j

**SWC_Scotty** · 08-31-2008, 10:27 PM

mate that is very nice.
how did you go about doing those LED's? i want to do something very similar with my car.
Are you in the UK? you dont drive a yellow n black coupe do you?

**Greeno2k8** · 09-01-2008, 05:01 AM

I'm in the UK, but the coupe is all black.

The LED's are a bit complicated, hope you're sat down, lol.

There's a little program running on the pc that does a spectrum analysis on whatever sound is playing through the soundcard. It gives each band (16 in total) a value between 0 and 15 depending on how loud it is. The main software allows you to pick any one of these bands and the value for that band is sent out through the carpc's serial port to an 8mhz microcomputer.

The micro also receives commands from the pc telling it whether to draw a bar graph, a dot graph, a brightness display etc. It then encodes the value (0 to 15) on to a 4-bit output and this is piped off to one of the LED locations (front, doors and rear). The 4-bit value is then decoded back to a number 0 - 15 and is used to switch a transistor to turn on the corresponding line of LED's.

The system can only turn on one row of lights at a time. So the microcontroller is used to 'pulse' through the lights at a hideous speed to make it look like loads of rows are on at once.

The software still has a lot more room for development, I only wanted to get it to a point where I could install it in the car. I'll play around with it more later.

Hope that makes sense, lol.

j

**crusetech** · 09-02-2008, 05:24 PM

You're very talented.

Cheers,

Dan

**Greeno2k8** · 09-02-2008, 05:36 PM

Thanks, I don't hear that very often, lol.

Well if anyone wants any info on what i've done or wants to ask questions about what they're doing then feel free to post.

My interior 'mods' should be done within the next 2 weeks.

3 or 4 days ago, it looked like this:

Can you spell 'Fire Hazard'

I'll post in the 'projects' section of the forum when it's done.

j

**2k1Toaster** · 09-02-2008, 05:43 PM

whoa! That is one big 'ol mess!

**crusetech** · 09-02-2008, 05:46 PM

Let me rephrase... You're EXTREMELY talented. I'm an electrician... Good job.

**Greeno2k8** · 09-02-2008, 05:51 PM

lol, I love it!

The wiring is done now and its all tested and working. The most complicated part was the HVAC controller, took a full day to get it working properly. i.e. I press cold and the air comes out warm, lol. But its 100% now.

I'm sure what ive done could be achieved with less wiring, but im a stickler for control and protection. So absolutely everything is controllable from the PC and it is all individually fused from one location.

I'll post some better pics when it's done

Subs are being test fitted tomorrow, 2 x In-Phase XT12's each driven individually from the 2 amps in the pic.

j