Thread: Ebay Carputer Kit.

The link you attached doesn't show the same screen as you said you got. The one in the pics isn't the Ex-audio/lilliput one with the buttons on the right hand side. Also it's got a Buy it Now price of $499, how did you get yours so cheap? Sounds like you got a whole lot of bang for your buck. Any chance you took some first hand pics of the parts you got? Always hard to trust ebay pics.

Yeah I was worried It was an auction. not a buy it now. if you look at there completed items they have sold the whole kit that I got for even less than i paid. . . one went for 222.00 some for 300 but most for 350 I ended up with 406 to the door. . . I plan on taking some pics. tomorrow. . .

The inverter is just a small 300 watt max job and looks cheap. but so far has been working good. the screen is a lilliput. . .I was shocked to see that when i opened the box. . . The one they show looks so cheap and i was kicking myself for an impulse buy and thinking that I should have just got the lilli and low and behond thats what I got. . .
The computer works really nice and everything was all loaded up. . . plug in and go. . . all drivers loaded up and all. . . the optical mouse is a no name but works good and came with batteries. . .. the computer is a p4 256 meg and 40 gig. . . .heck its almost worth the price. . .

Ill get some pics. . .. and post them up .. .

chris

Do you have a picture of the PC? Looks like the seller stuck a piece of foam in front of it to hide the actual thickness. Kinda curious to see how big it really is. Thanks.

i wanna see pics too.. sounds like u got a deal though.

cant wait too see pictures , very intrested, just installed my pc yesterday , but looks very easily installed, how does the inverter works? does it turn on and off from with the car?

Ok, Its in my car. Not totally done but then again i do not want to finish it all up at once. then what will i have to tinker with.

The computer its self is nice. its a ultra small 12 by 12 by 2.5 desktop with a low wattage power supply. . it runs the p4 quite well. I bought it for this price without a cd or dvd drive but you can add one at the checkout if you want. I own a computer store so getting parts for this is no problem for me.

I upgraded the 256 of ddr pc 2700 ram to a 512 chip the other day. and there are 2 slots for ram.

the 40 gig hard drive may be small for some of you. but it is a standard ide 3.5 inch drive and is easily replaceable with a huge drive of your choice.

there is not really any room in the case for any thing else and this includes a slave drive. if you want another drive you will need to go external. ( would probably be easier on the low watt power supply anyway.

It has 5 usb ports 4 on the rear ond one on the front. and there are audio out connections on both front and back.

there is mic and line in as well.
I added a wireless card but it somes with an intel pro 100 ve nic onboard.

The graphics are 64 meg shared video with no agp slot ( this machine was designed to be a workstation and not a gaming rig)

At first I had made a nice switch panel to power the unit on remotly with leds for the power and hdd activity. i added motherboard connectors so i could just plug it onto the computers motherboard. However after reciving the unit. I realised that the connector for the front panel connections is actually not wires but a small ribbin cable that would take some more crafty work to get it working. not a problem though as the computers bios comes set to switch on when power is present. so just turning on my inverter powers the unit up..

All I will have to do is hack my inverter switch once i get it mounted in a happy home and this will turn the system off. . .

I had a ups that i was going to use. but honestly the system boots and shuts off so fast. that it is really not even a concern right now. and i just turn it on when i start the car and shut it off before i turn the car off. . .

someday this will get to me and i will look into a power solution . but that is another story.

The gps unit is a progin. unit and works pretty well with the Delorme street atlas software.. . . I really like this. . .

the inverter that comes with the system looks like a cheapo but seems to work good. . .
I had a nasty whine. But after grounding the power supply to the chassis of the car. That fixed about 90 percent of it.
There are some other small noise issues but running my inverter in the trunk and not having a cheapo extension cord stretched all over the car will surely help this. .

Over all I think I did very well. .

My only gripes about the system is. .

you have to wait 5 days for them to ship it. .
once its shipped you have to wait about another 6 to 7 days for DHL to deliver it to you. .

the lack of cd is not a big deal. . but if you want to add one it takes a laptop cd drive and there is a special adapter that hooks it into the computer that i do not have and have not been able to find yet as it is special for the d510 compaq. . in retrospect it might have been worth the extra 50 dollars to not just have the cd drive. . . but this little adapter. . . .i can always run external. if need be..

well thats about it. if anyone had any questions please ask. I could not find any info on this unit when i first researched it. and decided to be the guenie pig. but over all its a great start to the car computer world.
and a easy system to build onto as your budget and needs grow.

Chris


here are the pics. . ( sorry for the long post... . I am excited about my new caputer and enjoy talking about it. )

dotn make fun of the wiring or the bungee cords. . its just temp. will the warm weather gets here and i can make some steel mounting brackets. . . and the next order on the list is to get the inverter into the trunk. and run a power switch onto the dash for it. and that will clean up most of the wiring mess. . you can see shots of the dash, the computer in the trunk and the gps and woreless usb card i have in the usb port that i made and put in the rear deck. . .
I guessi forgot to take pics of the 4 port hub tha ti mounted in the center consold for my keyboard, wirelsss mouse ( oh that comes with the computer as well with batterys) ipod and cell phone. . . . i have my moto q tethered and am using it to get mobil cellular high speed internet when on the go... . .it works well . . .and is only a buck a day. only when i use it. . .

well . . . enjoy. . .

Well my cheapo inverter bit it today. . . not its own fault.. i had it apart putting a remote switch on it and think i messed it up. . . .Well i got this today to supply the power from now on. . .i think it will do alot better job. . . . and before you go bashing on me for not using a dc to dc unit. . .i have other uses in my car that require 120 volts. . . such as customers computers in onsite testing and the occasional small tv. . here is the new unit

I am probably going to mount it in the trunk and use a relay to turn it on. . . it has nice power tabs that you can run nice heavy wire to. . . plus the best thing about it is that when you cook it. . . .you can always return it to the Walmart rent a center

Well I got it in the trunk today. . .Ran some nice 4 gauge wire back to it that way if i go with an amp i will have sufficient wire to power it as well Mounted it in the trunk and hooked up a relay to turn it on with a switch i mounted on the dash. works pretty good. . all thats really left to do for the basic install is get out in the garage and transform the 12 foot of strap steel that i just bought into some nice brackets to hold the pc to the rear of the back seat. instead of bungee corded under the back deck where is currently is. . and that shuld do it for the basic install. . . .I am still running mobil media center for a front end. . .I had media engine in there. . .but it kept corrupting things. . and some features i just did not personally care for. .. . Last night i downloaded roadrunner and really liked it. . .so i might give it a shot.. . well. thats about it for now. . .Ill get some pics up of the recent progress soon. .

Chris