Complete bolt in Screen/CPU/HD/PS - indash - Page 3

Escalade182 · 02-17-2006, 04:48 PM

beautiful work on the bolt in, seriously.

EsKALad · 02-17-2006, 04:53 PM

very sweet!

blk02si · 02-18-2006, 01:43 AM

AWESOME! I received the M2 today at about 2pm. I also got my 6ft and 10ft USB extension cables from the mp3car store. Thanks again guys! I called them on the phone and they are a good group of people, very helpful. Now I don't know if its just because I read manuals before I hook stuff up or what but my M2 worked flawless on the first attempt. Booted the same as the full size ATX supply I was testing with. (Im bench testing right now, but expect the same results in the car) The OEM harness is rated for 15 amps so I think I am going to run the M2 directly off of that. Im really glad that I ran into pretty much zero problems on this build. I read some of the horror stories some people tell about their builds involving the electrical aspect and I can't help wonder, am I lucky? or is my 4 years of electronics schooling, 2 years of engineering schooling and 7 years of electrical work experience FINALLY paying off? lol anyway I should be installed and mobile PC'n this weekend. I have to pull out my passanger seat (has some airbag wiring attached to it) to mount my amp, but this is good because my spring project is mounting my black corbeau racing seats and Ill get to see whats involved with the airbag system. Anyway here are some more pics, more of the complete install will follow. Also for those trying to troubleshoot an M2, hook up an LED to the led pins. It blinks letting you know whats going on. I will eliminate the LED when i install but I thought I would at least check it out. Again thanks for the positive comments, I really had a great time building this and have learned so much just hanging out with you fellow mp3car builders.

anky1 · 02-18-2006, 01:49 AM

i have heard a lot of issues about that pink foam being conductive. so be careful with your board on that thing.

blk02si · 02-18-2006, 02:23 AM

If the pink foam were conductive the power supply would be shorting out right now instead of running. I dont know where you ever heard that from but foam is def. an insulator NOT a conductor. I do appricate your concern however

The power supply will either be mounted to an aluminum .063 plate or mounted on the top next to the harddrive. Either way it will be mounted tomorrow on metal standoffs so im not to worried about it. But yeah its 2:30am im going to slip into bed next to my warm fiance. Ill see to this thread later on..

alti · 02-19-2006, 01:16 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by blk02si

If the pink foam were conductive the power supply would be shorting out right now instead of running. I dont know where you ever heard that from but foam is def. an insulator NOT a conductor.

anky1 is right

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/worklogs/50883-2000-pontiac-trans-am-carputer-install.html

read from about the 26th post on.

SnyperBob · 02-19-2006, 02:00 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by blk02si

If the pink foam were conductive the power supply would be shorting out right now instead of running. I dont know where you ever heard that from but foam is def. an insulator NOT a conductor.

Still amazes me the number of people that don't realize that the pink foam could completely destroy their electronics. There's a reason it's pink foam, and not white. I wouldn't assume that they're equal - but of course, not all pink foam is conductive, just most...

I love your install blk - the Hurst shifter is a nice touch hehe.

blk02si · 02-19-2006, 09:28 AM

Well i ended up working some OT yesterday then went to a wedding (forgot about that untill the wife to be called asking what suit i was wearing lol) anyway Im finally installing today. I still don't know why anyone would think that foam is a conductor. To prove my point I have done a simple test with an Ohm-meter. This measures resistance in ohms. As you can see when the leads are crossed I get resistance of .2 ohms. This is the resistance in the 8 foot of wiring in the Leads. When the leads are open or not touching I get a '1' to the far left of the screen meaning infinate resistance. Infinate resistance is a good way to describe an insulator. So on to the foam, upon pushing the leads through the foam I see that resistance is infinate. If it were a conductor of any sort I would at least get a high ohm reading. But no, as suspected, the foam has infinate resistance meaning it is in fact an insulator and which is why my power supply ran on it just fine. Anyway, sorry for the rant about the foam, just hate it when people are misinformed and spread wrong information, espically in my threads. No offense to anyone I know you all just looking out for me

The others who fried their boards there was someting else going on there that fried it. I mean it looks like he just jambed all the componets in the dash, he even said he used velcro to hold stuff in place! I dont think people understand that a good grounded metal chassis with standofffs for your componets will do Wonders in terms of operating properly

So yeah im going to the store to get the wiring harness that plugs into the OEM radio harness and I will be installing away. Ill post pics of the install later on.

Fusion-One · 02-19-2006, 10:35 AM

If that came as protection for some sort of electronics, then that is antistatic foam, which means it contains some form of a conductor to bleed off static charges. It might be offering up a very low level of conductance, but I assure you that "pink foam" is, to some degree, conductive. Your DMM seems to only show one decimal place left of a full ohm. The foam could be any measure lower than 0.05ohms and it would not be detected. Its obviously low enough to not be killing your PSU, but why risk it?

Pink antistatic foam is conductive.

SnyperBob · 02-19-2006, 11:12 AM

oh man, so the debate begins again...

try placing your probes closer together.

blk02si · 02-19-2006, 11:47 AM

Well I tried the probes at different locations, from the highest to the lowest sensitivity setting on my meter, before i posted. Results were the same, infinate resistance. If the Ohms were say less than .05 ohms than this might as well be a copper sheet. If this sheet were even a little bit conductive I would be showing very high resistance, say 500M ohms. Think what you will, but im going with my theory based on my testing that its in no way shape or form conductive. And come on think about it logically, its FOAM, plastic resin with a bunch of airbubbles in it! Motherboards are shipped with this to prevent damage to the solder connections on the bottom. Thats why the foam and the MB are then packed in an antistatic bag. Anyway I do not want to turn my thread into a foam debate. I threw the foam in the garbage because I have no more use for it. Installation now begins. I got the OEM wire harness adaptor and I also bought a OEM antenna adapor. I am going to solder one end directly to my 802.11 card so that it will plug into and use the OEM arial antenna for a wifi antenna

Keeping everyting bolt in and plug in play is def. a challenge! Wish me luck here goes.

Peoples · 02-19-2006, 12:07 PM

sorry to turn the debate back on, but i figured i'd do a google search on it
http://www.google.com/search?q=condu...en-US:official

looks like the black foam is definatly conductive, the pink foam is "esd" anti-static.......seems like it is conductive, just enough to disipate a static charge....which might be enough to destroy some electronic components if your attempting to run something on top of it.

SnyperBob · 02-19-2006, 12:34 PM

Lol...I'll blame his stubborness on his two years of Engineering school. I had three years of engineering school and thought the same way...

took a while to prove it, but most of that pink stuff is conductive - especially the stuff that comes with mobos.

Anyway, it's all fun talking about this stuff - don't worry, we can get an admin in here to clean up your thread once the debate dies (if it ever dies).
BTW - if you haven't noticed, all this useless banter has happened because you stopped posting pics of your sweet car! I want to see more!

Also, just remember that we're having fun with the foam comments

nkotch · 02-19-2006, 01:07 PM

Very nice install so far!

So are you planning on using the car's OEM radio antenna as the Wifi antenna?

blk02si · 02-19-2006, 06:32 PM

Yes I have modded my wifi card so that it plugs into the OEM antenna. I am not going to have FM for awhile but thats what all the mp3's are for. I can always add it later. So far the install is going great!!! I have all the wiring done and the whole bolt in unit, is well, bolted in and running!! Booted perfect the first time! I am running the m2-atx off the OEM radio power, so far so good. (that circuit is rated at 20 amps) M2-atx will draw 15 max. No sound yet though, I took a little break and am going back to install the amp and the GPS in awhile. Road runner looks so much more at home in the dash of a ride instead of sitting on a desktop! Anyway like I said foam is in the junk now, the M2 is mounted on 1/2" standoffs, above a grounded piece of .063 finished aluminum. For the sake of how many people believe that the infinate resistance foam is a threat to live circuits, I promise I shall never run my electronics atop that material again. Not even for short testing. All right. Time to pull my drivers seat and mount me an amp. Ill have pics up hopefully later on tonight. Ive been snapping them as I go.

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