Mercutio

I currently have a Toshiba Satellite laptop and was wanting to integrate it into my Honda Accord 04 in a number of ways.

1.) Have the laptop installed on a mount. The mount needs to be usable for the passenger seat user and the mount should allow the laptop to be hidden when not in use.

2.) Have the mount connect the laptop to car's power source and connect into the car's stereo system.

Basically I plan to have the laptop working in the car with Microsoft streets and trips, stay charged in the car, play mp3s and dvds etc. To you guys its probably an easy project, considering the other things I see around here.

Anyways, what are the best ways to do this? I'm new to modding cars so if you could lead me to cheap places for it to be installed (since I know the car stereo has to be plucked open to splice the cables for the laptop audio hook-up, i think anyways. Either way Im shy to do so myself) or to learn more I'd appreciate it. I couldnt find anything on circuitcity.com etc.

MP3Car.com

 

tejesh83

Look through the projects section for others using laptops. Hopefully the images and write-ups will point you in the right direction.

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Mercutio

I took a good look before I posted. I came up with nothing in FAQ section and in the projects board all I could find with my searches was individuals taking apart screens from laptops, or doing things far remote from my intentions.

arebelspy

Do a google search for laptop car mount and such things. Then a search for a car power adapter for your laptop. Sounds like those are the only two things you need, and they aren't something people here generally do..

-arebelspy

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Mercutio

Thanks for the advice with the car power adapter, but wouldnt it put too much drain on the battery?

-Also, still I have no idea whats needed to hook up the laptop to the car stereo? (without the se of fm transmitters)

EsKALad

drain the car battery? hardly. unless you keep the laptop on for a long period of time while the car is off. and in that case itll switch the the lappys battery

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EsKALad

check to see if your factory radio has some type of cd changer input if it does there should be some type of adapters so you can make it an aux input. than you input the 2 rcas into the input on that and the phono plug on your laptop and your good to go!

edit: btw have you tried the laptop in the car before doing all this? make sure the screen is visible during daytime. or everything will be at a waste!

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jbors

For audio connection you may need some sort of adapter. AUX or Car2PC (see sig).
As of battery, it can be drained very quickly. Forget average laptop in an average car ~ 10-15 hours and you won't start your car

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Mercutio

I'm not sure what to do here, these two comments seem to be in confliction?

Is it ok to use something like this 400 watt car power inverter in which case the laptop wont drain the car?

In the case that the laptop would drain the car too quickly, should I get a second battery installed etc or how should I handle it?

-Also I looked at the car2pc adapter, looks pretty good. Expensive though, is it worth the price in comparison to similar products?



I have a CD changer input in the back I believe, we had some custom speakers installed into it when I bought the car. However I'm not sure how to perform what youve instructed, if you have time would you explain it in more detail so a newbie like me can understand?

-Thanks A LOT everyone, I really appreciate all the help I'm very grateful for your time youe given to help me.

binary.h4x

as long as the car is running, the laptop can run forever.

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Eamon418

This is what they meant by an adaptor. It plugs into the cable in your trunk for your CD changer and essentially tricks your headunit into thinking that your laptop (or whatever) is a CD changer. You could then run an audio wire from the trunk to your front seats if you didn't want to mess around actually rewiring the system.
This adaptor is universal, you just adjust it for your car. I think Blitz-Safe makes them too, but specific ones for each make/model.

http://peripheralelectronics.com/web/aux2car.asp

EsKALad

yeah when i said it will drain the battery i meant hardly while the car is on. if the car is off it wont take long before the battery is dead.

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Wiredwrx

There is no need for a second battery. In any event, whether you use a laptop power unit or an inverter, you are powering the unit from the car battery. You probably know that powering something from the car battery while the car is not running will eventually lead you to have a dead battery, and /or be unable to start the car.

There are lots of people using laptops in the car for a carputer. Do some searching on laptop and power on this forum, and you will see what can be done. The car should not be the place to keep your laptop charged, unless you are running the car. If you are not running the car, charge it in your house.


That is a suggested part. Find some other parts, and see if the price is all that different. I have a feeling it won't be, they will all be very similar in price.



Custom speakers have nothing to do with the input to your HU.


You accomplish this by purchasing the unit mentioned, either the car2pc, or peripheral electronics or the blitz safe unit, and following the install instructions. But, basically, you connect the sound from your laptop to the unit you purchase, which connects to the CD changer harness in the trunk of your car. You will obviously have to run some wires.


You need to read a lot more about this. Do a search on this forum for laptop, and start reading. If you have specific questions, search for Laptop and another word like power, shutdown, sound etc...

Michael

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partyharty

You are making this a bit too difficult. I have currently got a Dell laptop mounted in the truck (goto website below for more info on my setup).

Power Concerns

Car Battery - your car battery should be able to run this for a while. If not then your batter is in bad shape (or your alternator). Mine has run for 5 hours straight and I was able to start the truck right up and go. This was with the stock alternator. Remeber this is going to run less juice then most of the desktop systems that people have integrated into their vehicles (as laptops are a lot more efficent then most desktops.....not sure about laptop vs mini-itx though).

As for using a inverter. I am currently using a inverter to power my laptop. Works great and it shuts down the computer (actually it just pulls the plug when the power level gets around the point of not being able to start the car.


Getting the music in your deck. Others have answered this question better that I could. It would really depend on your setup (amps/speakers/etc) A cheap way to do it would be simply to get a FM Modulator (like they use on ipods and what not) and just tune into the radio station. You will need to find a good one though (as most I have seen are not great). Otherwise you will need to look for another way to route the music in. Read others post on this as they have some great ideas on how to go about this

On my setup I have put a nice (expensive) set of desktop 5.1 speakers and mounted them in the truck. It works for me but you probably do not want to go this route (the stock speakers in my truck are messed up so this was an easy (and quick) way to get the job done).

Mounting
You can purchase a pre-made laptop mount for your vehicle (see jottodesk) but they are somewhat pricey. You can do as I have and make one out of cast iron pipe. I used 1" stuff from Lowe's so that I could use a "closet" flange on the bottom (this is to screw it into the floor). There are other ways to do it (you could make it to where it connects to your seat bolts / rails). I used about $10 worth of pipe/connectors to make my stand (now that I know what I am doing I could probably make it for $5).

Just to let you know this is what they are selling on ebay (search under laptop mount on ebay and you will find a bunch of people selling them for $25).


Just my .02

c-ya
Chris

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cabj21

Just this weekend I set up my laptop in my altima. I have no problem with it however; I haven't finished installing it yet. I still need to mount it some were I guess under the passenger’s seat.

First I got an lcd touch screen (tm 868 ) from eBay for 154 dollars. Regarding about the car battery, I don’t see a problem running your laptop because it has a battery of its own so if you turn you car off the laptop’s battery kicks in, for like 2 to 3 hours…. Regarding about the fm modulator I don’t recommended it because you will still here a bit of static on the background. may be it’s because I have it like 2 feet away from the radio I need to check that, but look for another way to connected to the radio. Good luck with your project and its good to know that people are using laptops in their car.

MP3Car.com