Things I have learned from my system.....

Yellow-Snow · 03-21-2007, 11:21 AM

Well my friend has taken the fall and now is building a carputer. He will be able to do everything with in a weekend and learn from my mistakes. I thought I would post the things I have learned so maybe someone can save them in a FAQ or something to help out other new comers. Anywho.. after hours and hours of fixing my system because of different problems here are a few things I have learned.

1)Putting the GPS under the rear glass works great. The cheap GPS got me 7/8 8/8 connections (bu-303). Learned that TINT will screw up your GPS. Moved it to the front and it worked fine.

2) You have to GROUND EVERYTHING. Good place is where the seat connects to the frame or where the spare tire connects to the frame. Feedback is caused by bad grounds.

3) The INVERTER does NOT GROUND the CPU. Cut the wires on the powercord and ground the CPU as close as possible. Longer the ground more feedback.

4) Build cases and wire everything perfect. You will use your system so much so do it perfect the first time. Get good parts b/c they are WORTH IT. You use it 2x everyday = worth the extra money to get better things then cut cost.

5) Don't try to cut the PSU and extend the wires. There are to many and not worth the trouble. Mount the PSU right next to the CPU.

6) BOOT DISK ERROR only on BOOT is caused by a bad wire when extending the PSU.

7) Only shutdown the carputer in park. You don't want a chance of the HD saving a bad file. Redoing your system is not fun when everything is installed.

8) Driving and 007 is impossible. Driving and a movie on the interstate is.

9) You can NEVER have to many USB ports and USB extenders.

10) *Have not tested this* If you can't ground your laptop then use a battery backup.

11) REMOVABLE screens are nice for RESELLING your car, CLUBS, and COLLEGE campus.

12) Mounting the screen low lets you not worry about cops / theifs seeing your system. Relax and drive at 2 am. Dosen't give them a reason to pull you over.

13) Make sure your system is stable on trips. You become so dependent on your GPS because it makes life easyer.

14) Girls LOVE carputers. They want to touch it and pick the music. Make sure you have every type of music. Make it so they can't break it. Do not tell a girl its a computer. Tell them its a custom built multi media system thats complex.

Well I hope you learned something or remember this to point a new comer to this thread when they have a question.

kbreeden · 03-21-2007, 08:43 PM

Good post, YS. I especially like this part:

Quote:

Do not tell a girl its a computer. Tell them its a custom built multi media system thats complex.

treetop777 · 03-21-2007, 08:52 PM

Yes nice post, but i'm confused what the vehicle being in "park" has anything to do with the hard drive??

walstib · 03-21-2007, 09:02 PM

I wondered that too.

stangg172006 · 03-21-2007, 09:05 PM

haha great post and good helpful tips...

turbocad6 · 03-21-2007, 09:23 PM

I agree with most, but

#2 is NOT the best place to ground, maybe the best "very convienient" place, but a good ground should be bolted directly & to bare clean metal... both places you mentioned can work though.. but far from ideal, especially the spare bolt down thing

...

#5 is just not correct, you can extend the power supply wires no problem, but the longer the run the heavier gauge wire you should use & EVERYTHING should be soldered.... failing this will lead to your conclusion on #6...

#7 & #10 I just don't get, & #12 is a good idea... #14 I'd change too:..Tell them its a custom built computerized multi media system thats very complex.

XC-C30 · 03-21-2007, 09:39 PM

nah, tell them it's your latest invention and that it's one of a kind (at least the one of a kind thing is correct

)

RedGTiVR6 · 03-21-2007, 10:30 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by turbocad6

I agree with most, but

#2 is NOT the best place to ground, maybe the best "very convienient" place, but a good ground should be bolted directly & to bare clean metal... both places you mentioned can work though.. but far from ideal, especially the spare bolt down thing

...

absolutely, positively, 100% true.

The seat is NOT a good place to ground to. I think I even wrote a FAQ about this in the FAQ emporium?? I'll have to check

Quote:

#5 is just not correct, you can extend the power supply wires no problem, but the longer the run the heavier gauge wire you should use & EVERYTHING should be soldered.... failing this will lead to your conclusion on #6...

yeup

Quote:

#7 & #10 I just don't get, & #12 is a good idea... #14 I'd change too:..Tell them its a custom built computerized multi media system thats very complex.

you all must be dating some seriously ditsy blondes...guess they are only good for eye candy for you hu?

superficial relationships...super unfulfilling...

XC-C30 · 03-21-2007, 10:49 PM

Well, you surprised me here, Red..... I can't count anymore how many girls didn't have a clue about the whole car-pc stuff.....

"What's a car-pc?"
-It's a pc used in a car.
"Oh nice.... What's it for?"
-lots of things. I have GPS, i-net, and I'm gonna use it to tweak my stereo.
"Oooooh, isn't that expensive?"
-meh

There's so many people out there that still don't get it. most of them think a regular HU and a pair of stock speakers is still it..... And those who know there's more then stock, think it's something only ricers do.....

I studied ICT in college. And even today an ex class mate of mine didn't get it all, while ICT is all about computers.....

He knows my plans and still he thinks it's easy

even so today he tried to convince me to hack a regular AC-DC PSU and bring it down to 12volt.... I had a hard time explaining that was pretty much impossible without major mods and that I would have to buy some other equipment such as an SDC and that I would have to integrate several circuits for protection. And he didn't get that the price wouldn't differ that much from a DC-DC... All that kinda stuff.... The guy wouldn't believe me you would run in all sorts of trouble, and that the AC-DC conversion will make it even more less efficient then it already is.....

ANd then he started about "old 16-bit crap soundcards":lol..... man it was embarrasing....

quote: I thought you were an audiophile? Then why would you go with 16bit?
respons: Because cd's are 16bit, so 24bit is useless maybe?
quote: yeah cd-quality is 16bit, but studio quality is 24bit
respons: Yeah, sure, they're gonna mix it down to 16 bit for no reason....
quote: yeah but I say a mixingtable that had written 24-bit upon it.
respons: maybe because there's more in life then cd's?

RedGTiVR6 · 03-21-2007, 11:13 PM

See, I guess that's the difference between me and you.

While I completely understand that the vast majority of the public knows nothing about CarPCs, I can't stand to sit there and belittle someone and A) lie or B) dumb it down or C) elaborate on it beyond reason.

People don't understand what it is, I explain it.

I go to a ton of shows with the car. I have a TON of people ask me what the heck is in the dash of our car. I tell them flat out, it's a CarPC. They look like a deer in the headlights and I know I need to go into a bit more depth, so I do. I don't tell them it's something it's not. I don't hype it up to be something it's not. I don't dumb it down to the point that they don't fully understand just what it is. No smoke and mirrors here.

A lot of people still don't get it, but that's fine. They tend to just walk off and go look at the flashy, bizzy, buzzy, boppy things and drool over that.

Those are the people who will never be interested in a CarPC and that's fine.

No need to pitch it as something that it's not.

XC-C30 · 03-21-2007, 11:22 PM

The guy just surprised me that's all..... He even had better grades in class then me (which isn't that weird, I'm not the smartest guy actually). Then again, I completely understand it's just not one of the guy's intrests....

RedGTiVR6 · 03-21-2007, 11:30 PM

heh - he'll probably realize it later on in life and think back to that conversation and laugh to himself when he realizes it...

XC-C30 · 03-21-2007, 11:35 PM

I hope so, really. I'm scared of the day he's gonna put a stereo in his bro's nissan primera (you'll probably know it as the infinity G20). And I hope he never starts on a cpc without consulting this forum (which I linked him to, today, without any success sadly enough

)