Lilliput screen inside motorized unit?

JayKaye · 08-23-2004, 06:07 AM

Just wondering if anyone has bought a cheater 7" motorized head unit and taken out the screen in it and replaced it with the 7" Lilliput touch screen? Id imagine modifications would have to be made so that you could ultimately have VGA input to the screen.

Also, what if the screen was one of them 'all in one' ones where you could play DVD's, CD's, MP3's etc from it? if the original screen is removed is it possible to have it still work with the Lilliput? I know this is more of a case-by-case thing, depending on the brand. But im sure someone mustve tried it.

I am thinking of doing this very soon as my TM-701L is a dodgy housing and i dont like the fact it isnt motorized. I dont care if the new one doesnt have a CD/DVD slot, as long as its motorized.

Thanks

Seth · 08-23-2004, 08:19 AM

AFAIK there is a major problem with that solution. All the major manufacturers design their units using a joint/proprietary methodology and not split/modular.
What that means is that you have a good 90% chance that all the critical subsystems (stepper motor mechanism control circuits, display control circuits, etc.) are all fused together in one and only control PCB. It will be extremelly difficult to seperate or control those circuits individualy.
Best case scenario is that you get a fully working unit and just exchange the LCD module/vga controller. Other problems arise with that:

1) Most of the motorised factory units are 6.5" not 7"
2) Is it cost effective ? (you'll need a fully working unit to hack)
3) There is no way for you to be sure if the control board wants to "see" the specific LCD module and if they communicate (unless you can get your hands on a service manual)
4) Will it be enough room there for an extra PCB (vga controller) and possibly a tsk controller ?

I don't want to discourage you but I believe there are some things you should think of before doing something like that.

See ya

GWRedDragon · 08-23-2004, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Also, what if the screen was one of them 'all in one' ones where you could play DVD's, CD's, MP3's etc from it? if the original screen is removed is it possible to have it still work with the Lilliput?

Argh, I saw one of these things at Best Buy the other day...it was nearly $2000! I was standing there laughing because it seemed insane to me that anyone would actually spend so much, especially because a carpc can have all the same features and more at easily half the price. Motorized Xenarcs are sold, a slimline dvd player can be put underneath it, and you have pretty much the same thing. Why destroy $2000 worth of equipment?

JayKaye · 08-23-2004, 11:05 AM

Well I was having a look at a couple on ebay selling around $250US mark.
Seth, how about more along the lines of competely gutting the motorized unit and replacing its internals with the lilliput AND the lilliput PCB/Controller and the TS controller?
Ofcourse I would only do this to a motorized unit that has only a screen (no CD/DVD/MP3 addons). I can see what you mean when you say that it would be near impossible to get the Lilliput screen working with one with the CD/DVD in it also. Wishful thinking I guess

GWRedDragon · 08-23-2004, 11:07 AM

Oh, I see...you're just trying to find an easy way to motorize a Lilliput. That makes more sense

darkhalo · 08-23-2004, 11:16 AM

im sure there are 7" motorized units out there. Your best bet is to just find the motorized screen without any other features whatsoever(i.e. cd/dvd playback). Then there will be less **** to mess with. Swaping the LCD screen itself should be easy. But finding a place for the controller might be harder. you might be able to find an extended ribon cable, and you could extend the back light cables yourself. im going to do some googling to see if i find a good subject for your project.

darkhalo · 08-23-2004, 11:24 AM

This looks like a good option. http://www.mp3playerstore.com/stuff_...al/TM-7300.htm

JayKaye · 08-23-2004, 12:12 PM

Thanks Darkhalo!

Thats pretty much exactly what im after!

After looking at the video (http://www.palstore.com/movie/Innovatek-TM-7300.MPG) im kicking myself for not thinking of this earlier!

I guess the basic plan would be to buy something like that, replace its internals with my lilliput VGA (with TS) then put the TFT LCD that came with the motorized unit inside the Lilliputs old housing, and use that as one of those "headrest" screens. Or perhaps make up a housing for it and put it in the sunvisor of my car.

Anyone done something like this before? or am I the guinea pig? :P

Spec-V · 08-23-2004, 12:37 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by darkhalo

This looks like a good option. http://www.mp3playerstore.com/stuff_...al/TM-7300.htm

I have this exact screen... I didnt buy it from MP3Playerstore because they suck.

The motor and gear control is routed through the LCD controller in this unit. I have already disassembled and tried to isolate the LCD motorizing control to no avail.

It has sufficient room inside for a new controller... but getting the motorized function to work without the original controller in there is nearly impossible.

Someone more skilled with PCBs like Armin might be able to do something with it.

On the other hand... the screen's quality and brightness is awesome. I have been using it for my Sentraputer for several months.

JayKaye · 08-23-2004, 12:45 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Spec-V

I have this exact screen... I didnt buy it from MP3Playerstore because they suck.

The motor and gear control is routed through the LCD controller in this unit. I have already disassembled and tried to isolate the LCD motorizing control to no avail.

It has sufficient room inside for a new controller... but getting the motorized function to work without the original controller in there is nearly impossible.

Someone more skilled with PCBs like Armin might be able to do something with it.

On the other hand... the screen's quality and brightness is awesome. I have been using it for my Sentraputer for several months.

oh crap! how is it that the controller and the motor/gear are together? You mean you cant get the screen to open and close without the original controller in there?

damnit

Even if I find another one (which im sure there are many of) how am I to know I wont have the same problem? hmmmm :|

Spec-V · 08-23-2004, 01:07 PM

Thats right.... the controller for the LCD and the motor controlling circuit are integrated on the same PCB.

Seth · 08-23-2004, 02:31 PM

Well if Autonode gives us another delay I propose to all who have electronics experience to sit down and design a stepper motor controller

darkhalo · 08-23-2004, 11:18 PM

Here is what you can do. leave the original pcb and everything connected, and take out the screen itself. that way the motors and buttons keep working like normal. the lcd controller wont care if there is no screen connected, it should still eject the screen enclosure normaly.

Now the part i am not clear on:
Spec-V- you said that there was plenty room for another pcb. is that still ture if you leave the old pcb in?

if not then there is still a solution. just remove the old pcb and extend all of the wires and install it somewhere outside the unit.(so i can keep doing its work). and install the lilliput controller inside the unit.

As for the buttons, i would leave them alone and just extend the ir sensor and install it somewhere on your dash.

In theory the original controller should continue to open and close the screen.

Good luck bro, i hope someone out there has the balls to try this out.
I will try this soon.

JayKaye · 08-23-2004, 11:29 PM

Thats a good idea Darkhalo. But that would mean we wouldnt be able to use the buttons on the motorized unit to control the lilli. I guess we could use the infrared, but having the buttons sitting there and doing nothing is a bit of a waste. Also having a LCD controller sitting there ONLY to open the screen is a waste of a perfectly good LCD! I guess with a lot of hard work it would be possible to extend the wires from the non-lilli controller so that you could plug only the screen in somewhere else in the car, but doing that would mean the extended wires would get EMI and make the image look all crappy.

hmmm its a gamble. I will see how it goes though. I really want to do something like this.

blazini · 08-24-2004, 08:13 AM

I'm new here and haven't done my carputer yet, I was just kindof searching for ideas when I stumbled on your post. I'm guessing the only reason you wanna do this is to keep the TS of the Lilliput, right? Why not buy the unit that someone suggested above, then install a TS film kit to that monitor? It seems a hell of alot easier. You can buy them at this link for like $100 and they have DIY instructions on the sitehttp://www.digitalww.com