stalkerstyle

Australian Design Rules (ADRs) require that specific gauges be directly infront of the driver. Mini Cooper had this issue with the tacho being low centre near the stereo. They ended up converting the tacho to a clock and installing an ugly tacho behind the steering wheel.

It may be an idea to maybe have an external screen replacing the standard dash that displays the gauges. That would be original. For Australia anyway

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RedGTiVR6

Good to know about Australia!

Sucks for custom builders though...

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h3rk

Made in Australia, by the good folks at MoTeC

ok, so it isn't in the form of 'gauges', but... I like it.

And for air conditioning controls, search the forum for Aircon, I've just recieved one of the new designs.
(I haven't put it together yet, but it seems to be sound. I will post a review on it when I have it up and running, or give up because it won't work.)

RedGTiVR6

I wonder what the cost of this is and what it takes to implement it in the car. Can it connect to the car PC or do you have to run a seperate processing unit for it?


turns out that when I search for 'aircon' I find a unit for vacuum controlled units, but nothing for electrically controlled ones. Any advice for us?

This was what I found: http://www.roshanindustries.com/mp3pumphouse/Aircon.htm

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h3rk

The new version (Aircon2) unit is for controlling servos, as well as digitial output, it's a bit more flexible now, but imho, in no way a finished product. As for the MoTeC display, its actually a datalogger as well, I believe, and meant to be used with one of their EFI/Ignition controllers.http://www.motec.com/products/dash/adl2dash.htm says that it can be set up as a stand alone dash also. It's been around a while, and is in large part what got me hooked on carpc's.

RedGTiVR6

I've seen the motec for a while now. Many of the Ferrari Challenge cars I helped work on and maintain ran them. Great units...just a bit too much $$ at this time for most users on this forum...

I suppose I will have to look more into the Aircon 2. Not much in this market is a complete product just yet... Takes users putting them all through their paces to make it a finished product!

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stalkerstyle

Thank you for the read guys.

I will keep on with my research. if you have any other features i might be interested in please keep me posted.

How long would it take to get teh avergae CarPC installed and running

RedGTiVR6

it all depends on how indepth you want to go and in how experienced you are in working with car electronics.

For someone who has planned it all out throughly, and who has a good deal of experience in this area...a day.

If you're going real indepth with it, integrating a good deal, molding in your screen, and hooking it up to a full audio system would take 3-4 weekends.

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stalkerstyle

as for experience my mechanic is actually a qualified electrician by trade and has has worked for holden for many years until starting his own company a year or so ago.

3-4 weeks sounds reasonable. we will do most of the testing and layingout, etc while the car is at the panel shop so all we should need to do is build the wiring loom once the car is painted.

RedGTiVR6

I will warn you ahead of time.

Unlike typical car audio, where you can get by with cutting a few corners in the install, you cannot get by with a CarPC. CarPCs demand paying attention to proper install techniques. Proper grounding, wire running, etc.

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stalkerstyle

I wont be taking shortcuts when it comes to my wiring. I have a qualified eletrician working on my car and with the standard the car is aiming for shortcuts wont be taken

Thanks for the headds up tho

RedGTiVR6

standards is what has gotten us to where we are. no matter what you do or what people say, don't let those standards degrade.

It's our standards that's gotten us 2 world titles and our spread in this months car audio and electronics as well as numerous other awards!

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stalkerstyle

nice. thats the kind of standard im going for.

we are aiming to win awards at some of australias biggest competitions

When it is finished i promise ill post heaps of pics of the whole car

I had a meeting with a supplier and installer to get some advice and assistance.

there might be a possibility of sponsorship, but not to sure just yet

We discussed how all the things we want to work and wat fail safes we want etc.

We are looking at a 10-11 inch hi res Touch screen that connects to the 2 exisiting screens in the head rests. it will have the capability to control the fading, etc of the whole system.

The air suspension will have certain rules as to when it can activate. there will be a check point in the tbar auto. This allowing the suspension only to work while the car is in Park. Any signal sent through the wiring will not activiate the suspension keeping the safety aspect in line

this rule will also be used for the electronic hand brake and any other electonic features that may be dangerous if used while in motion

another extra we are looking at is running a wireless touch screen so the car can be controlled via a screen outside the car.

He is suggesting runnning Windows Based Software? what are your thoughts on that?

this is all i can think of from our meeting. ill keep you all posted

how hard would this system be to install yourself without any major computer design or fabrication skills. The only help i have is from an automotive electrical engineer. Or is this kind of system best left to someone experienced

RedGTiVR6

well, if you;re running windows XP it's really your only option....I'm not sure what to comment on with that.

If you know how to properly install car audio equipment and have a basic understanding of mobile electronics you shouldn't have any problems.

The key is understanding best practices for this kind of thing. Don't cut corners, make sure all connections are solid, and if you think you're doing something half assed, then stop what you're doing and do it the right way.

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stalkerstyle

I have been told by other people that windows isnt as stable as other bases

what do you recommend

Will windows do it properly and be stable or should i be looking at other types

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