Progress is excrutiatingly slow. I have two kids who keep me pretty busy, so finding time to work on this is very hard to come by. Nevertheless some good progress has been made. The pics pretty much tell the story...
Setting everything up:
Parts for making power connector for Lilliput 629 (type "M" tip and connector with bare leads):
Assembled power connector:
Putting system under full load (playing DVD off the DVD drive, running CPU load tester):
...putting it under a full load so we can see how much power it is drawing (112 watts peak):
Sidebar: LOL, already had my 320W opus ordered. Well, better to have more than enough power. I'll use the extra to power my headrest screens, etc. Also, the watt meter is AC, yes... and my computer will be running DC-DC... so WTF? My theory is that in the process of converting the AC to DC, some loss is incurred (i.e. additional heat created) and therefore my 112 watts estimate is an over-estimate, so should be a safe guide. Besides, I have 320W (well, not exactly, various rails to worry about, etc.) to work with.
At least now I
know I have enough power and am not just guessing.
Back to pics....
Disassembling my Lilliput 629:
Urm, they aren't lying when they say hazardous voltage.... not that I would know from first hand experience while testing the lcd outside the housing or anything...
Hooking up the Opus on the workbench:
Complete with simple toggle switch from hardware store to simulate ignition:
Going to have to secure those two cards when I put this in its case...
Other stuff just waiting to be played with (amp, headreset screens, radio tuner --- not pictured GPS, transmitting ir adapter, ir controlled av switch boxes):
Finding this radio tuner was difficult. Everyone's out of the HQCT-i, so I ended up paying a little extra to get the external model
from here (international shipping to CA was actually quite fast):
Building the MDF case. Still need to clean up some edges and add another coat of paint (matches van interior) and then clear. Those door latches are just shower door latches from the hardware store
:
This is the center cupholder console I took out of my van. It had a hinged arm that popped it up between the front seats. Took that off. Going to bolt this to the top of the MDF case. I've got it fitted, when I finish painting the case, I'll post more pics with it in place:
OK, time to try to get the Lilliput into the dash. WARNING: 1337 fabricators avert your eyes! This is pretty quick and dirty as I'm getting impatient to get this done:
The piece on the left is the "bezel" I'll be using (compared to Lilli bezel on right). The piece is just 1/8" ABS plastic I got from
Tap Plastics here in town. They cut it out for me, even the screen cut out.
The front of the bezel has a textured finish... a little too shiny, but as I said, this is v1.0:
More LCD installation:
Last pic. Here's where I'm at... need to secure the LCD controller board (heading back to Tap Plastics this morning):
(actually the planning's been the hardest part)
and am trying to do almost the same thing. I've got three little kids and we do a ton of long distance driving. So I'd like to do the mp3 and GPS up front while having videos (now and games later) in the back. 
but I think it'll come together really fast. Just need a kid/wife-free weekend 
Linear Mode
