2004 Infiniti G35 Coupe || My 2nd CarPC Worklog || **NO 56k** - Page 2

Moneyfink · 10-25-2007, 07:09 PM

So you can see in my last post that i couldn't fit my faceplate in because i overbuilt the dash piece. I took my dremmel out and took the thickness of this lower portion down to about 1/8 of an inch

Here is the faceplate in the bezel

So, Since I thinned out the bottom, I needed to thicken it back up for more strength. The problem was that i could only build up into the hood. First i needed to raise the top part. to do this I made a mold out of masking tape. I used about 3 layers of tape for strength
Here are some pictures of the mold that I made

I poured my evercoat into that structure. I also raised the bottom portion of hood. When I say bottom portion, I mean it the part where the buttons are normally located. So basically i raised the monitor by about 1/8 of an inch. The raise helped me thicken the bottom portion.

So I finally got the shape i wanted and I began heavy sanding to clean it up. I used 60 grit to level everything out. Here are the pics

Once I Finished with 60 grit I spent some time sanding with 100 grit, And got impatient I put 5 layers of matte finish clear coat on the structure and then painted with a black semi-gloss. I could see a few nicks.... It looked very Very VERY good, but I want perfect. So I sanded it back down.
I got all of the paint off with 60 grit. then I spent a few hours with 100 grit. Then a few more hours with 220 grit. And finally I went to 600 Grit wet sanding. The wet sanding was awesome!!! it was so smooth. I couldn't keep my hands of the piece, the bondo was smoother than the original plastic

Here is the final sanded masked piece ready for about 10 layers of clear coat

I have a black semi gloss finish that I think I'm gonna use then I'm gonna use a grey bumped coater from about 3 feet away to try to give it a nice even speckled look. I hope the clear coat gives me the amount of texture that I want

And finally the materials used:

Clear coat and ever coat

Moneyfink · 10-30-2007, 11:28 PM

I just finished today
All that is left is to mount my two switches and to update some software!!!

turbocad6 · 10-31-2007, 12:10 AM

lookin good man, can't wait to see it painted & screen in it, nice job

Moneyfink · 11-09-2007, 01:01 PM

This update is long overdue.

So I masked it like this

Then I put about 8 coats of matte finish Clear coat on. I put too many coats on, so there is seam where the masking was. Its not too bad, but I should have know better. I should have done one to two coats then unmasked the rest of the piece.

After the clear coat, was black:

Bench testing: Actually its more like kitchen testing (my apartment is small!)

It funny, I sanded this by hand, I didn't even use a sanding block. Considering that, It looks pretty good and even, but the hood blocks access to certain parts of the touchscreen. Specifically I can't reach the Start Button or the Close button in the top right of any windows. Doesn't matter though, Because I will be booting directly to the front end.

I got my AAI-NIS2 from the classified section, it was very easy to deal with.
Here is the screen put in:

If you notice, I still have the text that was on my bezel already, when I was painting, I masked these off, so they look very good and factory. The text is below my volume button

I would have rather had no Headunit, but the AC controls share the same PCB as the Radio so I couldn't do that.

Moneyfink · 11-09-2007, 01:11 PM

After putting everything back together I decided to run my IR receiver for my liliput, and to get my GPS installed. I fished the wired through and I think they look pretty good

Spot the IR receiver

and my Delorme GPS receiver, which Was still painted from my last install

Moneyfink · 11-09-2007, 01:18 PM

I didn't get many pictures of where all of the components lay, but I fit them all under my center console. I have an Opus 150, 320 GB WD 3.5" HD, Via m10000, and a slot load DVD player all in the spare space. The MB is mounted on standoffs on a piece of ABS plastic that I took out of my old car.
my OPUS 150

my setup looks kinda like this:

the HD lays ontop of the ide cable which lays on my MB.
There is very poor circulation, but my MB runs at 100F and CPU at 110F. I may add fans before the summer.

My favorite part of the entire install: the switches and USB ports

The switches were awesome because of an accidental discovery I had:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/hard...some-hack.html
So this was one of those great accidental discoveries, right up there with penicillin. Anyway, this hack allows you to turn on your factory radio when your car is off, you don't even need the keys.

So I wired my car like this: S1 and S2 are switches

The purpose of S1 is kind of like a valet switch, when it is off nothing gets power
S2 is an override that allows me to turn the PC on without turning the car on.
S2 does nothing if S1 is already switched to the off position (duh)
I spend about 95% of my time with S1 on and S2 off, as that makes the opus make all of the Startup and shutdown decisions.

I had my DMM out when doing all of this wiring so I was checking voltages. My Cigarette adapter only gets power when the ignition is on. So I run the 12V from the battery and check the voltages, the switch is doing its job.
I then Hook up S2. When I flipped that into the on postion I can hear faint white noise coming from my speakers. I thought it was weird. I thought it was just ground loop noise or something. I didn't look at my radio to see if it was on, it was set to SAT with no input so thats why there was no music coming from the speakers. The noise made me think I was going to have to put a diode in the circuit to keep the voltage from going up the cigarette lighter

Anyway I leave it as is and put the car back together. When The computer was hooked up and the DMM was put away, I played with the switches some more. Flipping S2 on turned on the CARPC (as intended) And the Car radio!!! The Cigarette adapter must be on the same fuse as the radio or something. Anyway I can turn my radio on with this switch without even putting my key in the car. No other accessory functions turn on (wipers, turn signals, power windows, seat heaters, AC) Just the radio.

This was the coolest accidental hack ever. I only tried it on the Cig-adapter in my center console.

Moneyfink · 11-09-2007, 01:25 PM

Given Everything I had running I wanted to know How much power I was consuming to see If i had enough juice left for a 160 GB 5400 RPM to add to the system. So I hooked up the DMM and took notes:

V=12.75 V
Current Draw
Power OFF: .14A
Hard drive Spin up =5.05 A
power on booted, no programs running =3.00 A
Start audio = 3.95A
Peak while audio plays = 4.25A

So the most Power I used was about 63Watts
This was measured across the fuse box that was right next to my battery. So looking at inefficiencies in the opus and the wire, I was prolly using less than 60 Watts. My bench test power supply is just a modified AC adaptor for a laptop, with a selectable range of output voltages (8-20). It said its max output was 60 W and I used that thing for hours on end, with no problems. So it would make sense that I was only using about 60 watts

My startup time is 54.7 seconds from ign to music
Broken down as such (approx)
5 seconds opus delay ( I hate that)
7 seconds BIOS
31 seconds windows
11 seconds for RR to load FE and playlist with 2700 songs. I many more than 2700 songs, that was just the playlist that was loaded when I booted.

I have optimized my bios, I have an Nlited copy of XPPro SP2, I have prefetch enabled for boot only, I have 10 processes and 9 services. I have optimized with bootvis a few times. I have been unable to defrag lately. Is there anything else I can do to speed this up!!!

Caelric · 11-11-2007, 08:47 AM

Very nice!

I too have a switch wired directly to the battery, so I can turn my carPC on in case I want to load some software, or work on some issues in my garage, without turning the whole car accessory system on. It works out quite well for me.

Dave

Moneyfink · 11-11-2007, 01:22 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Caelric

Very nice!

I too have a switch wired directly to the battery, so I can turn my carPC on in case I want to load some software, or work on some issues in my garage, without turning the whole car accessory system on. It works out quite well for me.

Dave

What do you use for you ignition wire, when the switch is in the off position? Do you have it configured so that when you flip that switch, the Head Unit turns on? I want to think I was the person who discovered this!

seanshine · 11-11-2007, 03:23 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Moneyfink

My startup time is 54.7 seconds from ign to music
Is there anything else I can do to speed this up!!!

Nice screen fabrication,looks o.e.m.
Your boot time is about what it should be considering that via cpu is the equivalent of a p3 550.
The amd geode cpu is much faster and draws about the same power,and it comes on an itx board,so it would be an easy swap.here's one from newegg that you might like.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813153052

Moneyfink · 11-11-2007, 08:51 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by seanshine

Nice screen fabrication,looks o.e.m.
Your boot time is about what it should be considering that via cpu is the equivalent of a p3 550.
The amd geode cpu is much faster and draws about the same power,and it comes on an itx board,so it would be an easy swap.here's one from newegg that you might like.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813153052

It is TIGHT in my console where the MB is, I don't think that processor fan will fit in there.

Im looking at getting a nano ITX and that would free up enough space for dual 750 GB SATA drives. Or go with a non-Via product that is mini-itx and run an external 1 TB hd in my console, + 500 GB SATA under the console with the MB.

Do any boards have eSATA

seanshine · 11-11-2007, 09:38 PM

The heatsink on the Jetway is removable,and there are many smaller ones around,and looking at the specs it has pata and sata connectors,so you're ok there as well.
I've always replaced factory coolers with a quieter one anyway,just make sure you use decent thermal paste on it like arctic silver 5.
A nano? Well,I suppose you could save space with one,but,then you are back in the slow speed boat again,lol. Have you considered a firewire housing for an external hard drive? You'd be able to mount it anywhere in the car that has enough space.

moboman · 11-14-2007, 12:17 PM

You could put 2 750's in the trunk. Use 2 external usb, sata cases that the powersupply that comes with the case provides 5v and 12v. You could then run power to the trunk along with a usb hub and then you would have your 1.5tb, but it would be out of the way. You could just use a laptop drive as your boot drive inside the console and have the 2 750s as storage in the trunk.

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