Rod's Rig Car PC (2007 Toyota Hilux) - Page 2

rodweb · 09-20-2008, 07:40 AM

Well today, I got my Reversing Camera installed and also found time to tuck my blluetooth dongle in behind one of the interior panels. First, I tackled the reversing camera. This will give you an idea of what my rig looks like at the tailgate end:

Because I have a canopy on my rig, I don't drive with the tailgate down so I decided to screw the camera onto the bottom of the tailgate. Anywhere else would have restricted the view. This is where I put it:

It was a bit tricky to get the wiring up there. I had to replace the corrugated conduit that takes wires up into the tailgate for the reversing light. This is because I just could not push the coax for the video and the power wires through. I had to cut the conduit off as the factory version did not have a split in it. I replaced it with normal split conduit the same size but the split allowed me to get all of the wires in there. Looking down onto the open tailgate, you'd never know this was not factory:

Once I got the wires into the tailgate, I joined them up to the tails that were provided with the camera and mounted the camera in the centre of the tailgate:

Sorry, no pics, but I used some large shrinkwrap tubing on the plug in power connector and the RCA video socket at the end of the wiring tails on the camera so that the plugs could not come apart. I also did this with the bluetooth dongle, so the bluetooth pics below will give you an idea of how this works.

I ran the cable back into the back of the cab on the LHS where I shared the grommet that the fuel filler release exits from the cab. Under the car, I encased the video coax in corrugated split conduit which I fed all the way up into the tailgate.

I ran the video power leads back to the LHS tail light where I spliced into the reversing light to power the camera and drilled a hole and earthed the -ve wire after sanding off the paint. After checking that I had a good earth with a multimeter, I sprayed a bit of paint over the bare metal to keep rust at bay.

All of the wire connections I soldered in. The coax I used was a 5m wiring kit. I used an original connector at one end, and soldered on another RCA at the other end after trimming the length to suit.

So after testing that everything worked (and it did first time), I decided to permanently install the Bluetooth dongle behind a side panel up near the rear passenger's ear!

I used a USB extension lead, and cut off one end and soldered it to the USB screw in fly leads I had to mate with the off road hub I made. I staggered the joins so nothing would touch, used some insulation tape and finally replaced the shielding with some aluminium foil befoere adding a final layer of insulation tape.

I plugged the Bluetooth dongle into the USB connector and secured it with some shrinkwrap. Fortunately, I have a hot air gun which makes shrinking the tubing child play! I had also bought some self adhesive cable tie anchors from Jaycar and I thought this would be a good time to use them:

Once I got everything ready, I slipped the dongle in behind the internal panel up near the top seatbelt mount for the rear seat. This shot is taken from the rar door looking between the outer panel and the inner plastic trim panel:

So now, the main wiring I have to do is to get the GPS puck tucked in under the plastic cowling where the windscreen wipers are. I bought a high quality 5m USB cable which I will solder on to a screw in connector for the hub. I hope it will work as it will be close to the maximum length in the USB spec!

After that one is done, the remaining wiring will be for the Armrest USB hub, and a few switches and controls to let me manage the Car PC frpom the cockpit.. Still got a lot to do.....

Kalt · 09-20-2008, 09:51 AM

Nice work rodweb, has the extra monitor bezel arrived yet? I wanna make sure it same as the 706tsa and not the regular 700 series

rodweb · 09-20-2008, 06:09 PM

No, The bezel is not to hand. I left the US on the 17th. Hopefully it arrives by Friday as I am going away for 3 weeks... Richard assured me it's the bezel for the 706TSA, not the older one. Useless for me if it is an older one!

rodweb · 09-22-2008, 04:44 AM

I must say now I have got this up and running, I was a bit annoyed to find I have got a bit of noise from the Silab. It was not there in earlier testing using the factory head unit and/or the PC speakers and there was no noise. Now with an extended antenna, decent amp and awesome speakers I can hear it.

I tried an antenna filter $9 from Strathfield, but got no sound at all, so that did not work. I might try this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI....m=350100252928

Anyway, before I try this, I found this plugin for RR which has made a huge difference, but the noise is still there:

http://www.digital-car.co.uk/forum/s...ead.php?t=9978

Anyway, now using this plugin and the DLL (same as FreeIce uses I think), I found Post #522 on this thread which looks interesting.

http://www.digital-car.co.uk/forum/s...fdshow&page=35

So from here, I am going to try to play with using FFDSHOW noise filtering to see if I can get some improvement. I think this will work becasue I remembered that Winamp 2.95 had similar noise that disappeared when I upgraded to the latest version, so it probably can be controlled by software.

If the software solution does not work, I'll try the hardware solution. A lot of people said that the AS100filter on the ebay link above fixed their Silab noise...

Cheers

Rod

rodweb · 11-02-2008, 06:22 AM

Well I finally got onto my CAR PC monitor install over the weekend. Had an interruption on account of 3 fantastic weeks in a campervan touring New Zealand. Never got lost once even without a GPS.. but anyway back on with the article.

I am using this monitor:
http://www.xenarc.com/product/706tsa.html

and a Dual DIN LCD display, I purchased from here for another brand of monitor from http://www.bybyte.com/ which worked out OK.

So I started by stripping the monitor out of the case which voided my warranty

Then after removing the dash fascia

and the radio, I stripped the mounting rails of the factory radio, placed the frame into position on the back of the facia where there are some DIN sized mounting guides

and screwed the radio mounts onto the LCD frame through existing holes.

I had also bought some of the Toyota ears that are required if the larger factory radio is replaced with a DIN sized one. You can't get these from Toyota, but I bought them from Strathfield. go figure... So these ears bolt onto the outside of the mounting brackets to fill in the sides if a DIN radio is installed.

So the next step was to attach the ears, by again fitting everything up against the back of the fascia. It is critical you get these exactly positioned, straight and even up and down or the assembly won't fit in the facia later on.

Ok, so how to mount the monitor? I cut 4 L brackets from some scrap aluminium SHS. Then, I placed the montor into the LCD frame and drilled a hole in each bracket so I could screw the monitor onto the brackets using some handy screws on the monitor. Only 3 of the four holes were in use, but the thread is identical to a HDD mounting screw. Just check the thread length and add a couple of washers

I lined everything up again and used a pair of vice grips to clamp the l bracket to the LCD frame, removed the monitor and drilled a hole and screwed the L bracket onto the LCD frame. It all worked out easy and everything ended up in the right position.

There is a separate glass touch screen in front of the monitor and the frame had self adhesive tape inplace to mount it but warned that you would break the glass if you removed it. I did not like this idea, so I simpley taped the touch screen to the monitor case which allowed me to obscure some of the touch screen surrounds that as not hidden by the LCD frame. This is what I ended up with before installing the assembly back in the dash:

You can see the daughter board for the monitor buttons which I still have to work out what to do with.

So the easy bit was putting it back in the dash, but I did have to rework my CB radio microphone mount again!

In the shot above, you can see the daughter board for the monitor buttons

I had hoped to mount them above the fresh/recirc Air Con control here, but the board is a bit toolong for this.

The other trick a lot of people do is simply leave the daughter board in behind the dash, remove the Infra red sensor and use some wire to extend it to another convenient location. I am still thinking about the best way to go...

rodweb · 11-04-2008, 04:48 AM

Thought I'd post a pic of the keyboard I am using in my rig. I hav ejust dropped this in the console.

I got it from Richard at Custom Car Computers with some other stuff and it works fine. I was able to reporgram a couple of fucntion keys to get to the windows menu and the right click context sensitive menu as well using a keyboard mapper.

I did think of mounting it somewhere, but it is easier to use like when holding it in your hands, so I think I'l leave it loose. One day, I might upgrade to a bluetooth one.

rodweb · 11-08-2008, 06:32 AM

Some days everything goes wrong. Earlier in the week, I pulled out the DVD out of the lap top and blew it up while I was testing it out of the car for no apparent reason.

Today I had planned to wire in an ON-OFF-ON switch I bought a while ago so I can run the CarPC continuously from the 80 amp hour auxillary battery under the hood. Damn, I had lost the switch. Shops were not open, so I decided to mount the GPS puck somewhere permanent instead. I thought the best place for my GPS receiver would be here near the windscreen wipers because plastic is opaque to radio waves from the satellite:

I knew there was a 5.0 metre cable limit on the USB spec, and I was well within that. So I cut off the USB connector, stuffed the wire through the firewall, removed the windscreen wipers and lifted the cowling up a bit. Plenty of room under there so I decided to put it right under the curved bit in the pic above. I wiped both surfuaces with Methylated Spirits and covered the top of the GPS mouse with double sided body moulding tape like this:

The I pushed it up onto the plastic cowling to make it stick:

Then I soldered an extended USB lead onto the other end in the car and plugged it into my hub behind the back seat. Bugger! it didn't work! OK, after some troubleshooting, I could isolate the device was not coming up. So cut off the end, round up a 4 port hub lying around and solder it onto the cable from the back of the car and run a 5 volt power lead from the Opus in the back up to the hub. I ended with something like this whh I cable tied up under the dash.:

Beauty, it worked! Found 5 Satellites while I was parked under a tin roof. Anyway it will be handy to have USB ports up in the front and I will add an extension lead from the hub up ito the glove box or some other handy place.

Went off to buy a new switch hen turned my attention to the wireless network. Because I have a Ute (some call it a Pickup) with a fibreglass canopy which I had tested and found was reasonably opaque to radio waves, and becasue I did not want to have an antenna getting in the road of my roof racks, I decided to mount it in the canopy at the back corner beween the tailgate and the side window.

There is actually a hollow section in the canopy corner which must be there for strength and it is open at the bottom, so I decided to mount the antenna there, Sorry I did not take a pic of it, but it is a good quality 5 db internal antenna about 8 inches long. I had a some self adhesive tabs designed to attach cable ties to, so I cable tied these to the antenna and poked it up into the little hidey hole like this inside the canopy:

You can just see the gold pigtail connector at the base of the antenna sticking down. I was able to route the coax for the antenna through some conduit that was already in place for the light built into the canopy, so I did not have to drill any more holes in the car. I routed the coax back to the laptop under the vehicle and back in the cab and encased it in some corrugated conduit. Getting a bit crowded under there now with canopy power, fridge power, reversing camera coax, aftermarket diff breathers and now a wireless antenna. In the process, I broke the end off the pigtail connector. Not a major drama but annoyed that I have to go back and buy another connector as Jaycar is 20 minutes drive.

Finished just on 5:00 and went for a quick drive and the thing would not start up after I shut it down. PC has its knickers in a knot. Mucked about for ages, tok th ePC out of the car and mucked about some more. Found that while I was mucking baout with the coax, I had broken a wire of the startup and shut down switch. Very annoying! Ah well, another thing to fix tomorrow! Still have not fitted the switch into the dash yet.

I really think I need to extend the status LED on the Opus and wire in a LED that is patched into the USB 5 volt feed so I can see what is going on with the gear that is hidden behind a back seat that is bolted down and not easy to get in behind.

Gets a bit tiring becasue just about every job I do on this project ends up getting done twice becasue something goes wrong. Quite a journey of discovery it has been! Anywasy, getting close to done. Let me see what's left
1. Reflash the OPUS BIOS when the correct programming header turns up from Opus so it works in laptop mode.
2. Mount the ON-OFF-ON switch and the manual laptop power on/off button.
3. Install a DVD player in the console
4. Sort out the Monitor switches and remote control sensor
5. Mount some status LED's in the dash
6. Tidy up the wiring

Never mind, the list is getting shorter.

rodweb · 11-09-2008, 02:52 AM

Made a bit more progress today. Mounted the on-off-on switch inside the glove box so I did not have to carve a huge rectangular hole in the dash. Also mounted the laptop on/off switch up on the dash. Also mounted a USB port just below the dash board in a handy position so I can plug things in easily. Will post some pics some time but am out of time today.

Out with my wife today and stumbled on a USB slimline DVD RW drive so I bought it. Had a bit of a play, but need to provide it with 5 volt power for it to be useful in the car.

Decided to bolt the rear seat down, as I am feeling more confident with the install now. Teh seat has been rattling around for a few weeks now.

rodweb · 11-10-2008, 06:39 AM

Well, here are the pics I promised. This is the on off on switch tucked in under the glove box. This pic is looking straight up and the blurry black thing at the top is the glove box catch.

The position selected (I) is normal ignition mode. In this position, the Opus power supply is enabled when ignition is turned on. If II is selected, the Opus power supply is turned on all of the time. The centre posiiton (O) is you gueesed it Off! The Opus will never wake up. The Opus Power supply always draws power from the auxillary battery regardless of which setting. It is just the IGN wake up signal that is switched in this circuit.

Here is where I mounted the laptop power switch, to the left of the clock in the console. Eventually, a few more car PC related items (mainly LED's) will end up beside it.

While I was at it, I cable tied a USB extension lead up under the glove box. Might look a bit dodgy in this pic, but it is totally out of sight.

I don't need to worry about flattening the second battery. A truck sized heavy duty 80 amp hour battery is shoehorned in under the hood. See below:

You can see my nearly full power distribution block on the left front, and the Amp fuse in the right rear of this pic. Still got a few more things on the drawing board like an on board hot water system (plumbed into the heater coolant line), pressure pump and an air compressor. By the time I get them in, I think I will be a couple of fuses short in the distribution block pictured. Anyway, the main thing is that the fridge inthe back will keep the beer cold for a week without driving anywhere!

You can also see for insurance that between the distribution block and the battery is a 100 amp Maxi fuse in a waterproof rubber case along the rear side of the battery. If you stick both batterys in my rig together, there will be enough current to arc weld with, so can't be too careful.

A dual battery isolator looks after the charging. You can see it just behind the battery where the red battery lead terminates. The second battery is isolated from the starting (cranking) battery until the isolator sees 13.8 volts coming from the alternator. This tells it the cranking battery is fully charged, and then it connects the Aux battery to the charging circuit. When the engine stops, voltage falls and the aux battery is disconnected from the other battery so the cranking battery is never discharged by accessories.

Cheers

Minoritydan · 12-07-2008, 07:47 PM

Hey Rod,

I'm back from my vacation, anyway I can't seem to get the Touchscreen to work at all. How did you install the software and set it up?

I first had my main monitor hooked up to VGA and the USB input for the Xenarc hooked up - and I installed the CD, but it never detected the Touchscreen controller.

Finally when I uplugged my Monitor and hooked up the Xenarc VGA and USB it detected it and installed, but the touchscreen functionality does not work.

I can't open any programs or do anything in RR with just the Touchscreen - did you have any issues?

I'm hoping I don't have a defective unit. This has been sitting in my room for a while and I hacked it open, so its not like I can return the thing.

lacning74 · 12-07-2008, 09:05 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Minoritydan

Hey Rod,

I'm back from my vacation, anyway I can't seem to get the Touchscreen to work at all. How did you install the software and set it up?

I first had my main monitor hooked up to VGA and the USB input for the Xenarc hooked up - and I installed the CD, but it never detected the Touchscreen controller.

Finally when I uplugged my Monitor and hooked up the Xenarc VGA and USB it detected it and installed, but the touchscreen functionality does not work.

I can't open any programs or do anything in RR with just the Touchscreen - did you have any issues?

I'm hoping I don't have a defective unit. This has been sitting in my room for a while and I hacked it open, so its not like I can return the thing.

did you try downloading another TouchKit driver?

rodweb · 12-07-2008, 11:53 PM

Dan,

Sorry been distracted from the Car PC for a while and have not looked at my own particular Xenarc problem.

But anyway, the hot water system, pressure pump and shower system is in, the 10" bitumen melting spotlights are installed and the air compressor for tyre inflation is done. While I was at it, I also replaced the suspension with a 2" lift kit and a snorkel. However, they are all topics for another forum I think.

Next weekend, I'll get back to the Car PC problem.

I had no problems with the touch screen installation. I just ran the CD and it came up straight away when I plugged it in. I recalibrated it once I had it fitted in the dash as the orientation had changed a bit.

I still have the buttons flapping around. I turned it off a while ago and now I can't turn it on again. The power switch light remains on red and no matter what I press, it stays that way, so no picture. Like you I'm concerned and being out of the US, I might end up buying a new monitor which is an expensive fix. I can't see that there is anythig on the daughter board the buttons are mounted on that could short out. I have to unbolt the rear seat to access the car PC and just have not got to it.

Also, Opus promised to send me a programming header and the extended ribbon cable fo rhte monitor off eBay has not turned up after 4-6 weeks. I've been a bit slack chasing this all up.

Minoritydan · 12-09-2008, 08:08 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by rodweb

Dan,
I still have the buttons flapping around. I turned it off a while ago and now I can't turn it on again. The power switch light remains on red and no matter what I press, it stays that way, so no picture. Like you I'm concerned and being out of the US, I might end up buying a new monitor which is an expensive fix. I can't see that there is anythig on the daughter board the buttons are mounted on that could short out. I have to unbolt the rear seat to access the car PC and just have not got to it.

I got my issue resolved - for yours, try unplugging the 12v from the input box when the monitor is on, then plugging it back in.

I noticed the same issue with mine at times (my buttons are exposed at the moment too (until I get a replacement casing since I lost the buttons I trimmed off).

That is an expensive fix! (buying a new one to fix your issue)

Minoritydan · 12-09-2008, 08:10 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by lacning74

did you try downloading another TouchKit driver?

The issue was with how I was doing the configuration.

It was asking me to "touch the blinking X until is stops blinking" - and I was just tapping the screen on the blinking X - what I needed to do was Press and hold the blinking X until it stopped blinking. That resolved my issue.

rodweb · 12-09-2008, 03:46 PM

Good Dan, I think I remember trying the same technique.

Will be looking at the Monitor over the wekend when/if I get a chance.

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