Rod's Rig Car PC (2007 Toyota Hilux) - Page 4

rodweb · 04-13-2009, 02:30 AM

Still have not finished off the Arduino project, but as it has been wet here today, I decided to tackle fitting the DVD drive I bought 4-5 months ago. I had already decided to fit it in the console armrest and had bought a spare armrest from a wrecker.

I would have liked to fit the DVD so that it opened out the rear but when I dismantled the armrest (it has an inner and outer part screwed together), I decided it was simply not practical to do this without a lot more fabrication work that I thought it as beyond me as all of the mounting screws for the hinges would have to be cut totally away. I have a cheap and nasty Dremel look alike here and I started by gouging into the inner skin and then later cutting into the outer armrest. So I made it open out on the passenger side. Here is the finished result:

It took a bit of thought to work out how to mount the DVD securely but in the end, I decided to use a piece of scrap aluminium angle iron which I stuck to the DVD case with some 3M body adhesive tape and screwed it into the innner housing.

I found you really have to take your time with this sort of stuff. I thought I had finished and tried the DVD out only to find the door would nnot open becasue I had squeezed the case together when I mounted it, so I spent more than an our patiently sanding out the slots until I had a snug fit without distorting the DVD case. You would not think that such a rough job was so time consuming!

The two wires that pass through the one hole are for the USB and 5 volt power cables, the other one was a bit of an afterthought but it is for my tiny keyboard which I have found to be very handy for simple system updates etc. The keyboard cable no longer runs accross the floor.

Initially I was going to mount the keyboard somewhere but found that is best to hold it in both hands to use and type with my two index fingers. I found a keyboard mapper ages ago and reprogrammed a couple of the function keys to press a couple of things (like right click which is very handy to open up context sensitive menus). It has been living in the console until I need it and now the keyboard cable is all hidden away and looks nice and neat.

I was able to get wires under the floor covering and spliced the power wire onto an exisiting 5 volt lead under the rear right door sill. (the existing lead powers a hub under the dash for the GPS and auxillary USB port under the glove box). I had to extend the USB cable so I cut the end off and soldered on an IP67 USB lead that screws onto my off road hub enclosure. Always a bit fiddly but I love it the way the USB standard specifies wire colours, so the wires to join are always color coded. I use fine shrink wrap for the interior wires and then wrap the join with tin foil befoe covering with shrink wrap or tape (when I am in a hurry like I was today).

rodweb · 04-13-2009, 03:12 AM

I've also done a bit of work on my RoadRunner Skin and I am triallling the new RideRunner build. I will probably move over to it but I am sticking to the BMV2 skin.

I also added a button to the Toyota logo to open up what will be a dash board in due course. I just threw a few fields on the skin whihc I will tidy up in due course. I also added a button to get to the Weather skin but have not done any Photoshop work.

Eventually when I finish of the Arduino project, the temperature and voltage field will be activated.

You can also see I have changed one button on the main skin to call up a simple fuel logger program I wrote using Clarion Proffesional Developer. I used to keep a hand written fuel log, now it is in the Car PC.

Yeh I know, I should have skinned it, but it is not something that you leave displayed all of the time and I took the easy way out. Sorry for you guys in the US, but this is simply a metric program and don't see I will support miles and gallons ever.

The Set Date button alows you to select the starting date you want to display readings from and the averages will work out from there. eg. If you set off on a long trip, set the date for the first day you get fuel.

To add a value, You get a screen like this:

You simply select the field you want to enter and press the Enter Value button to open a touch screen friendly data entry screen.

The date and time field are locked and default to the date and time you are adding an entry. Sometimes you might want to edit the default date and time and you can click on the padlock to enable editing of these fields.

I also added a Servo lookup table so you can record where you purchased fuel, but you can type into the field if you like:

I also added a couple of INI file settings so you can chane the window title so you have control over the embedding process. The HideCloseButton does excatly that. When it is = 1, the close button is hidden as typically you would close it from the skin in your Front end.

Code:

GLO:HideCloseButton=1
GLO:WindowTitle=Fuel Logger

To open this from Roadrunner, you would do someting like this
B14,643,415,145,110,"LOAD;FUELLOG.SKIN;"Fuel Logger";C:\Program Files\RideRunner\FuelLog\fuellog.exe;Fuel Logger"

rodweb · 04-13-2009, 03:21 AM

I've also done a bit of work on my RoadRunner Skin and I am triallling the new RideRunner build. I will probably move over to it but I am sticking to the BMV2 skin.

I also added a button to the Toyota logo to open up what will be a dash board in due course. I just threw a few fields on the skin whihc I will tidy up in due course. I also added a button to get to the Weather skin but have not done any Photoshop work.

Eventually when I finish of the Arduino project, the temperature and voltage field will be activated.

You can also see I have changed one button on the main skin to call up a simple fuel logger program I wrote using Clarion Proffesional Developer. I used to keep a hand written fuel log, now it is in the Car PC.

Yeh I know, I should have skinned it, but it is not something that you leave displayed all of the time and I took the easy way out. Sorry for you guys in the US, but this is simply a metric program and don't see I will support miles and gallons ever.

The Set Date button alows you to select the starting date you want to display readings from and the averages will work out from there. eg. If you set off on a long trip, set the date for the first day you get fuel.

To add a value, You get a screen like this:

You simply select the field you want to enter and press the Enter Value button to open a touch screen friendly data entry screen.

The date and time field are locked and default to the date and time you are adding an entry. Sometimes you might want to edit the default date and time and you can click on the padlock to enable editing of these fields.

I also added a Servo lookup table so you can record where you purchased fuel, but you can type into the field if you like:

I also added a couple of INI file settings so you can chane the window title so you have control over the embedding process. The HideCloseButton does excatly that. When it is = 1, the close button is hidden as typically you would close it from the skin in your Front end.

Code:

GLO:HideCloseButton=1
GLO:WindowTitle=Fuel Logger

To open this from Roadrunner, you would do someting like this
B14,643,415,145,110,"LOAD;FUELLOG.SKIN;"Fuel Logger";C:\Program Files\RideRunner\FuelLog\fuellog.exe;Fuel Logger"

Minoritydan · 06-25-2009, 07:03 AM

Hey Rod!

Hope you are doing well.

Well, wouldn't you know it, I'm having monitor problems not. The darn thing keeps shutting off and I have to unplug the input box and plug it back in to regain functionality/control.

I've noticed the screen would appear to "flicker" for many months now, but it jsut started shutting off recently.

Like you I opend up the monitor, so hopefully its just the input box.

I contacted Jimmy at Xenarc and am starting the RMA process... wish me luck!

Dan

rodweb · 06-25-2009, 07:11 AM

Dan,

Does your monitor interconnect cable screw in with both screws into the input box? the posts the cable screw into are too short and I can't screw in both sides at one time.

I emailed Jimmy some pics of this as I wondered if the failures was due to poor connections shorting something out. He told me he was looking in to this still and trying to source some longer posts and would post me a set if he could get them. In the mean time I have wrapped a cable tie around the input box to secure the cable so it won't come out as I have been terrified a couple of times when it stopped working due to the cable falling out.

Just a thought and perhaps an angle to tacke back to Xenarc.

Minoritydan · 06-25-2009, 07:21 AM

I will take a look.

I know that the interconnect cable screws into the back of the screen from the input box, but I thought the other end of the interconnect was something like a quick connect - maybe that is from the motherboard to the input box. I think both you and I ordered the 5 meter interconnect cable too. I'll make sure to double check my connections again and maybe use some cable ties like you did.

Researching in the thread where you addressed come other issues I read this plst from slate:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/lcd-...ng-soon-4.html

"To make a long story short, I am having (what I think are) power issues with my screen. The problem seems to get much worse in colder weather (0-17C). The LEDs on the 'button' board will light up, so I know it is getting power, but the screen itself does not turn on. I have checked all connections, and I know they are good. The only way to fix it is to unplug the power connector and plug it back in repeatedly. Sometimes it works after one power 'cycle' and sometimes it still won't turn on after many cycles (this usually occurs if it's especially cold out). This has happened so many times I can't even count.
"

And a review for this monitor on mp3car store.com has similar issues:

"The input/output box has some major flaws. The monitor output thumb screw connections do not even match the thumb screws on the cable (one is coarse thread and the other is fine thread) making it difficult to get a solid connection. The motherboard input connection has spring loaded "clamps to secure the cable to the connector. It is super loose with no way to tighten it down. Both of these situations are not good for vehicle operation. I've already had to return the I/O box for repair after less than 15 hours of use.
"

I like the idea of the separate input box, but man this looks like its been causing alot of people trouble. If anyone were to ask me I would have to advise them to stay away from this monitor at this point...

Minoritydan · 06-25-2009, 10:00 PM

I drove it to work today and home from work and it was in the 90's. The thing shut off pretty quickly, so maybe the input box is over heating??

It was hot to the touch, painful even, but I think it was within its limit of 185.

I'm going downtown tonight and Its a good 40 min drive down there, so I'll see if it shuts off then.

rodweb · 07-15-2009, 08:19 PM

Picked up one of these yesterday and got a moment to put it in this morning before my morning commute.

See: http://www.cakewalk.com/products/UAUM/UA1G.asp
Review: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/07/08/...erface-review/

Seems like it is only just a new device on the market.

It cost me AUD $200. The main reason I purchased this was to gain an AUX input so I can put an external AM/FM headunit back in the car so I needed an external AUX input which my laptop does not have. It even has an AUX level control which will be good to match the sound level from the head unit with the lowwer one on the PC. I've got a good Alpine head unit sitting here to go in, so now all I have got to do is decide whether to buy or make the overhead console I need to fit it into. A bought console is AUD $500 so either way, it will take a while before it does go in. This is the console I have in mind:

On first experience, it does seem to have better sound quality and despite all sorts of warnings about possible problems on startup and shutdown and hibernating, it seems to be welll behaved so far on my system. Only thing I have noticed is that the touch screen no longer beeps when touched. Not a biggie, but I will try reinstalling the touch screen driver to see if that fixes it as it may still be pointing to the old internal sound card.

I am also considering installing a HD digital set top box with HDMI output up in the console. This one runs on 12 volts:

See: http://www.soniqav.com/Qmedia.php?md...9fa056d2a88de3

So I could stick this up there in the console so the controls and infrared remote reciever are accessible and send the HDMI output to the DVI digital input on my Xenarc monitor. Still need to sort out the sound input though. I guess it would have to share the input with the head unit. Anyway just an idea, not sure if I will do this or not yet.

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