XC90 Install - am I the first??

klokman · 06-14-2005, 02:20 PM

Having spent hours browsing and reading these forums, I bit the bullet and bought and built a CarPC -
Travla C-134 Case, EPIAM10K, 512Mb Ram, 80Gb HD, Panasonic DVD/CD-RW, Carnetix P-1260, BR304 GPS Rx, Lilliput 7" Touchscreen and a Griffin Road Trip FM Transmitter (as my car a Volvo XC-90 has "MOST" - Volvo's patented anti-aftermarket Audio system which for the un-initiated is a completely Fibre Optic system, with no known means of adding AUX inputs), plus Linksys USB WiFi Client, and Siemens S55 Handset for GPRS / Phoco.net

All went well on install No.1 - acres of room under the bootspace floor to put the PC, a nice plastic roof to hide the GPS under, plenty of room to mount the FM Tx in the roof as well, near the "Grid Array" Antenna. The Lilli went dodgily in the hole in the front dash to keep your business cards / fags etc. To be completed....
Overall Score 4/10 - impressed people with a PC in the car - sound "iffy" even though the Griffin has 4 presets, having to hop round to get the best reception - not what i was looking for plus the lilli looked very "ghetto".

Install No.2 - Get that Lilli mounted. So I took the grille off the Sub in the middle of the dash, and fabricated a hood out of MDF to mount the Lilli - sans case.
Pics.....
http:\\www.berdandbloke.co.uk\carpc\hoodfront.jpg
http:\\www.berdandbloke.co.uk\carpc\hoodside.jpg
http:\\www.berdandbloke.co.uk\carpc\hoodtotal.jpg
I'd got the leather from a local trim company and was all ready to cover the MDF and blend the whole thing in. When...

Install No3. - Get the sound working (you don't spend all that cash to listen to hiss, pops and whistles) so with some help from Andy from my local ICE store, I got hold of an Audison SRX4 amp and crossovers.
Working on the principal that the speakers will still be copper from the factory amp - even though its totally Fibre inputs so they should be able to be routed through the SRX4. Luckily my theory held true, Volvo haven't gone for Fibre to the speakers, and it all went in today - thanks Andy.

Install No4. - Sound from the EPIA is not great, so off to get a Soundblaster Live24 USB soundcard. Wow! what a difference, brilliant sound quality - this is is what I wanted.

Install No5. - Will be remove unfinished MDF hood and replace SUB grille, remove the factory HU and install the screen into the space - plenty of room its double DIN and a half and probably put the CD from the PC into the space as well. Off to the fabrication forums for me.

Then sell half a hide of Volvo grey leather and work out whether its worth dragging the pC from the back to the front, just to reduce the length of some of the cable looms.

Install No6. - who knows Dual Screens for the Kids in the back, reversing camera, etc etc......

Thanks to all in these forums without your posts and experience I wouldn't have even taken on the "impossible", but its been worth it Volvo's MOST is now LEAST (well for me anyway). As far as I can tell I'm the first XC90 CarPC on MP3car.

I look froward to your constructive criticisms!!!

Shelbrain · 06-14-2005, 05:11 PM

Do you have pictures of the computer install? Glad to hear you are getting the kinks worked out...

klokman · 06-14-2005, 05:18 PM

I can take them, but as I've moved every other part of the install at least once, they may not be the final resting place! Currently looking at taking out the Slim CD from the PC case and mounting it under the screen in the front. The screen in the front is being moved to where the Radio HU currently is - it all seemed so easy at the start - then as I fix one problem, it doesn't necessarily cause another but creates the means to do some thing else better
Does it ever end?

LiquidKernel · 06-14-2005, 10:04 PM

That looks impressive! I'd love to see photos of the LCD panel finished... might look like BMW's I-Drive LCDs which are up on top of the dash.

klokman · 07-13-2005, 04:27 PM

Whilst we're all waiting for VEETID to release Centrafuse 1.3 - I thought I'd get off my backside and sort out the Screen at least.
This coincided with my 7" Lilli dying after just 3 months - Green colour gone (where??)
So I bought a 7" Touchscreen from LINITX - arrived today. 2 hours later fitted into dash - See Pics.....

http://www.berdandbloke.co.uk/images/side.gif
http://www.berdandbloke.co.uk/images/centre.gif

Sorry it all happened so quick didn't get time to take step by steps - I'll try to go back and take them

How did I do it...
Basically - remove Radio / HU - complete PITA loads of room to put screen cables etc, however on trial screen powered up but all the A/C controls etc on the lower panel no longer working. This confused me for a while as the Radio/HU hasn't been powered for over a month since I ripped the stock amp out and installed the AUDISON. After checking fuses etc, I refitted the radio - bingo it all worked again.

**TOP TIP** It turns out the connector to the display screen for the Radio has the cables for the AC controls running through it - for no real reason.
So refitted the screen only and cables to it (lucky plenty of room to bury it behind the new touchscreen).

Then cut a Romboid shaped piece of 6mm MDF to fit the hole
Cut a hole in the middle of the MDF to take the headrest mount of the Linitx screen.

Then having read about paints, finishes etc, I remembered that a company I used to work for used to have Marketing folders in "dashboard black" complete with textured finish. Dug one of these out cut it to shape - BINGO!

Fitted the Headrest mount into the hole and I was done.

Next I've to unghetto my PC mount in my Spare wheel bay and also get a Trinloc USB DAB Rx (Has anyone used this in anger) I'm desperate for some form of Radio back despite having 40Gig of MP3's to choose from.

Here's to Centrafuse 1.3 when it arrives......

underdog · 04-13-2006, 02:12 PM

Well I guess you are the first, but are you the only?

I just got an XC90, and I've got a lot of ideas. I'd really like to talk to someone who has attempted a carPC in a Volvo XC90.

Looking forward to hearing from you..........

kyouabian · 02-13-2007, 12:00 AM

Hi there,
I'm glad to finally find someone who has done this on the Volvo.
I have a 2006 Volvo C70 which uses both the MOST fiberoptic network and CAN networks.

I'm planning to install a car PC, but I don't know how to interface it with the networks.

Could you please point me in the right direction for this?

In particular, I'm mostly interested in tapping the CAN network in order to be able to read and send messages related to the car's diagnostics and basic functions.

Thank you,
Kami

underdog · 02-13-2007, 12:12 AM

Last time I looked into this, I could not find anything that works with the CAN network in the Volvo. I contacted several people regarding products that work with the However, things may have changed. I just checked Dension, because they were supposed to be working on a MOST system integration kit... their site and name has changed.... but it was supposed to be something like this... http://www.ipodcarkitdirect.co.uk/De...ST_fiber_optic

Please let me know if you come across something... I'm interested in getting this project going again...