Zebel 2001 BMW 330ci Carputer

Zebel · 04-27-2006, 11:57 PM

I have been working on this project for around two months and I am now putting the final touches. Those of you who have done this know that you can NEVER call it "complete" as there is always room for more hacks and improvements.

Firstly, I must thank Srcstc (Rich) (http://www.mybimmer.net) for his support through out my project not to mention his great looking bezel. He has been an inspiration to me and many others in this forum.

I am also grateful for receiving help from all others including, Gork, Hark, Enforcer and lloydy for sharing their invaluable knowledge with the rest of us here.

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Introducing my car:
2001 330ci, with about 112K miles on it and still drives like the first day, no kidding!

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Here is the "before" picture of the dash:

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Here is the "after" picture of the dash:

******************************** Part List ******************************************
Here is the summary of parts I used:
EIPA-13000 Mini-ITX motherboard with 1GB RAM, 40GB slim HD,

OPUS 120W case

OPUS 15W Point of Load

Panasonic CW-8124-B Slim DVD CDR drive

Sirius SIR-ALP1 with Mitch's RS-232 interface card

Hauppauge WinTV Model 401

Xenrac 7" TSV Touchscreen LCD monitor

BMW e46 bezel from http://www.mybimmer.net

M-Audio Firewire Audiophile external sound

Global Sat BR-355 Water-Proof Serial GPS Receiver - SiRF Star III

Rolf's RS-232 IBUS controller

Belkin 802.11g USB WIFI adapter

Tokslink to Coax covertor

Soundgate AVM44 channel line driver

Peripherals Electronics SVEN4

USB 2.0 and USB 1.0 hubs

16 and 8 line European connection terminals (RadioShack)

Dave Navone Amp pop eliminator, N-66A

Industrial Velcros from Home Depot

Software:

Roadrunner, I alternate between iDrive and Simplistique skins

Guidance, been using MapMonkey and now trying iGuidance

Hare are some pitcures of the Parts I used:

EIPA-13000 Mini-ITX

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M-Audio Audiophile

External Firewire sound device from M-Audio. It has analog, digital and MIDI lines as input and output. The 4 channel RCA analog ouput is perfect for connecting to the 4 channel BMW harness wihtout using a splitter cable. In addition going external reduces potential motherboard noise.
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Sirius connect Alpine tuner.

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Opus case with 120Watts DC-DC 12 V Intelligent power supply (left). Also Opus Point of Load used to power up devices such as LCD. It can be set to dish out regulated 5, 7, 9 or 12 volts.
I have heard that Opus is the best in the market, I was told that Opus Solutions used to build PS for Police cars. I like the fan vent design as it looks very industrial.

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Hauppauge WinTV Model 401 - TV/FM tuner.

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E46 bezel I got from www.mybimmer.net. This is a unique product to give the OEM look. I chose the ones with no IR/LED holes.

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Soundgate AVM4 4 channel linedriver.

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Toslink to Coax convertor.

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Xenarc 700TSV 7" LCD monitor.

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Dave Navone pop eliminator N-66A. http://www.davidnavone.com/amp.htm

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BMW part needed to move the AC control down one notch replacing the sunglasses cubby. (part No. 51 16 7 001 408)

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IBUS Interface for BMW cars made by Ralf Reslers.

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Zebel · 05-02-2006, 03:56 AM

Dash gutted out for wiring:

Hooking up SVEN4 to convert unbalanced PC output to balanced HK amp input. It's a shame that SVEN4 enclosure is so cheaply made that I broke the little plastic that snaps the top and bottom peices together so I ended up taping them together. For a nice tutorial on balanced audio please check:
http://www.bcae1.com/ballndrv.htm

Running wires under the carpet...

Zebel · 05-02-2006, 04:00 AM

Swapping the Alpine Bus interface with the RS-232 interface which also dishes out Optical audio:

Sirius tuner is mounted to the trunk using wire ties. Did not feel like drilling into metal; it seems pretty tight.

05BSZHP · 05-02-2006, 10:57 PM

Very nice install! Do you have the new bezel with the led/power cutouts? (for the newer Xenarcs) Any dash pics post-install?

I plan on a very similar setup on my 05 330i.

Zebel · 05-02-2006, 11:19 PM

Thanks! I bought my bezel from srcstc http://www.mybimmer.net. His bezels look the best; it's worth every penny! I opted to get the ones that have no holes for led and IR, in my opinion it looks cleaner. He makes both kinds. I extented the IR cable to the ash tray so when I use the remote I just pop open the ash tray cover. I will post some post install pictures soon.

Zebel · 05-03-2006, 01:01 AM

I wanted to be able to override the Power supply funtionality and be able to power off the PC even when the car is on so I mounted a switch inside the ash tray. I also installed a small USB hub to hook up thumb drives or mouse, keyboard. The hub is USB 1.1 but it is the smallest I found. It goes for $9.99 in Radioshack and is under clearance. The switch and the usb hub in the ashtray (specially in bimmers where the tray is so modular and easy to work with) has been done by so many others, but nevertheless it comes very handy.

The usb 1.1 hub in the ash tray is hooked up to another hub (USB1.1<<USB2.0<<PC) which I have hidden in the area under the shift cover. There are plenty of rooms there to run wires or install a device. My Xenarc touchscreen is also hooked up to this 2.2 USB hub.

I found these cable self-ahdesive brackets that came with an old computer desk to hold KB and mouse wires. I stock them to inner walls of the small carpartment area under the shift panel to hold the speaker and usb wires. see the bottom of the above picture.

nkotch · 05-03-2006, 01:27 AM

Very nice. And nice car.... always loved the look of those.

Are the USB hubs powered? If so just off 5V from the OPUS?

Cris · 05-03-2006, 08:12 AM

Very nice project so far!
How does the M audio sound like?

Zebel · 05-03-2006, 10:23 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by nkotch

Very nice. And nice car.... always loved the look of those.

Are the USB hubs powered? If so just off 5V from the OPUS?

Thanks! For now they are both off 5V from the OPUS. The 2.0 USB could be optionally powered but have not done that yet.

Zebel · 05-03-2006, 10:29 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Cris

Very nice project so far!
How does the M audio sound like?

I love the M-Audio, It is professional quality; I could right away feel the difference in sound quality (very crispe) when I test drove it for about month connected to my desktop. It takes power from Firewire lines, but I could also use the 12V opus as the power source. It includes 4 RCA output.

The only thing I wish it had is Toslink optical input as opposed to coax -SPDIF digital input. That way I could connect from the TOslink optial audio from the Mitch's RS232 interface straight to the m-Audio. But I have to use aToslink to coax convertor now. no biggy just have to power it.

One more issue, with the M-Audio FW audiophile driver installed, your Windows master volume controls is given zero lines to control, therefore if you run the Windows mixer, sndvol32.exe, you wont see any master volume control. Most programs wanting to control the Master volume will most likely check how many lines the master volume controls and if that number is zero then they disable the master volume, in the case of sndvol32.exe it wont show the master volume (shows only wave, synth and CD). In case of Street Deck, it just thinks the master volume is in Mute state and cannot control it at all. I wrote a small program that runs in the background and enables the master volume and routes it to the Wave line. I am not running it as with RR I have no problems, I believe it deals with Wave line.

Panic! · 05-03-2006, 11:31 AM

Great thread and looks good! Appreciate all the update pictures, gives me an idea of what I need to do. Have you decided where to mount your gps/wifi antennas? How did you secure your 'puter rack to the rear deck?

keep up the awesome work
-sean

05BSZHP · 05-03-2006, 01:03 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Zebel

Thanks! I bought my bezel from srcstc http://www.mybimmer.net. His bezels look the best; it's worth every penny! I opted to get the ones that have no holes for led and IR, in my opinion it looks cleaner. He makes both kinds. I extented the IR cable to the ash tray so when I use the remote I just pop open the ash tray cover. I will post some post install pictures soon.

Very cool indeed! Thanks for the additional pics. That's where I am getting my bezel as well. Amazing work.

Newb question...what is the interface to the BMW HK system sound-wise? (don't answer if that's too newb for this section)

Zebel · 05-03-2006, 01:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 05BSZHP

what is the interface to the BMW HK system sound-wise?....

To me it sounds just fine. I know some people believe that BMW HK amp is lame but I am ok with it. Just to let you know up front, the amp is not meant for the low votage audio output you get from the PC. You WILL notice a drop is sound volume, there are tons of thread on this issue and suggested workarounds. It also has to do with your pc audio is unbalanced where your HK amp needs balanced audio. You need a convertor, SVEN4 from Peripheral Electronics. Just read this thread: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...=16568&page=16

05BSZHP · 05-03-2006, 01:43 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Zebel

To me it sounds just fine. I know some people believe that BMW HK amp is lame but I am ok with it. Just to let you know up front, the amp is not meant for the low votage audio output you get from the PC. You WILL notice a drop is sound volume, there are tons of thread on this issue and suggested workarounds. It also has to do with your pc audio is unbalanced where your HK amp needs balanced audio. You need a convertor, SVEN4 from Peripheral Electronics. Just read this thread: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...=16568&page=16

Thanks Zebel. Again, great install. Keep it up!

Sidewalksalvage · 05-09-2006, 11:53 PM

Wow looks like you put in a lot of time....but a great outcome. Do you have any new pictures out? I'd love to see the final outcome.