2003 Honda Civic

Change · 06-04-2006, 11:21 AM

My project has been idle for some time, I'm about to restart work on it.
In the dash I have a DWW-7VGA monitor.
I have an equipment shelf in the trunk that holds my amateur radio gear, power distribution, an Alpine amplifier, and the PC.

PC specs:
EPIA M10000
512 megs RAM
60gig 2.5" HD
Currently using an M-Audio Revolution sound card, will possibly switch to a Creative Labs product (the mixer settings for the M-Audio are a pain in Linux)
Debian Linux, currently experimenting with MythTV as a frontend
Carnetix P1900 power supply

Accessories:
USB hub in the dash
StreamZap USB IR receiver, Pioneer CD-SR100 steering wheel remote
Garmin GPS15H GPS receiver board
300W AC inverter
Alpine MRP-F250 4x40W amplifier

Ham gear:
Yaesu FT-2100 2m radio
Yaesu FT-8500 2m/440 radio (dead, looking for a replacement)
Kantronics KPC-3+ TNC
Radio Shack Pro-2067 scanner (Looking at a Uniden Bearcat 996T to replace it)

So, I still need to get the software working, clean up the trunk wiring a bit, and get some better power distribution going on in the dash (and if anyone has any tips on where to get a good source of 12v ignition switched behind the dash of a Honda Civic that doesn't involve tapping into the cigarette lighter, let me know!).

Current pictures are at http://www.halibut.com/~change/carpc/
Progress updates and more pictures coming as they happen.

*edit*
Pics updated 7/23/06 with captions.

3D Warrior · 06-04-2006, 01:33 PM

looking good! Keep posting more pics...
be nice to have like some info under pics like what wiers are going where...
and why have 6 antenas?

Change · 06-04-2006, 02:37 PM

One of the glass-mount antennas has gone away.
On the roof is a 1/4 wave 144-148MHz antenna that's used by my APRS radio, and a 144-148MHz/430-450MHz dual-bander that was used by my Yaesu 8500 ham rig before it toasted itself. The trunk has a combination GPS/antenna mount with a scanner antenna, and a 2.4GHz antenna for 802.11b/g. On the back window is the 800MHz/1900MHz cell antenna.

A 4 gauge power cable runs from under the hood, up the passenger side A-pillar, along the roof, and then down the C-pillar into the trunk. The antenna cables run along the roof on the driver's side. Speaker cables run under the floor on the passenger side. USB, VGA, cat5 and a few 12V control lines run under the floor on the driver side.

chomo · 06-04-2006, 04:29 PM

One more antenna and it would look ridiculous...

3D Warrior · 06-04-2006, 05:40 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Change

One of the glass-mount antennas has gone away.
On the roof is a 1/4 wave 144-148MHz antenna that's used by my APRS radio, and a 144-148MHz/430-450MHz dual-bander that was used by my Yaesu 8500 ham rig before it toasted itself. The trunk has a combination GPS/antenna mount with a scanner antenna, and a 2.4GHz antenna for 802.11b/g. On the back window is the 800MHz/1900MHz cell antenna.

daimn... is there a way to like combine some or all of them into 1 supper atena? or you just don't care too much about how many you have? lol not trying to pick on you bro but 6 antenas is pretty wield...
anyhow like i said keep the pics comming love to see what are you going to do with it...

Change · 06-04-2006, 05:46 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 3D Warrior

daimn... is there a way to like combine some or all of them into 1 supper atena? or you just don't care too much about how many you have? lol not trying to pick on you bro but 6 antenas is pretty wield...

Nope, not really any way to combine them. Amateur radio is another hobby of mine, so I don't particularly mind having a car that looks like a porcupine. Also, it's just 5 now, as one of the glass-mount ones went away.

3D Warrior · 06-04-2006, 05:54 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Change

Nope, not really any way to combine them. Amateur radio is another hobby of mine, so I don't particularly mind having a car that looks like a porcupine. Also, it's just 5 now, as one of the glass-mount ones went away.

that's cool man like i said not picking on you at all just woundering...
Since you are into radio stuff got a question to you if you don't mind...
If i have a wifi pci card in the trunk how can i maximize the signal for the reception... what antena placed where? Also cell hook up? to a pc... can it be done?
Thanks

Change · 06-04-2006, 06:19 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 3D Warrior

If i have a wifi pci card in the trunk how can i maximize the signal for the reception... what antena placed where? Also cell hook up? to a pc... can it be done?
Thanks

802.11 PCI cards have antenna connectors on the back plate, so a mag-mount or permanent antenna on the trunk or roof will work well to increase your signal. You'll have to find what kind of connector your card has and find an antenna mount with that type of connector on it. Search through the Wireless Communications forum.
Connecting your cell phone to your computer can be done (depending on the phone), what you can do with that depends on your provider and service plan. Again, search through the Wireless Communications forum.

Change · 06-05-2006, 04:38 PM

Freevo didn't work out with mouse input, I'm going to give Myth 0.19 a shot. Myth 0.20 will have full mouse input/mouse gesture support, but I don't know how far off that release is.
Myth 0.20 will also have good support for my M-Audio card, which will be nifty, as it has very good output quality. The mixer settings in Linux right now are a pain, each channel is completely independently controlled, with no master volume control.

asafw · 06-08-2006, 10:16 PM

looks good. i'm also working on a civic. did u ever get an answer about a good place to hookup to a +12V ignition source?

Change · 06-08-2006, 11:12 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by asafw

looks good. i'm also working on a civic. did u ever get an answer about a good place to hookup to a +12V ignition source?

Not yet. I'll probably end up making a pass-through cable harness of some kind for the cigarette lighter outlet. The inside of my dash is going to be a nasty mess of extra wiring...oh well!

asafw · 06-08-2006, 11:24 PM

i've been looking it up and asking around. basiclly the answer i got is ground to the chasis (as close to inverter as possible) and for the +12V go to radioshack and get a blade fuse tap. since civics generally have lots of empty fuse spots in the box, i'm assuming that u do also. if you search the power supply forum for "blade fuse tap" u will find lots of info. sorry my thinking is kinda disjointed. i'm exhausted. so back to what i was saying- by connecting the + to the acc fuse box (with a fuse in-line) the inverter will only get power when the car is running or key is at acc position.
i'm going to put a switch on a relay in-line with the + wire because i tend to run my radio while my car is off.
good luck. hope this helped.

oh. also forgot to mention. if you get the tap that is only a single blade then make sure u plug it into the correct slot (i.e. use a multimeter)

Change · 06-09-2006, 01:04 AM

It's hard to get at the fuse block, I've tried testing for accessory power points but it's been hard to get the multimeter probes back there and to see what I'm doing.

asafw · 06-09-2006, 08:00 AM

u dont need to get behind. the fuse tap connects through the front of it. and to test with the multimeter just stick something metal (hmm sounds alot like what i was told not to do when i was a kid.....)into the spot for the fuse and test which side gives u +12V. my only question is how to connect a heavy gauge wire to the blade tap.... oh well. thats sundays project.

Change · 07-20-2006, 06:07 PM

I've installed MythTV and I'm looking into how to best customize a skin for use in the car.
I'm also playing around with lirc, using a StreamZap USB receiver and a Pioneer CD-SR100 remote. So far, it's not working out so well. I don't know if it's the receiver or the remote, but it takes several seconds of button-pushing before a command registers.
*edit*
The remote's battery seems to be nearly flat. However, it doesn't have nearly enough buttons to be very useful with the MythMusic plugin. These interfaces are horrible...I really wish 0.20 was out, it has mouse (and therefore touchscreen) support.