Thread: 2004 Honda Odyssey install

1. Installed GeForce MX 400 card. I originally intended this to be for secondary display, with onboard for primary. Turns out it works much better to use the GeForce card by itself... primary on the VGA connector, secondary on the composite connector. Using the Video Overlay options, setting "Full Screen Device" to Automatic displays the video in full screen on the secondary monitor (even if its not full screen on the primary)

2. Installed RoadRunner. After many false starts, got it working pretty smoothly. Turning ON the dualmon setting worked perfectly (after setting the above full screen video option in the nVidia drivers). It's coming together!

3. Plugged the computer (still running on a regular AC/DC PSU at this point) into a KillAWatt monitor and so far, at peak load (100% pegged CPU, playing DVD disc, crazy hard-drive access) I'm only drawing 113 watts. I still have a couple USB devices to plug in (GPS, wireless network, and maybe radio tuner). I'll check again once I've got them plugged in.

Next up, build the case...

2nd round of parts ordered. Also, am setting up dual-zone audio (see this post).

Progress is excrutiatingly slow. I have two kids who keep me pretty busy, so finding time to work on this is very hard to come by. Nevertheless some good progress has been made. The pics pretty much tell the story...

Setting everything up:



Parts for making power connector for Lilliput 629 (type "M" tip and connector with bare leads):


Assembled power connector:


Putting system under full load (playing DVD off the DVD drive, running CPU load tester):


...putting it under a full load so we can see how much power it is drawing (112 watts peak):


Sidebar: LOL, already had my 320W opus ordered. Well, better to have more than enough power. I'll use the extra to power my headrest screens, etc. Also, the watt meter is AC, yes... and my computer will be running DC-DC... so WTF? My theory is that in the process of converting the AC to DC, some loss is incurred (i.e. additional heat created) and therefore my 112 watts estimate is an over-estimate, so should be a safe guide. Besides, I have 320W (well, not exactly, various rails to worry about, etc.) to work with. At least now I know I have enough power and am not just guessing.

Back to pics....

Disassembling my Lilliput 629:



Urm, they aren't lying when they say hazardous voltage.... not that I would know from first hand experience while testing the lcd outside the housing or anything...


Hooking up the Opus on the workbench:


Complete with simple toggle switch from hardware store to simulate ignition:


Going to have to secure those two cards when I put this in its case...


Other stuff just waiting to be played with (amp, headreset screens, radio tuner --- not pictured GPS, transmitting ir adapter, ir controlled av switch boxes):


Finding this radio tuner was difficult. Everyone's out of the HQCT-i, so I ended up paying a little extra to get the external model from here (international shipping to CA was actually quite fast):


Building the MDF case. Still need to clean up some edges and add another coat of paint (matches van interior) and then clear. Those door latches are just shower door latches from the hardware store :


This is the center cupholder console I took out of my van. It had a hinged arm that popped it up between the front seats. Took that off. Going to bolt this to the top of the MDF case. I've got it fitted, when I finish painting the case, I'll post more pics with it in place:



OK, time to try to get the Lilliput into the dash. WARNING: 1337 fabricators avert your eyes! This is pretty quick and dirty as I'm getting impatient to get this done:



The piece on the left is the "bezel" I'll be using (compared to Lilli bezel on right). The piece is just 1/8" ABS plastic I got from Tap Plastics here in town. They cut it out for me, even the screen cut out.


The front of the bezel has a textured finish... a little too shiny, but as I said, this is v1.0:


More LCD installation:





Last pic. Here's where I'm at... need to secure the LCD controller board (heading back to Tap Plastics this morning):

OK, I'm going to use a piece of 1/8" plexi raised up to mount the lcd controller:


Controller bolted in:



And it's alive!

Looks good so far. The bezel looks really nice, how much did it cost for the plastic and for them to cut it?

It was 20 bux including labor. I don't recall how much the plastic by itself was, but their stuff is all really inexpensive. For example, that piece of 1/8" plexi I used to mount the controller was $1.12. They always cut everything for you for free (obviously the inside cutout with rounded edges was extra labor) and if they mess up, of course, your replacement is free. If YOU mess up the measurements, they will re-cut it for FREE (if possible -- i.e. if making it smaller), OR they re-cut a NEW piece for 50% off! Cool policy. I love that place.

I have been looking at your project with great interest. It is spectacular!!

I have a 2005 Touring...bought it used w/o navigation and am trying to do almost the same thing. I've got three little kids and we do a ton of long distance driving. So I'd like to do the mp3 and GPS up front while having videos (now and games later) in the back.

I'd like to keep the OEM head unit (or single DIN), because of wife's preference for radio, and lack of preference for the computer! I am curious if you have any thoughts on bringing GPS audio out if the carputer audio is connected to the head unit's aux input?

Do you have any updates? (Photos if you have them!!!)

Again, a wonderful project!

It's looking very factory, I like a lot!

Keep 'em updates coming, I am sure they will inspire a few Honda owners out there

Thanks everyone. I wish I could say I've made more progress. Holidays really sidetracked me and I've got a "honey-do" list a mile long.

Anyway, I am going headless... no head unit. I bought an HQCT-e radio tuner for a radio. I remember investigating keeping the factory head unit, and I don't think the Honda's is capable of having external input. You'd have to use an FM transmitter.

Doing the dual monitor thing has proved interesting. Initially, I thought I had my solution with my nVidia card that had both VGA and composite outputs. The problem is I couldn't get the composite video to fill the entire screen. I'd get black borders around the edges. Not a big deal when you've got a huge TV, but when it's only 7", you'd like as much of the screen filled as possible! Adjusting the overscan in the nVidia drivers (many different variations of them) didn't help at all. I found a program (now unsupported) called TVTool. It expanded the desktop to fill the entire screen, but when you played a video (the intended purpose of the composite screens) the screen would go haywire.

I wrote to the video card mfg (Jaton) and they had me exchange the card. The new card did the same thing.

Then I ordered an ATI card to try that. Same problem! The overscan settings worked a little to make the image bigger, but still didn't fill the entire screen. I returned that card.

So, my last option, I ordered this VGA to composite converter. It has a "size" button on it. When I press it, VOILA! The video now fills the entire screen.

The caveat to this solution is that I'm using the VGA out on my motherboard for the composite video and the VGA out on the nVidia PCI card for the primary display. Because they are separate video cards, I can't (that I know of) use the overlay settings to make the video automatically appear full screen on the secondary monitor when playing on the first monitor.

It's OK, though. I'd already written my own video player program in VB.NET for my home entertainment PC that is designed for this. It finds the secondary monitor and automatically puts the video output on that monitor. I'm just updating the interface to allow for point and click (it currently is only keyboard driven -- designed to work with my infrared remote control). I'll post the source when it's done.

That's where I'm at so far. Nothings in the van yet but I think it'll come together really fast. Just need a kid/wife-free weekend