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LOL, I see your using the same Sabrent Disco 7 port HUBs. I use those too, they can really take a beating for blowing out. I did have that same ELM scanner also. That thing was a piece of $h!+. I hope you have better luck with it then I did. Mine worked the first day, then everyother day after that it said device cannot be recognized, till finally it just never worked again.
Sorry, I couldn't do that. Mitch sells the serial cable and a simple $3 converter would do the trick, it would be a rude move for me to start selling a product just as similar when I learned so much from his.Quote:
Originally Posted by Archy88
I love those hubs! They're like $0.99, can't go wrong! First thing I do when my new soldering station arrives though: removing all those stupid LEDs! God I hate those! I'm keeping two of those clear plastic USB shaped covers that go around the ports though. I'm gonna actually install those into the dash and light them up when something is connected via USB. Cool eh?Quote:
Originally Posted by HiJackZX1
The ELM scanner has always worked great for me! I've had it for about a year now and I've been diagnosing our cars non-stop. My whole family seems to like to buy crappy cars and not maintain them as well. My engine light has only ever been on once for a worn out part... hell I don't even let my gas light come on!
Yay! My updates! So I haven't done much with the car, however I have a lot of hardware lying around now.
First off, plastic. I ordered samples from a company called OKW enclosures. The have a product called the "star-knob" which is an illuminated knob for rotary encoders. Perfect! They look like this:
http://www.okwenclosures.com/product...knobs/SK_E.jpg
Anyway, I got one of those with a blue light around it. They're expensive! I told the guy about my projects and that I could potentially be marketing them and he sent me the samples. At over $30 a piece, that would be hard to do. This is mine assembled:
http://i29.tinypic.com/vrbnuq.jpg
They also sent me some other enclosures too. One is for a key-fob so I can remote-control my carputer and stuff, and one is an enclosure for my new circuit board that should be in production rather soon. They look like this:
http://i25.tinypic.com/qnofvb.jpg
Also, I have started doing my own work on an automotive 7-port USB hub! I took a simple eBay hub and removed all the stupid flashy LEDs. Then I soldered on some power leads so I don't have to use a DC plug:
http://i25.tinypic.com/fp92r.jpg
I had an enclosure that I ordered before from Futurlec which just so happens to fit PERFECTLY with the cheap eBay USB hubs! Take a look:
http://i27.tinypic.com/33bg4t3.jpg
The piece on the left is the power converter. The hub fits perfectly. Then there's a connector for my radio harness in the car so that I can draw ignition and power lines from there! This way I can literally plug this thing into my radio harness behind the dash and have a high-powered ignition line AND a 7-port hub up front! Brilliant!
That encoder wheel is cool. I have a hand held mouse that I use for turning up the volume. It has a small toggle switch to turn it up or down. Would I be able to use this with it?
No. You would use this with the scroll wheel of the mouse or something like that. It will be very hard to get a sample of this specific knob though because the guy was very hesitant. He said they sent over $300,000 of samples last year and now they have to verify everything. They call you at home and ask what your intentions are.
Just so you know. It is really cool though.
I think the toggle switch is the scroll wheel, it just isnt circular. I'll maybe just go with a Space Navigator.Quote:
Originally Posted by colin
Hi colin,
It's been a while since I looked at the board. I purchased the serial cable from mitch and a serial to usb adapter and my centrafuse/HD programs search for a radio and come up with nothing. It's getting slightly aggravating. Would you happen to have any tips? Not to hijack your thread.
Anywhoo, still looking good!
Archy,
I'm really not the person to be asking about that, but if you want some advice then PM me. Anyway, my update for the day:
IT WORKS :)
The speakers I mean. I installed all 4 speakers over the last 2 days since my summer employment is done. I cut a piece of wood for the trunk to mount the amps on, and I did it. Installed the speaker amp, ran all the wires, etc. Started it up today and... no sound. Wait, there was sound, just REALLY quiet sound. So I fiddled with settings and got really upset :(
Then I realized I had plugged the line into channel B when the speakers were on channel A. Silly me. Shut off the car, re-attached the cables, HOLY CRAP ITS LOUD.
I can not get this amp to distort the music, no matter what I do! Its beautiful :) I'm in love.
Hey, great work you're doing here. I love Mustangs and I love to make them better too. I almost finish mine. I'm 99% done, just missing a few details. I'll update my worklog as soon as I have some time. Good luck on your proyect.
MJ
So I haven't updated this thread in AGES! Mostly because of school. I haven't had the time to work on my car since last summer and it's been killing me!
In fact, a few weeks ago, I accidentally kicked the trim under my girlfriend's sliding door. Her dad had to fix it up because I was leaving (I apologized). When I said sorry, his response was "don't worry about it, now were even; I broke your radio!" which was referring to the fact that I HAVE A BIG EMPTY GAP where my radio should be!
You wouldn't believe how awkward it is when people get into my car and go "what happened to your radio" and I have to explain "I was putting a touchscreen there last summer but ran out of time".
Anyway, we're getting back on track. I'm starting a new bezel. I'll take pictures once I find the memory card for the camera (oops). Right now, the bezel is sitting outside on the picnic table in my back yard drying from the epoxy. I spent a bit of time this afternoon cutting away with a Dremel, and now I'm putting it back together. Next steps will be to measure how much of the screen I can cut away to add my new circuit board.
Oh yeah, speakin of which, I ordered a cool new circuit board from BatchPCB. They're a part of SparkFun electronics and they take your small orders for PCBs and panelize them. They send them out to a board house in China, then when they receive the pieces, they package them and ship them out to you. It may seem inefficient (and it is) but it is MUCH cheaper than getting a one-off prototype done. This way, you pay $2.50/sq.in. and you pay a $10 handling fee (for them to repackage and stuff). Shipping is something like $1.50 to Canada so that's cool.
Here's a picture of the circuit board:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...978e3be402.jpg
If you're wondering what it does, don't worry. I plan on putting this slim little board beside my screen so that I can put a rotary encoder (volume knob) and 5 lit buttons in there. The buttons will be lit by a bunch of "Icecube Light Pipe" pieces from Sparkfun that I ordered ages ago.
This stuff is hard to explain without pictures, so I'll cut this post short until then.