2007 Dodge Charger & Zotac Ion

This is my first attempt at a carputer. I've been lurking for over five years.

Components:

• Zotac IonITX D-E
• M2-ATX
• 4GB RAM
• 160GB HDD (Will get a SSD soon)
• DVD-RW
• 4th Gen Mo-Co-So case
• Lilliput 629 with DVI input
• Directed HDRadio
• CANUSB

Check back for pictures while assembling the system

The Mo-Co-So case. It's a really nice case. Much better than if I had attempted to build a case out of sheet metal. The bottom plate slides out.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...98070a45cb.jpg

This plate includes mounting holes for the hard drive and has standoffs for the power supply and motherboard.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...9808176485.jpg

Here is the M2-ATX installed. I eventually decided to reverse the direction because the cables seemed to lay better.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...980c532229.jpg

As you can see, the cables didn't lay very flat. The cables weren't going to lay flat enough to fit in the case.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...980d0e52f1.jpg

Once the motherboard is installed on the plate, all the front panel connectors need to be installed. The case offers a LOT of options. A Power or Reset button, 2 USB ports, stereo RCA jacks (with a wire to ground to the case),
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...980e2e4b0a.jpg

Here is the box fully assembled.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...ad6a349582.jpg

There is a case fan that mounts on the plate that lines up with the M2-ATX and a vent in the side of the case. I found that the fan was extremely noisy. I will need to find a replacement fan if I'm going to try to use this inside as well.

The Lilliput 629 Touchscreen... Since this has a DVI input, I got a HDMI to DVI converter and use the HDMI out of the Zotac. This works great... HDMI should be a lot smaller than DVI for routing cables in the car.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...ad84d095e4.jpg

I'm probably going to use RideRunner... I used to be excited about RR, but it is seeming less and less what I want. I'm getting interested in openMobile.

I have developed a plug-in for RR that emulates the OEM head unit using the canbus. In Chrysler vehicles there are 2 canbuses: One for the engine, and the other is for interior devices. That second bus has the head unit, Sirius satellite receiver, and steering wheel controls among others. The plug-in can control the Sirius receiver, listen to the steering wheel controls, and display information in the information cluster in the dash (EVIC). The hardware used is the CANUSB. I tied into the canbus using a hands free adapter that has both ends of the head unit harness (while the HU is still there)

That is it so far. I still need to figure out how it will go into the car...

Ryan

Today I added the power lines in the car. The Dodge Charger has the battery in the trunk along with a fuse box. I went to "The Shack" to get some ring terminals, wire, fuse, and fuse holder.

Here is a picture of the fuse box in the trunk with my additional wiring included
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d00fdcdd3c.jpghttp://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d0154a052c.jpg
I purchased an extra set of power cables for the case from Mo-Co-So so I could power the system in the house and in the car. I put all the necessary cables together and tried out the power in the car. The case also includes a set of cable and connectors to power the screen.

IT WORKS!
HDRadio testing:
I connected a serial port to the motherboard header so I wouldn't have to have a USB to serial adapter. Using Mitch's cable, I connected my HDRadio unit to the system leaving all audio and the head unit in place. The radio clicked like it should. I configured RR and the DigitalFX 4.0 skin to use the radio... Tuned a couple of stations in HD on both AM and FM.

Woohoo!! Progress!!

Oh and here are some pictures of the steering wheel and OEM head unit/cluster.
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d01c9b836f.jpghttp://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d01f853c62.jpg

I've got a couple of questions..... The Shack's fuse holder selection was bad. The fuse holder that I went with was a mini blade type that can handle 30 amps. It only has 12 gauge wire. I thought most people used bigger wire than that... I went ahead and used 12 gauge wire because it seemed like even the M2-ATX power supply came with even smaller wire... What's up with that?

Separately, where does everybody get various LONG cables? audio, video, usb?

Ryan

Today's progress...

I worked on some sort of a mounting bracket for the display.
Here is what the dash looks like at the various stages:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d2b1a8f4a2.jpghttp://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d2b2f8cf9c.jpghttp://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d2b45d8a9f.jpghttp://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d2b566448c.jpghttp://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d2b65da949.jpg

So.... I will need to get the navigation bezel. The only problem with that is that the nav bezel is on back order from Chrysler. I can theoretically buy it from some other places but I'm not sure that the bezel is actually in stock....

How's it looking so far???

Ryan

Looks great Ryan.
New to this forum to get better iPod integration with my REC NAV radio in my Charger.
I always have had good luck getting cables from meritline.

I've got a nav bezel!

A test fit on the table.....
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...bcf5cdeaa9.jpg

I didn't have a good place for the DVD drive... the RAM have heat sinks that don't allow the tray to fit in the case. So..... I may create some kind of bracket that would put the drive above or below the screen. I will also need to get the double din dash kit to fill in the rest of the space....

2 options:
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...bd3ee10d8e.jpg or http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...bd400d39fd.jpg

What do you think? Any issues or problems with a vertical mount for a DVD?

It's too :censored: cold to work in the garage...
But I did find some details on the best way to run cables in the car. I'll need roughly 20 feet or 6 meters of cables going from the trunk to the dash.
1 x HDMI
4 x RCA audio (output to amp, input from Sirius, input from HD Radio, & aux in)
? x USB (touchscreen, usb2serial for HD Radio, DVD drive[needs 2]) 1 active usb cable and a powered hub or a bunch of USB?

I'm working on figuring out how to get direct access to the satellite radio and antenna directly. that would cut down on the number of audio cables going to the front.

High speed USB is only supposed to go 16 feet or 5 meters without a hub... or an active cable... anybody have any experience with those?

Let me know....

Ryan

So I went exploring in the rear passenger side C pillar looking for the antenna connector...
This is what I found....
http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/imag...d33ae2162c.jpg

I think that that is pretty much a standard type of antenna connector. I might be able to install the HD radio device in the trunk instead of behind the glove box...

Ryan

where did you get the lilliput with the dvi input? I really like my ION. Much quicker than the stock intel atom boards.

I bought it from mo-co-so. It was an extra option, but i think it was worth it. I put a hdmi to dvi adapter on it, and it works just fine...
The Zotac Ion is really cool. I don't think other atom systems even compare...

Ryan

Very nice work going on here. If you can share more about your canbus integration that would be awesome. I would like to use my steering wheel controls again and curious the exact hardware and software you are using to accomplish this? For reference I have a 2008 Dodge Dakota

Everything else looks great, nice parts, install and vehicle.

About a year ago I found the website www.canhack.org. The folks there had been trying to figure out how to use an XM radio with the stock radio system. They had done some good work sending intercepting and replying back to the radio exactly what the radio needed including track and station info.

I wanted to do more. They were using a device from canusb.com. I bought the device, along with a couple of wiring harnesses; one that plugs into the radio, and one that plugs into the car. Essentially I created a jumper harness that allows me to splice into any of the radio's signals without cutting into existing car wiring. I hooked connected the can bus data lines in the car to the canusb device.

After I got things wired up I used the tool from canhack that would record can bus data and put it in a database that is searchable. I was able to decode a lot of data such as how to control the Sirius radio, the steering wheel controls, lock and unlock doors, pop the trunk, and how to control the stock audio amplifier.

I then wrote some software that emulates the stock head unit. I added a toggle switch to the power wiring to be able to turn off the stock head unit without having to take apart the dash and remove the radio. SUCCESS!!! I could control the volume, bass, mid, treble, balance, fade, Sirius channel, display the Sirius information, display the radio mode in the instrument cluster, and use the steering wheel controls.

I then wrote a Road Runner plugin with a skinned page for Digital FX 4.0. That page only controlled the amplifier and I also worked on adding events that were customizable for the steering wheel controls.

I next wrote a tool in C# that would allow me to watch can bus data in real time. This allowed me to decode many more things. Not many of them important though. I want to decode more, but I have had some other things come up.

Now that I almost have a computer installed in the car, I will probably write a new skinned page for e-Lite skin. The music player seems cleaner to me.

I have released my code under the GPLv3 so that others can use and update my code. I'll have to find the link later.

After I get most of this computer in the car, I would like to design my own can device that talks over ethernet to my pc. That device would be able to do all the things that my software can. The device would be able to control the HD radio device. I also want to add a 4 channel audio mixer: Computer, Sirius, HD Radio, & Aux. I'm not sure when that will be because I don't have any hardware design experience...

Hopefully this helps....

Ryan