Thread: 2008 Sequoia Platinum

Okay, what's important is the dash pictures. This is it:










I still not sure what to do - that's why I'm starting this thread, to hear suggestions. The challenge here is not to fabricate anything to make it look OEM. The challenge is actually to ADD things here, since I think I'm going to keep the stock screen and AC controls.

Personally I think this whole "you gotta make it look OEM" is a bit overrated. I'm not saying it's not cool, because it is, but it's not essential. Specially when the OEM design is not particularly attractive, like this one. It looks like it came from 3 different cars!!


The OEM NAV unit stays, it's also not a screen that you can relocate, it's a huge double din unit.



It's also very shallow below the NAV unit, and behind the NAV unit:




Not much room here for a CARPC, but surely for an aftermarket screen. But I'm not going to go that route unless I can replicate all the funtions of the OEM touchscreen unit (not likely).

Lots of car functions are displayed by the OEM NAV unit the rear view camera, bluetooth/phone screens, car maintenance, etc. So either I relocate it somewhere, or it will simply stay there.

There's also a small display on bellow the screen that shows the 3 zone Auto A/C. Given it's odd shape, it's hard to relocate (the left most button goes behind the plastic with the main gauges, just to complicate matters).




Below that, there's one of the 12V and the 120V outputs (160W rated) of the OEM AC/DC transformer. That's very easy to remove and relocate.




Now the good news: lots of room in the center console:







Side view:








So I think my plan is to fit the biggest screen possible using the center console on the floor and the one between the seats. Also possibly I could use the huge space under the driver's seat too to locate the PC.

Now I run the 4 gauge cable from the battery through this grommet, on the driver's side.




This is where you'll find the cable on the inside, behind all that insulation:




Running along the door, then under the carpet to the driver's seat.



Right now it stays under the driver's seat. It's a great free space to use, if you use raisers for the Case to protect from dirt and mud. I haven't find the case yet, I want one that I could fit an M4-ATX in it (if I can run in hybrid sleep mode with it), or a DSATX. The way I did it on the FX (with an external case for the DSATX) will not work that well here, because of all the extra dirt/snow/mud inherent in the truck. I think I'm going to have to build my own case to meet these requirements.





Before installing the Xenarc 700TSV in the FX, I test fitted it in the truck, to have an idea of what to do.

First, on the center speaker cover, in front of the external temperature/clock/proximity sensor display:



^^^^ it's a bit far from the driver I think (and I'm 6' tall), so it won't do. It also blocks the display (which could be reloacated), but maybe not. Too small.




I also tried the center console below, where the AC/DC outlets are:



^^^ It blocks one cupholder, not ideal, but doable. However, I still think that the screen looks too small viewed from the driver's eye level.


That's when I realized that a tiny 7" screen simply won't cut it, it's not enough for this car. I want more, 8.4", 10.1" or even 12" perhaps.

It's unlikely, but let's see what happens.

One way to fit a 7" would be in the overhead console, color matched with the interior plastics of course, like I did with the FX (see signature)




Or even here:



In this position it wouldn't look much OEM, but as I said, that's not the no. 1 priority for me. In the above placement, I think I could fit an 8.4" screen, or maybe a 10.1" even.


I could also make it tilt and/or rotate to the driver's/passenger side. In the FX, the overhead screen is fixed (it can only go up and down, but it does not tilt or go from side to side), and I notice that it would be much more visible if I could move it around as needed.

It's not only about not being visible during daylight (it's not very bad, could be worse), but it's viewing angles are terrible, even during nighttime (color shifting, etc.). So this is something that could be improved, at the expense of the OEM feel, but who knows?

One more.

Originally Posted by RipplingHurst

So this is it, 2008 Toyota Sequoia 5.7L Platinum. This is the car I'm going to work now, the car I bought to replace my M35 (see signature).










I just like this pic:



It's big even by SUV standards:








It's fast for it's size (0-60 in 6.3 for the 4x4; 4 piston brakes to stop in 139ft from 60mph), 381hp, 400ft/lb torque, 6 speed dowshift rev matching transmission, independent auto leveling rear suspension, sport/standard/confort mode shocks, fully loaded Platinum edition with NAV, bluetooth and rear entertainment center.

It's not terribly good looking for sure, but for a family car it's alright, better than a Minivan I think. For a family car what matters most is the interior anyway, right?

So why a CarPC? Basically for media playing, and internet navigation. My wife loves to play DJ and create playlists on the fly, we share the same tastes so a carputer is great for our huge music and music video collection (350GB+ and growing). So I figure only a carputer could fit the bill.

Let's see what happens. I'll edit this post later with the finish product (it might as well take more than a year! )...


Cheers,

Rhip.

Are we compensating for a lack of something with such a big truck?

Originally Posted by maceo4

Are we compensating for a lack of something with such a big truck?

Pardon me, but you've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a damn to what you think.

First posts updated!

I'm also thinking of using Tablet PCs (or maybe the iPad, or both) in the car. I bought a Tablet, it's so cool I'm using it everyday, but the wife said she wants the iPad, so eventually I'll have to think about interfacing with both in the car, why not? Let's see what happens for the iPad in the forums.

With all that in mind, I started this thread to gauge what Tablets have a daylight viewable screen to use in the car: Reflective Fujitsu Tablet as Daytime Monitor.

I ended up buying the Motion LE 1700 with a "viewanywhere" screen, which is not reflective, but it is some kind of transflective. For that it would be nice to use the Motion's docking station, but I'm having some issues with it. I'd like to hide it somewhere inside the dash/console, and for that it would be nice to build a flat flexible cable (FFC) extension. That's been proving difficult for now, but I'm not giving up yet. That's what I'm doing in this thread and this one.

So I'm thinking about a conventional PC with lots of HD storage, with a small screen in the overhead console, plus a tablet/iPad somewhere working as a wireless portable screen accessing media streaming from the main PC.

A tablet could be my main PC if I could use it's docking station where I could attached an external HD for storage, so will see what happens. As I said, I'm in the planning stage still.

Originally Posted by RipplingHurst

Pardon me, but you've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a damn to what you think.

lol, relax I was just teasing nice truck will love to see the final outcome.

Before I bought the Tablet, I first thought about the Avionics LCD, specially the 10.4" (and the 1500nit version looks to be so cool) and 12.1" models (there's also a 1500nit version of this one), but the 8.4" could be in play too.

Some of them, not all, have the FFS (Fringe Switching technology) which allows for wide angle viewing (to 89/89/89 degrees (compare to Xenarc's 40 degrees) which is about 180degrees viewing angle in all directions).

Apparently that's the same AFFS (and AFFS+ in later models) technology present in Hydis displays used mostly on 10.4" and 12.1" tablets:

In response to the needs of the times and to the continued demand for more advanced products, HYDIS has further developed its AFFS technology into AFFS+, a technology that offers lower power consumption, improved transmission of color and images, and impressive internal LCD panel reflection, thus guaranteeing perfect readability even under the brightest sunlight. Viewiz+ is the label given to products using AFFS+ technology.

As the signature TFT-LCD technology of BOE, Advanced Fringe Field Switching (AFFS) increases transmittance in a LCD panels to such an extent that a full 180 degree viewing angle is made possible. This technology also offers improved visibility, more realistic image and color representation, and reduced power consumption.

(Hydis website)


So got to look for those "viewiz+" labels when looking for a panel on ebay or any 3rd party vendor that claims to have those Hydis displays. On the Avionics site however, they all come ready with composite, HDMI and/or DVI inputs, plus VGA and power. No need to look for controllers, etc. I've seen on these threads that they might have difficult communicating and slow shipping response. At least one user has posted pics of them in use (hellraiser I think) another never got to receive them, another got them, but never posted any pictures, so there you have it.

But then where I would mount them? Even now, with the Tablet PC, I'm still thinking about a nice panel for the carputer, specially since I can't dock the Tablet where I want to, more on that later.

Here's some experiments with cardboard, based on the dimension published on the Avionics website:


12.1" is generally too big. And since I don't plan on removing the OEM NAV, it's even more difficult (the Tablet I bought is a 12.1" though, I'll show later how it goes for now). The active area on the boards is obviously the only part that display an image, the rest can be hidden from view, but nevertheless it needs that much room right behind the screen so there: