Thread: 2011 Kia Picanto PC build

Finally got my power supply so I started with the radio module

The radio module, rca out, antenna plug and rds chip are salvaged from a jvc kd-g332 car radio
the green power supply is there to supply the 8.5 volts needed to run the radio module , which needs both 8.5volts and 5 volts , the rds chip will need only 5 volts

I installed everything I could except the rds chip , its small and I need time to figure out how to connect it to the radio module using the piece of board its already installed on , which also has the crystal resistors and other stuff on it already.

I still need to order and install an arduino , right now we are using zanbee's arduino for testing purposes.


here are some pics:






on the software side of things, zanbee has the skin communicating with the plugin and the plugin communicates with the arduino , al we need is to finish this board and see if we can get the arduino to communicate with both rds chip and radio module


I can share specs on the radio module etc if there is demand on it (lots of different PDF files)

and as soon as the complete plugin is finished it will be released in RR as an official radio plugin.

I have been working on my radio module , I put everything in a small plastic box and cut off excess board going to tie-in the rds chip today , which is going to get hard , the damn chip is smaller than my finger , and includes the necessary circuitry , I really want to save that because copying that will take a lot of time and makes it a lot bigger.



after I get that rds chip on , next step will be connecting the arduino and finishing the remaining bits of the plugin.

the outgoing plug is to power my usb hub and the power module is underneath the print I made.

when the module is done all I have to connect is usb for the arduino , a molex connection provides the needed power , I have an antenna out and audio out.

the best part is that it will all fit nicely behind my screen

Yay!! another update!

I finally got my touchcontroller, installed it and concluded it was working just fine.

So I decided it was time to start stuffing everything in my car despite the fact that the radio isnt done yet.

First let me explain about the radiomodule, I havent got a pic of the hardware in its finished state so I will come back to that in a later stage.

On the software side of things we have progressed quite a bit but we arent there yet.
We have the plugin side finished as far as we can tell right now, so right now we are in progress of programming the arduino, when thats done we can connect everything and see if we did the plugin correctly and tweak the rds part.


Now to the install:

Here is a pic of the black hole in my dash with some cables hanging out , in the back you'll see my 1st usb hub wich will remain hidden and has the gps,screen,wifi and 3g dongle attached:



Here is where I put my PC , I am still debating on how I will attach it to the rail of the chair but you'll get the general idea, pic was taken with the chair in the most forward position ,I drive with the seat in the most backward position so the PC will be invisible from the outside and inside:


Installed my gps receiver nicely:


Thats it for today , I stopped working because the darness wasnt helping me out very much , tomorrow I will proceed with the rest

Finished the install so far , here are some more pics:

the screen:

Have to keep safety in mind , had it in the trunk for a while , might as well install it while I am busy:


here is the connection to the battery I made:


here is how my amp looks now connected and without sub attached:


Here is my usb hub , didnt think one usb port would be enough so I added 4 more



right now working on an issue with my touch , when I want to exit a screen I have to push a button bottom right of the screen , when I touch there the button above it reacts , tried calibrating to no avail.
If anyone knows what may be wrong , your welcome to tell me, the drivers are from hantouch and the utility is called touchmon.

finally solved my clibration issue , it keeps on working like a charm now , apparently I needed to open the calibration.exe separately , not from the egalax menu.

Been working on the radio module , and we concluded that our programming skills aren't enough to make it work.

So I went in the shed and dug up my cartft fm receiver, tried it in the past but never got it to work properly , we are giving it another try.


Also bought myself a little audio upgrade:

600W 4 channel amplifier

ugh, opened the dash of my car to see if I could change the color of the lights , I can , but it will be a pain

Hello, new update, not too much , just been playing with led strips , here is the result, connected to the interior lights:
It is rgb with a controller so any color is possible.

Installed bi xenon and led bulbs , also installed a light for the cupholders, the last one switches on when I switch on the lights

Daytime lights






Cupholder lights