Thread: Zebel 2001 BMW 330ci Carputer

Wow looks like you put in a lot of time....but a great outcome. Do you have any new pictures out? I'd love to see the final outcome.

Updates....

The Carputer has been hooked up and running for over a month, with the backseat and center console, trunk lining and stick shift knob still removed out of the car. I wanted to make sure everything sort of works before putting everything back.

1. I realized that the back side of the rack is too close the back of the backseats not leaving enough room for cables so I made a 1.2" hole thru which I pass all PC cables and wires.
   
2. Added a 2" hole on the left side with the intention of placing Opus case on the left so its fan can suck some air through the hole.
   
3. Powered the M-Audio through the 15W point of load.
   
4. I was still not happy with the sound volume so I installed Soundgate AVM4 line driver (bought from Logjamelectronics http://www.logjamelectronics.com/soundavm4.html. Great difference; now the HK amp came to life! With the M-Audio powered by OPUS 15 POL, I thought it would be safe to power the 2AMP AVM4 from the Opus 120W case. I calculated the power consumption for 12V rail and I think I am safe. So far the OPUS PS has not fried yet, we'll see.
   
5. Installed the Toslink to Coax digital convertor to convert optical output from Sirius to SPDIF input to the M-Audio.
6. Bundled all wires going to the rack, looks much neater now.
   
7. Placed the Sirius antenna on the roof near the rear windshield with the wire hidden under the windows' seals.
   

Issues:
1. I am getting pops during boot up, now with AVM4 is really loud. Already ordered a Turn-on pop delay from www.davidnavone.com. I plan to install it on the HK amp power line.


2. Connecting coax digital to M-audio spdif input causes a loud buzz and diables M-audio I posted M-audio site on this issue.
UPDATE: This is fixed, , it had to do with setting up M-Audio hardware to synch to external device and not internal (whatever the hell that means ), so I am now, for whatever it's worth, getting digital audio from my Sirius: optical >> coax digital >> M-Audio. It sounds a little better.

3. The Opus 15W POL( powering the M-Audio) is switched by OPUS 120W remote line (Blue). It seems that there is a long delay before OPUS120 PS decides to trigger the remote line. My concern is that Windows could be loading drivers and the M-Audio is not powered up yet. I noticed this once and could not see it anymore. I could not find anything on OPUS manual as to how to adjust the remote trigger time.
UPDATE: Called Opus Solutions, they said that there is 20 second fixed delay before Opus 120W PS triggers the On/off (blue)line; and if I send in my Opus PS to them they can upgrade to the new firmware which reduces the delay down to 10 second. Or I can just use the Acc 12 V (which of course triggers OPUS120W PS) to also trigger the 15W Point of load, daaah! .... The caveat in doing this is that the shutdown is not controlled by Opus PS and it occurs as soon as you turn the switch off. This is the time when think I should have bought a case with 150 or 200 Watt PS and power up all my devices with it.

4. Another power delay issue: When the switched power is dropped, the 15W POL gets powered down way too early so by the time Windows is ready to go hibernate/Standby, it complains that my M-Audio is not recognized anymore.
UPDATE: Bought Dave Navone N-66A pop eliminator, http://www.davidnavone.com/amp.htm, adjustable from 2 to 30 seconds. It seems to work; however, I do randomly get amp pops. I set the amp to turn on in 12 seconds (2 seconds after Opus powers up); perhaps I need to increase that.

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Todo:
The glare on the LCD is too annoying during daytime, I plan to tint the back window. Need to do some and get some advice on it.
UPDATE: Got darkest shade, lemousine type. Only the rear window. It made HUGE difference during day time. I think I should have gone one level lighter; it is sometimes hard to see the back.

Originally Posted by Panic!

.... Have you decided where to mount your gps/wifi antennas? How did you secure your 'puter rack to the rear deck?

keep up the awesome work
-sean

Please see http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...9&postcount=40

For the gps antenna I placed mine inside one the holes you see under the rear dash. It still has strong reception.

Xenarc LCD mounted into the srcstc's e46 bezel:


I have mounted the LCD for quite a while now. I use Roadrunner; I have not spent much time with front ends. I use mostly iDrive skin as all features work without tweaking; however, I believe simplistique skin (shown here) is the most dramatic one of all. the horizontal lines flow with the aluminum dash trim. Too bad it has no SAT radio support.


Another night picture running DVD..No that's not porn