Outer Limits 4x4 Board

I was talking to my brother (who is a system admin for a large IT company = nerd) who is going to make me a car-puter for my next truck. We were discussing what features I want in it, like big hdd, wifi, blutooth, GPS, tv tuner, etc… the usual stuff.

We then got to talking about keyless entry, and that sorta shit. My brother did all the wiring on his car and installed keyless entry, keyless ignition (which has a 10 min shut off timer on it too), keyless boot entry, and keyless window winding.

We then started talking about wouldn’t it be cool if on your mobile phone / PDA you could via Bluetooth unlock, start, wind down windows, control music, lights, alarm, all this sorts of cool shit. This would involve a bluetooth password that was unique to you, so no-one could unlock your car. Obviously the carputer would say on permanently, but i don't think it'd use too much power if in idle for a few hours (shut it down if gone for an extended period i spose) I don’t know how James Bond-ish it is, but fark it’d be mad.

Does anyone know of anyone that has anything even remotely like this? I don’t know how much of a electrical nightmare this would be, but the programming side and software side of it wouldn’t be too difficult for me.

Thoughts?

2 places you might want to look include the Carputer forum on http://www.caraudioaustralia.com and the forums on http://www.mp3car.com.

These two forums have both held discussions on what you are trying to do.
The main drama you will have, is the requirement for the PC to be powered up and not hibernating 24/7, to allow you to instantly gain access to the vehicle and start it. Obviously this chews quite a lot of battery power and isn't overly realistic.

I have seen a similar setup in the past using a Biometric Fingerprint Scanner http://www.bioshop.com.au so that your fingerprint much match the blueprint on file before the car will start.
It was brilliant for the "Ohh Ahh" factor, but unrealistic and cumbersome in use. Even with a twin deep-cycle battery setup, if the car wasn't driven daily, you had issues with low voltage reliability issues.

Have you considered an in-dash touch screen as the main interface of your Carputer? If your brother is a nerd, he may be able to configure some software for you to take car of your needs in this manner. The above links should steer you in the right direction.


Good luck with it.

Check out the motherboards available.

I'm using a mini ITX board with 1ghz processor. Fits in a dual din slot behind a 7in touch screen. You can set it to sleep and it will wake on LAN signal. Maybe something more modern can wake in WiFi. Then use a WiFi enabled mobile. I doubt u could do what u want to do with bluetooth without writing ur own custom software.

See if Jaycar or the like have a kit where a pc can control a bunch of relays, then hook it up from there.

I'm doing the opposite approach. Found out the PC still draes 1-2 amps in sleep mode. In Hibernate u can disconnect the power and it will still boot back to where it was. Boot takes 30-40 seconds so I have a completely seperate gel cell 7Ah for the computer (as well as dual battery system) and the computer boots up as soon as I hit the central locking. That way, by the time I'm in the car with the engine started, carputer is playing music.

Mine is still on the bench to get it all right before I install it but done heaps of brainstorming so let me know if u need ideas on how to get it to work.

Eg. I gutted an old CD changer and put the DVD drive and HDD in there in the glovebox so it has some suspension

Good luck,

Dave

I'm in the process of building one now for the cruiser.
I'm just using a old 1gig Hz mother board I have floating around with a dedicated 12v power supply and filter with 40 gig Hdd.
I am using a small USB powered GPS that I got off ebay for $130 and I am looking a the small 8" touchscreen monitors. I have seen these going for as little as $185 plus postage. I am just tring to find out how relyable these are. The monitor will also double as a reversing camera screen.
I still need to get a stereo that can acept the RCA plugs as a input so I can run my MP3's.

All up it should cost me less than $300 to set up and get running.

surely if you have a decent dual battery setup (i.e. a good cranking battery and a deep cycle one) a carputer wouldn't draw too much power.

As is said, if you're at work or something and gone from the car for like 8 hours, just shut it down. but if you're at the shops or out and about, it would be handy.

Is there any way you could use a mobile phone to boot up the PC?

I spose that's then getting a little overkill...

mnemonix wrote:2 places you might want to look include the Carputer forum on http://www.caraudioaustralia.com and the forums on http://www.mp3car.com.

These two forums have both held discussions on what you are trying to do.
The main drama you will have, is the requirement for the PC to be powered up and not hibernating 24/7, to allow you to instantly gain access to the vehicle and start it. Obviously this chews quite a lot of battery power and isn't overly realistic.

I have seen a similar setup in the past using a Biometric Fingerprint Scanner http://www.bioshop.com.au so that your fingerprint much match the blueprint on file before the car will start.
It was brilliant for the "Ohh Ahh" factor, but unrealistic and cumbersome in use. Even with a twin deep-cycle battery setup, if the car wasn't driven daily, you had issues with low voltage reliability issues.

Have you considered an in-dash touch screen as the main interface of your Carputer? If your brother is a nerd, he may be able to configure some software for you to take car of your needs in this manner. The above links should steer you in the right direction.


Good luck with it.

yeah well i was planning of having a screen in there anyway, but have it also partnered with my PDA / phone / laptop

Chucky, just get a stereo with an aux input for a 3.5 mm jack like you can get for ipods etc.