26 April 2006
Written by
Yours Truly (
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Published on April 26th, 2006 @ 10:29:26 pm, using 344 words, 4421 views
Since I don't yet have any welding ability, I drew a to-scale design schematic and brought it to a local fabricator shop. I supplied them with the outer shell of an old and rather heavy-duty computer case (thanks Alan) from which to cut the necessary metal. The steel was of a sufficiently heavy gauge, and the resulting chassis is fairly stiff. Once in the car, it will be held in place by at least one bolt on each side, two bolts in the front, and a series of L-brackets along the top-rear. That should hold it in rather tightly.
A test-mounting of the Alpine headunit and the MTSVO-SC touchscreen proved a precise and tight fit. Were it not for the vibration in a car computer / mobile computing environment, the two units could reasonably be mounted inside it without screws.
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Written by
Yours Truly (
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Published on April 26th, 2006 @ 09:04:09 am, using 361 words, 2501 views
I found a local car electronics shop which I never knew existed, and picked up a fused digital distribution block made by Voodoo. It cost only $19 which was a pretty good deal, considering it's an alarmed digital distribution block with onboard voltmeter. The guy at the shop threw in a set of fuses and also cut me a deal on 15' of automotive-grade 8AWG power cable which will be used to connect the Acura CL battery to the mini-itx car computer mounted in the trunk.
The Voodoo distribution block has a nice chromed plastic finish which attracts fingerprints like a magnet. The faceplate has 4 red LED lights and a digital readout which displays the current voltage being fed from the vehicle battery, which is constantly monitored by the distribution block's onboard circuity.
Outside view of the Voodoo FBVC14DGU Fused Digital Distribution Block.
Admittedly, this distribution block is a little more than I need strictly for running a mini-itx car computer, but it'll provide extra outputs for future electronic additions to the car, like in a few years when I can install the VR Goggles and drive by thought. ;)
Inside view of the Voodoo FBVC14DGU Distribution Block.
All four fuses must be installed, even if all four outputs are not being used. The distribution block will sound a confusing alarm signal without the presence of all four fuses. Since the block comes with no manual, it can be difficult to figure out what the alarm is actually signaling. Once all four fuses are installed, the alarm ceases beeping and all is well in the land of car computers.
Here are the basic specs:
Voodoo FBVC14DGU Chrome Digital AGU Distribution Block
- High End Platinum Finish
- Fuse Status Indicator
- Alarm beeps when voltage is wrong
- LED Digital Voltage Display
- High Current Wire Receptacle
- 8 or 4 AWG inputs
- 4 Outputs / (1) 4AWG output and (3) 8AWG outputs
- Uses 4 AGU fuses
Continue with Part 2 of this story:
Voodoo FBVC14DGU Fused Distribution Block, pt2
Contemporaneous Auditory Narcotics:
or, What my speakers are currently pumping...
Black Uhuru - Ras Portraits
This post is the creative work of Yours Truly and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
04 April 2006
Written by
Yours Truly (
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Published on April 4th, 2006 @ 10:25:32 pm, using 358 words, 2971 views
NOTE: The Acura ITX uses Roadrunner as its front-end software.
To view the Roadrunner screens in use on the Acura ITX system, follow the links below:
Acura ITX front-end design for Roadrunner in blue
Acura ITX front-end design for Roadrunner in green
The splash screens you see here were designed for Media Engine during the system planning stages and were never put into use. I spent several days testing both the RoadRunner and Media Engine front-end applications for the touchscreen interface. The system is being designed to be 99% operable without a keyboard (though I'll probably keep one in the glovebox for those unforeseeable scenarios when one is necessary). I initially had a tough time getting RoadRunner to work in my particular hardware environment, though have since managed to get it running properly.
Acura-ITX custom daytime navigation skin for Media Engine.
So I began experimenting with the Media Engine front-end, which installed and ran very smoothly on the MII-12000 mainboard, using only the onboard video. This will allow me to keep the single PCI slot available for future shortwave radio or video surveillance installation. The Media Engine front-end application provides functionality for touchscreen operation of music, playlist management, radio, movies, gps satellite, and external applications which can be configured to run through the Media Engine interface. It also provides for environment auto-switching from daytime to nighttime interface. The image to the right shows a custom navigation design which I created for use with Media Engine's daytime configuration.
Acura-ITX custom night-time navigation skin for Media Engine.
This is the second design which I created for use with Media Engine. This design will be the basis for the night-time navigation screen for the Acura-ITX system. The layout is nearly identical to the daytime environment, but is darkened to reduce distracting glare while driving at night. The glassy buttons in both layouts are all that is needed to navigate through music, movies, gps satellite, radio, and external applications.
Contemporaneous Auditory Narcotics:
or, What my speakers are currently pumping...
Rapoon - Tin of Drum
This post is the creative work of Yours Truly and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Written by
Yours Truly (
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Published on April 4th, 2006 @ 09:59:43 pm, using 603 words, 3112 views
Testing the wiring and ignition activation.
Now that all the parts for the Acura-ITX computer have arrived, I set up the complete system in an open testbed environment, and ran full-lengths of wiring to simulate the situation in the car, testing for voltage dropoff, audio signal dropoff, etc. Admittedly, the system will probably face slightly different signal degradation, dropoffs, and transients once in a vehicle environment, but until I've had a chance to fabricate a dashboard chassis and faceplate, I wanted to get the system running and the software installed.
The Opus 120 connected to the vehicle battery.
Using a spare automotive battery, I rigged a set of connectors and ran power to the Opus 120 DC-DC power supply which will run the system, watch for ignition ON and OFF states, and also monitor battery voltage to prevent battery drain. I ran a length of 10AWG wire from the battery's positive terminal, and connected it to the two yellow 12V input wires on the Opus 120. I also connected the two black ground wires from the Opus 120 to the battery's negative terminal. By connecting the red wire from the Opus 120 to the battery's positive terminal, I was then able to simulate the vehicle's ignition being turned on. (Marked by the red asterisk in the wiring diagram above.)
Similarly, the MTSVO-SC motorized in-dash 7" touchscreen is connected to 12V power by way of the Opus 120. I did this by cutting the head from a spare molex connector, and using the yellow and black wires to extend 12' of 16AWG wire, which will be the length of wire to be run from the trunk to the dashboard. Since the screen only uses a max of 1.2A, 16AWG wire is sufficient for the job. Once the screen was wired for power, connecting the red ACC-ON wire from the screen to the battery's positive terminal causes the screen to recognize the "vehicle's" ignition being turned on, and the screen opens. Likewise, removing the screen's red wire from the battery positive terminal causes the screen to automatically close. The image below shows the screen connected and running on a bare windows 2000 installation, showing a fullscreen spectrum and voice-print analyzer mp3 visualization. Since the machine will be designed to run without a keyboard, no ESC key is necessary to exit from full-screen visualizations. Simply touching the screen accomplishes the task.
The MTSVO-SC 7in touchscreen connected to the system.
I'm now using my spare time to tweak the OS so that it runs at a bare minimum. I'm experimenting with the NLite installer software for system loading. It allows the user to strip off all the unnecessary garbage so thoughtfully provided by Microsoft, but which causes a computer to boot and run more slowly than it should. The best part is that it allows these "extras" to be removed prior to OS installation, not afterwards. Once I have the system completely tweaked, I'll create a Ghost image of the system partition and load it onto an isolinux bootloader cd, which will allow me to quickly restore an entire system (in approx 15 minutes) instead of several hours, in the event that the system needs to be reinstalled at some point.
The next step in the project will be to fabricate a mounting bracket and chassis faceplate which will house the stereo headunit and the MTSVO-SC touchscreen in the dashboard.
External: FAQ How to wire an OPUS PSU to your carputer
Contemporaneous Auditory Narcotics:
or, What my speakers are currently pumping...
DJ Spooky - Necropolis (The Dialogic Project)
This post is the creative work of Yours Truly and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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