DIY Computer Install Writeup (56K warning)

[MachineSlave]

Well, after being asked how I did my computer install so many times I figured it would be a good idea to do a writeup on it. Plus I finally broke down and bought a digital camera so I didn't have to bother my friends for one . Anyway, here it is and if you'd like me to add anything I'll be more than happy to.

Please feel free to comment, request pictures, and ask questions about any stage in the install.

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****WARNING: Before you do anything electrical to your car, DISCONNECT THE BATTERY****

First, I'll start off by explaining my setup. I have a mini itx computer where my stock CD changer was and a 7" LCD screen where my OBC and sunglass holder was. The computer was purchased on eBay for about $215. It's a PIII 1ghz, 512mb, 40gb.

Video
I used VGA cables (like the one on the back of your monitor) to send the video to the LCD screen. The reason I chose VGA was because it takes full advantage of the screen and has a higher resolution. Using VGA cables requires you get a more expensive screen like mine or a Xenarc that has a VGA connection. I bought mine from Digitalww.com, he ran a group buy here a while ago too.

Composite cables are fine if you're running a PS2, Xbox, or DVD player, but I wanted to have GPS as well which meant I needed a full computer.

Audio
The computer only had a standard stereo output. So I bought a stereo to composite (those red and white cables from your home theater system) adapter and then ran composite cables from the trunk to the head unit.

My head unit is an Alpine, so I bought an Ai-net adapter from CrutchField.com (Alpine #KCA-121B). This let me use the CD changer input as an auxiliary (AUX) input for my composite cables from the computer.

I don't know how it is on other head units, but I'm sure most of the high end ones have some sort of auxiliary input.

Power
For the computer in the trunk it was pretty easy. I bought a power inverter from Wal Mart, the kind that has clamps that hook up straight onto the battery.

The LCD screen was a little trickier. I made sure that the screen only required 12 volts and then used a voltage meter to test the cigarette lighter wires to see which is positive and negative. I cannot stress this enough people: USE A VOLTAGE METER AND EXERCISE EXTREME CAUTION. If you cross the wires, pray that the worst that will happen is it'll burn out your screen.

Now on to the pretty pictures

Note: The description for each picture will be UNDERNEATH it.



Just as a reference, this is what the final product looks like.



I picked the CD changer bracket because I didn't need the CD changer. To take it out I used the appropriate sized allen wrench (sorry I don't remember the size. In order to secure the computer, I used 4 bolts and 2 nuts per bolt to stabilize it.



Before I put the computer back into its shell, I found which wires power the computer on and off. I stripped the 2 wires and grabbed some speaker wire and spliced it into the computer's on/off wires.



I did the same for the power inverter. I took it apart and found the appropriate wires and spliced into them. The green arrow points to the speaker wire I used to splice into the inverter's wire. There is a fan that runs on the power inverter that I didn't want to keep running all the time for fear that it might drain the battery.



I used a surge protector as a precaution. I don't know what kind of damage might occur if somewhere in the car some wires got crossed. We all know how the wiring in BMWs are, at least they're getting better.



Once I made sure I had my 2 sets of speaker wire, VGA cable, and audio cables connected and sorted, I began running them through the cabin and to the front of the car. As you can see, I did a ghetto job of it, but I won't tear apart my interior to make it look only marginally neater. Basically I just pushed the wires into the creases and you can barely see them except to the right of the passenger's legs.



Here I ran the wires through the center console. They aren't visible when the seat is reclined .



The VGA cable is pretty big, so in order to get it through you might have to loosen the screws holding your center console down.



Here is where some people may need to be a little brave.

You'll need to cut the sunglass holder off in order for the LCD screen to fit. I used a Dremel tool for that. Pop off the plastic rectangular tabs next to the cigarette lighter and drill a hole in them if you want to make buttons for the computer as described in a bit.

Once again, make sure your battery is disconnected, I cannot stress this enough. Underneath the cigarette lighter is where I stripped the power wire. Brown is the color of the ground (negative) wire, but use a voltage meter to make sure. Otherwise you may only lose a $300+ LCD screen if you're lucky. I bought some wire and an AC adapter head from RadioShack so I could save the AC adapter that came with my screen. I attached those wires to the appropriate power wires going to the cigarette lighter.

Next I grabbed the speaker wire and wired it to the buttons which I also bought from RadioShack. The button on the left turns the computer on/off and the button on the right turns the power inverter on/off.



Next I ran the audio cables to the head unit. The audio cables are the silver wires towards the left and going vertical.



I was very fortunate that the LCD screen I choose fit like a glove in the open area. I just snapped it into place. The fit of the screen all depends on which one you get. In other words, you may not be as lucky as I am. In the picture the screen's corners are touching the sides of the opening just to give you an idea of the fit.



IMO, the fit is perfect.

And unless I'm forgetting something, that's pretty much it. Congrats if you made it this far . More action shots below, enjoy!

[scottwal]

Awesome write up, thanks for the DIY guide... I plan on doing this to my car someday... that is when i get my E36...

And I love your engine mod!

[nathan]

you should paint the computer box black..
it looks so outstanding in the trunk..

other than that.. awsome write up. and very brave!
looks mad sick!

-nathan

[toddman35]

Looks great, I'm planning on doing something similar in the future. GPS and street atlas will be nice.

[souroull]

how is the sound? any noises or low qual?
oh and where did you find such a long vga cable?

[MachineSlave]

Thx for the compliments everyone and yes, painting the computer matte black is definitely on the to do list.

how is the sound? any noises or low qual?
oh and where did you find such a long vga cable?

The sound is great. If I play an mp3 on the computer and then switch to the CD player and play that same mp3, I can't tell a difference.

The VGA cable is actually 2 VGA cables. I just connected the two ends of them. I believe one is 10' and the other is 5'.

[DDEM3]

Awesome job man. I am almost done with my install, using a lilliput as well. Only thing different will be that I am using a smaller computer case, and that I got ahold of an OPUS power supply, which is a DC-DC computer supply made for the cars environment. It also has auto on/off, and all those good things to protect my battery and computer system.

Looks like i will have a completed install about next friday

[MachineSlave]

Cool, I found out about the DC to DC converter a couple months after I finished my install, oh well . But if you need any pointers I'll be happy to help.

[Yuen]

Fantastic write-up. I am keen on doing the same thing but it will cost What size is the LCD screen?

[DDEM3]

Oh well thats too bad!

Anyways thanks man, its good to see somebody else that is interrested in these things

Quick question, when you cut the sunglass holder piece, did you cut in a straight line, or did you form it to the "hump" in the bottom of the lilliput?


I notice your using a mouse and keyboard, did you not get the touchscreen?

[DDEM3]

Originally Posted by Yuen

Fantastic write-up. I am keen on doing the same thing but it will cost What size is the LCD screen?

Its a 7" screen. So far all the 7" screens seem to fit perfectly

[MachineSlave]

Originally Posted by DDEM3

Oh well thats too bad!

Anyways thanks man, its good to see somebody else that is interrested in these things

Quick question, when you cut the sunglass holder piece, did you cut in a straight line, or did you form it to the "hump" in the bottom of the lilliput?


I notice your using a mouse and keyboard, did you not get the touchscreen?

At first I didn't know how well the screen was going to fit, so I just cut a straight line. If anything, that probably helped because when the screen sits there, it's just tight enough to hold it. So I'm guessing if I made that depression for the screen, it might fall out.

My experience with PDAs and my stepfather's Xenarc touchscreen has taught me that there is no replacement for the keyboard and mouse for me. For me, it's so much more intuitive to use it. Even my stepfather bought a Gyration set just to get the keyboard. But then I have seen one guy who managed to use the touchscreen effectively, my hands just shake too much .

[MachineSlave]

If if helps everyone to know, the exact dimensions of my screen are: 194 x 122 x 26 (mm).

[DDEM3]

Originally Posted by MachineSlave

At first I didn't know how well the screen was going to fit, so I just cut a straight line. If anything, that probably helped because when the screen sits there, it's just tight enough to hold it. So I'm guessing if I made that depression for the screen, it might fall out.

My experience with PDAs and my stepfather's Xenarc touchscreen has taught me that there is no replacement for the keyboard and mouse for me. For me, it's so much more intuitive to use it. Even my stepfather bought a Gyration set just to get the keyboard. But then I have seen one guy who managed to use the touchscreen effectively, my hands just shake too much .

Awesome, thanks for the tip man. I am gonna give the touchscreen a shot, and see how well it works.

[BimmerSport]

Where would i be able to buy a computer and touch screen. I just want to be able to play dvd's and store mp3's.

[DDEM3]

Check out http://www.mp3car.com

You can check the classified adds to see if anybody is selling a compete computer or screens. Its really not hard to put things together yourself.

Main thing to keep in mind is that the motherboard factor is mini-itx. Seems like alot of people are using the Epia Via M10000 mother board. Thats definatly what i recommend.

[BimmerSport]

I know nothing about computers, could you find me a complete one that will hold about 1,000 songs for less than 700$?

[bobaa904]

wow! looks great! the greatest part is that hte LCD screen fits so perfectly.

a few questions:

1) where did you buy this LCD screen, and what is the exact model number?

2) how can I retain the OBC functionality?

[bobaa904]

Also can you post some pictures and information about your rear speakers?? They look great, and it looks like you bypasses the stock housing altogether..

[Robstah]

i was also thinking of doing the same thing. here is another addition. i was recently testing winxp media center edition, and with the remote, you could run up an ir port and use the remote. that would be a really nice setup.

i didnt opt to buy the remote, so i am probably going to use my old casio e-105 windows ce based pocket pc with a programmable universal remote program loaded.

as for the screen, i was actually thinking of a less expensive method. sooner or later i will be looking for a laptop at some function with a really nice screen, and possibly rip it out, remount it into its own case, and rewire things to have a vga cable run to the back of the car.

also, i will probably be putting in a wireless nic so i can easily transfer files while my car sits in the garage.

another idea could be running cables to an external dvd drive, and place it in the glovebox, so playing dvd's can be pretty easy. i was also thinking of putting in headrest screens, thats so my guests can be entertained as well (i have a huge music video collection)

the only thing im worried about is when the car starts, have the pc start as well, and possibly use the "save to disk" feature in some motherboard bioses, so when it shuts off, its saves the last state, so no rebooting really needed.

i will be working on this probably this summer, when i am out of school.

[MachineSlave]

Originally Posted by bobaa904

wow! looks great! the greatest part is that hte LCD screen fits so perfectly.

a few questions:

1) where did you buy this LCD screen, and what is the exact model number?

2) how can I retain the OBC functionality?

Thanks for the compliments . I bought the LCD screen from digitalww.com. It's a Lilliput TM-710VGT. Basically any LCD screen with VGA input will work great. They have one that's $200 or you can get one with a touchscreen for $30 more. Xenarc is also a very good manufacturer.

If you want to keep the OBC you'll have to splice into each wire from the OBC connector(s). Depending on if you have an 18 or 11-button OBC you may have your work cut out for you. You might want to use some 18 gauge wire to extend the OBC wires to the new location. I've seen people put it under the armrest, but I never did use my OBC anyway so it's in my closet right now .

Sorry I can't take pictures of my speakers right now, I'm at work. They're Infinity Kappa 693.5i 6x9 speakers. I used a speaker adapter from http://scorpion.makes.it/ to mount them where the crappy stock ones used to be. They sound awesome with 85 watts being sent to them from the amp .

[MachineSlave]

Budster:

Those are some awesome ideas. I want to see pictures of that when you get it done!

I was also thinking of buying an external DVD drive and buying an extra long USB cable to have the drive in the glove box. I have a pretty large selection of movies preloaded on my PC though, so I think that'll hold me and my passengers a little longer.

[ChrisSlamar]

one thing you might want to be careful with is the hard drive. my friend and i put a computer in his computer just for mp3s. and after about 3 months the hard drive was shot because of all the bouncing. of course this was an old ford tarus with a shot real suspension, but its still something you may want to think about. we were thinking about using a laptop hard drive since they are made to be used on the go and such and using a converter from laptop sized conector to regular ide conectors. just to share some past expirences

[jbreiding]

should have used this case.
http://www.travla.com/Products/c134/c134.html

[Roffle Waffle]

What resolution are you running, and how readable is everything?