Manfred

What did he say?

Just kidding. I think I get the gist of it. Nice work Hans, can't wait to see the finished product.

Frank Castle

LOL- this thread has evolved to the extent that I have to look at the title to remember what it is that we are trying to accomplish! Anxious to see the final product and cut a check.

finally!

If this is the case, the "simple" version will never go into production

Noooooo !

Tom in Austin

Godspeed!

hans14914

Stayed up late last night and did the board layout for the control panel. It is attached for your viewing pleasure.

Climate control boards should be on order by monday. Still lots to do, but getting closer.

Thanks,
Hans

tveltman

Good Lord, it's like multicolored spaghetti

I'm glad you did it and not me...

blown 87

That would make cool looking tile for the bathroom.
Hmmm

Jadz928

Looks great Hans! The red spaghetti really ties the room together...

BTW, Happy Birthday!

Th Dude

I feel compelled to applaud and commend your talent and efforts, Hans.

jej3

Fantastic! I am very interested. That board design looks like something out of the Tron movie.

hans14914

I have 4 sets of boards on order - should be here in about 7 days or so. Assuming that there are no glitches on the boards, it looks like there should be enough time to assemble four working units for SITM. If there are no issues with these prototype boards, I will run off a "production batch" and be able start fulfilling orders shortly after we get back from SITM.

I received shipping confirmation that my navigation device boards shipped out today. The function button boards should be shipping out this week as well. Everything is looking good.

Thanks,
Hans

hans14914

Ordered a batch of components to populate the test boards. Everything should arrive here around the middle of next week for testing.

Unfortunately, I have a business meeting in NY that just came up first thing monday the 23... which means that I need to fly out the night before, essentially killing a very useful (and necessary) Sunday as well as that monday... and its likely I will have follow up to do afterwards when I get back. I am still hoping to have finished version for SITM, but that recent development really stinks.

I did get the small boards in today to hold the Alps RKJXT1F42001 navigation device. They turned out great, so ordered a small batch of the Alps to go ahead and get those populated.

I also have some interesting test boards on their way in for the audio side of the project. For many, the on-board soundcard will be perfectly sufficient. For those who want something a little more unique, we are not short of options, as consumer or professional grade devices are available for USB, Firewire, PCI(E) interfaces and readily available. There are also several car audio specific units out there, like the JBL MS-8 or the Audison BitOne. However I purchased several test boards from a small company called MiniDSP to see how they will perform. The smaller board the 2x4 is a very cost effective solution, and can be interefaced with either a digital bit-stream or tap analog audio directly from the pin-header on the motherboard. It will allow for some interesting post-processing options, like advanced crossover, eq, time delay.... etc. It is tuneable via a USB and GUI program, so it can be tweaked in realtime with the carputer. I can include brackets and cables so it will integrate with the rest of the kit if it performs well in the evaluation.

The big brother, the 2x8 really looks like a winner. It has lots of really nice options for custom integration (even including a remote turn-on) but it is exponentially larger in size, so no way to cram it in the console. I will keep you all posted on the testing though.

Thanks
Hans

BC

I am just envisioning one large touch screen, the vents above it, and below it a USB port that I can hook the Iphone to.

Are the boards you are talking about so that whatever music is on the carputer can get to the speakers? Or are you talking about something that would go directly from an external music source to the speakers?

Is the input for the HVAC outside of the stuff you are talking about?

I am having a problem picturing this all.

hans14914

BC-

You probably arent the only one. If I get some time soon, I will try and get some CAD renderings posted.

The standard console will be based around a 7" touchscreen. Directly below the screen there will be a total of 8 customizable pushbuttons with status leds and then a navigation device (the navigation device will be centered, and then flanked by 4 of the buttons on either side. It is the same magnetic switch assembly used in our window switches, and we can laser engrave any icons you want on them. There is an embedded LED below the face which can be used or defeated as the customer sees fit. It is configurable on the fly with a simple windows utility).

Below the function buttons is the climate interface. Currently, this has three rotary encoders with radial LED arrays to show fanspeed, temp, and vent modes. This faceplate communicates with the centralized control module, and any change to the encoders is updated globally. Likewise, any change made on the computer through the virtual com port will also update the status, and the physical LEDs on the climate panel. As such, the climate interface itself can be customized very quickly. It is possible to run the climate control without the faceplate, operating directly through USB, or some other interface, such as an IR remote or user developed control panel. I can provide information on the serial bus used between the module and the control, as well as schematics... etc

Below the climate portion of the console is a modular bay which will accept a number of different inserts. Current modules in developement are a leather-lined tray, ipod dock, USB/flashcard ports, Escort Passport 9500CI display/controller, more will be added as time goes on. Custom modules will be available by commission. Alternatively, dimensions for this bay will also be provided should the customer choose to develope their own module.

Finally, the lower area has a custom shift-boot retainer ring which holds a leather shiftboot for both the auto and manual cars. The boot is flush with the ring, and is a very modern effect. The boot is part of the console system, and necessary. It is possible that a different solution will be offered in the future, but not likely. The boot looks really clean, and the fastening system is much more solid than the factory configuration.

The kit will include the touchscreen and all associated brackets and cabling. It will also include brackets to mount a standard mini-ITX motherboard, several "standard" automotive grade power supplies, upto two 2.5" hard drives (depending on your system configuration), as well as the HID control board that runs the function butons and navigation device. If the MiniDSP option tests well, I will provide mounting points for those boards as well.

The on-board audio option on most mini-ITX boards is fairly robust. Most of these boards are designed for integration with home theater as media centers. As such, they generally have 7.1 (8 configurable) preouts. These can be run directly to your amplifier. Alternatively, you can install a simple line-driver between the outputs of the board and your amp to increase the performance, or go a step further with an upgraded soundcard/output device/processor (like the MiniDSP, BitONE or a professional grade firewire/usb2.0 output device). However included options on the board will work with no additional equipment necessary... it will just depend on your personal preference and the motherboard you choose to run.

The carputer itself is the source for all the media playback, gps navigation, tuning... etc. The software package that the system is inteded to run is called Centrafuse or RideRunner depending again on user preference.

The product will be supplied as a kit, requiring users to source the computer components. I will post and maintain a list of reccomended components as it will constantly be evolving. I will also be offering turn-key systems when required, but it will be subject to my availability, and there will be labor charges associated with this service.

Hope that summary helps clear things up a bit. 39 pages and one year is a long development process and impossible to browse through.

Thanks
Hans

finally!

Hans, any updates on whether the simple, i.e. HVAC only version, is still on the table?