In Car Computer Project

[tangopapa]

Hello everyone,

I am currently working on a small in car computer that will fight in the bin right in below the climate controls.

The whole computer will be able to fit inside that bin and it will have a 4" inch touch screen.

I haven't decided what my goals are for the project, but right now I am working on getting all the components to work together. The main board is a Raspberry Pi, and I will likely use and Arduino Uno to monitor the OBD port.

I know I can at least use the computer as a media center, playing videos, and music through the stock system. I am debating installing a GPS module too.

However I think I can get a bluetooth OBD2 scanner to work with the system as well so that I can monitor data in real time.

My best guess is that I can get this whole project to come in under $150

I am open to suggestions or ideas. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[$ub$onic]

Good luck

 

[Maddog2020]

Sounds like a fun project, keep us posted.

 

[ThatTmoGuy]

the elm327 is an OBDII scanner that can get you the data you're looking for and you can get it in Bluetooth or USB. if your budget allowed for it Intel is about to release the smallest PC they've ever been a part of. it will boast an i7 quad 4gb ram and HDMI out in a case about the size of the box most smart phones come in. I like the idea of a homebrew solution though

 

[firstorbit84]

Cool. I did a car PC in my old golf based on a Asus EeePC 700. It worked great. Check out mp3car.com for a great car PC community.

I don't think that cubby is in a good line of sight for GPS and live gauges. Plus 4" is quite small.

Have you thought of custom building a box for the upper dash cubby/tray? It might be a reach for touch screen though, so you may need to find another input method if you use that spot.

I'd like to build a housing on the upper dash cubby and just put a 7" screen to mirror my phone, since my GS2 already does everything I'd want a carpc to do. And the phone can be mounted under the radio for easy reach.

 

[tangopapa]

Got the computer up and running today. I need to play around with some python scripts to start this process.

I have thought about using the upper dash but I like the idea of the computer being portable.

The TFT screen I plan on using is roughly the size of an iPhone and I will be able to pick it up like a phone to use the computer.

For anyone interested this is a raspberry pi board. I might need to add an arduino to access the obd2

 

[$ub$onic]

Do the boards run a processor ? I'm assuming so and more interesting in what speed it is

 

[tangopapa]

Do the boards run a processor ? I'm assuming so and more interesting in what speed it is

The raspberry pi has a 700 MHz processor that can be overclocked to 1ghz if you run a 7v power supply. 512mb of ram, boots off an sd card. It's graphic processor handles 1080p video with ease. It is essentially a full computer in a small package.

The arduino is a micro controller. It can perform simple tasks, by adding "shields" to expand the system.

When put together the raspberry pi can be used to control the arduino using python scripts. They can communicate via USB.

 

[firstorbit84]

Have you thought about mounting the computer in the lower cubby and the screen just below the stereo, where the card holder is?

 

[seanp1]

Have you thought about mounting the computer in the lower cubby and the screen just below the stereo, where the card holder is?

Kinda like this?

Hello everyone,

I am currently working on a small in car computer that will fight in the bin right in below the climate controls.

The whole computer will be able to fit inside that bin and it will have a 4" inch touch screen.

 

[14T6MT]

Haha. For me this whole thread may as well be written in Chinese. I know so little about computers. This seems like an awesome idea, though. It would be really cool if you could make this function as a much more capable and open-ended ultragauge/scangauge type instrument.

 

[firstorbit84]

Kinda like this?

Like what?

I thought OP was talking about putting the whole thing and screen in the lower cubby. I'm saying to put the hardware there but mount the screen higher on the dash, like where I put my cell phone holder:

I think that a screen in the lower cubby will be too far out of the line of sight to be useful (or safe) while driving.

 

[cndctrdj]

I will be turning my nexus 7 into a car pc

 

[firstorbit84]

Cool. Details? Status?

 

[tangopapa]

Cool. Details? Status?

Project is kind of staled at the moment. With the recent gun control bs I have devoted most of my spare money to stocking up on magazines and ammo just in case.

I should make some progress in February, but I don't think I will be able to get this project completed anytime soon because my deployment just got moved up.

 

[firstorbit84]

glad to hear there's more gun-crazy nuts in the army

 

[tangopapa]

glad to hear there's more gun-crazy nuts in the army

What is that supposed to mean?

 

[firstorbit84]

Sorry. I guess your internet sarcasm detector didn't pick that one up. We should move this discussion to the "um Obama?" thread in the off topic section.