| Arash's Mp3Car |
| First, here's a pic of my car. Very sexy mamma! See that Nautilus key chain floaty device hanging off the rear view mirror? That's been there since the first week me and Feryal got together. |
| Q: What is an Mp3Car?! A: An Mp3Car is basically a computer that sits in your car, for the sole purpose of listening to your massive collection of Mp3's. Think of having access to over 5000+ songs at your fingertips, as opposed to 14 or 15 on a cd! In my case, I have 5000+ mp3's, 300+ cartoons (Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, Ducktales, Dilbert etc.) and 50+ movies on a 60gb Maxtor hdd. |
| On To The Pictures!!! |
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| Here is the center console before any wiring is done. That empty space under the deck is where the control panel of the Mp3Car will go. |
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| Here's the trunk space with my 10" JL Subs. They hit pretty hard for 10". The 250x2 amp is under the left sub. The Mp3Car will go between the subs. The remote I'm using shown in the bottom right of the screen. |
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| Here's a shot of the mobo/LCD. It's an SV-24 from Shuttle running an 800mhz celery (Celeron) with 128mb @ 133mhz. That's Ducktales playing on the LCD. The LCD will be mounted in the passenger sun visor, so it will be hidden when the visor is closed. |
| Here's my first plexi-glass case. I got lazy and didn't make a front and back plexi panel for the mobo/hdd unit. After running like this in my car for about 4 months, the computer wouldn't boot and I decided to redo the case and eliminate that as being a reason it wasn't booting. I suspected dust and gunk to be a factor. |
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| Here's the new Plexi-case. I just bought a multi-speed drill (YAY!!!) and I was able to cut out the plexi myself, and even drill holes for the fans, and an opening for the mobo inputs. I also put the power supply in the case, with my new shutdown controller. |
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| Here's a top down shot of the case. The mobo is about the size of a CD case... WOW..... |
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| Here's a close-up of the front of the new plexi. You can kinda see the shutdown controller infront of the DC-DC ATX converter. The mobo had onboard sound, LAN, firewire, tv-out, s-video and svga video...CREAM |
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| AAAAKKK!!! What a horrible shot. This is the top cover with the outflow fan and the hdd. I had my hard drive mounted vertically in my old case, and it would freeze up often. Since the hdd swing arms would access the hdd (hard disk) horizontally, having it mounted vertically was working against the arms, so I mounted the hdd horizontally. |
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| Here's the case all assembled. The fan on the side takes in air, and the fan on top blows it out to keep air circulation constant, and the components cool within the case. I decided to use the shutdown controller only for power maintenance. It will not control the on/off sequence of the mobo. Instead, I will control the atx pulse from the center console, and the shutdown controller will manage the power supply. |
| UPDATE: I have sold the Ford Explorer and purchased a classic BMW convertible. I will be installing an upgraded Car PC this summer since school is taking most of my time during the semester. |
| Note: The car is a 1997 Ford Explorer XLT |
| Note: That is a Panasonic deck with front Aux input and amp outputs in the rear for the subwoofer. |
| Note: The subs were found in a car bought from an auction in Los Angeles. I bought the amp brand new for 100 bucks from a flea market. |
| Note: That is a 5" LCD from partsexpress.com. I spliced the IDE cables to fit better in the case. |
| Note: That is a 40x4 character LCD from ebay for $40. It displays the song information when Winamp is playing mp3's. |
| Note: The 250w DC-DC Converter was $150 from Keypower Inc. I managed a group buy from people on www.mp3car.com. |
| Note: The shutdown controller was provided by Jeff Mucha. I never got it to work right, but it's being used to save my battery from draining. |
| Note: Need more notes. |
| Note: I cut the plexi with a high speed drill. I forgot to wear a mouth cover the first time and inhaled bits of plexi. I'm alive, but i had a soar throat for a week. |
| Note: The plexi took me 5 hours to complete. |
| Psst! (note the notes) |
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| Here's the new control panel that will go in the car's center console. The four holes at the corners will hold blue LED's connected to the Power LED jumper on the mobo. The square shaped thing will be cut out for the IRMan. And the HDD LED's will be in the two center holes, and the other two center holes will be the reset and power buttons, shown in the pic below the panel. I haven't decided which will go where yet for the switches and HDD LED's. The large switch that's installed in the center is the toggle for the LCD. |
| Note: The panel has 1 coat of black paint. I will add a second coat after the drilling is done. |
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| Note: The panel fits snuggly into the console, so no attaching was needed. |
| Here's the completed and mounted control panel. The red button is the power switch, the black button is the reset switch. The 4 lights in the corners are blue power LEDs. The two lights in the middle are red hdd access LED's. You can clearly see the IRMan and the round LCD power switch in the center. I had to coat it with black spray paint twice to get a nice gloss. But it looks like I'll have to redo the shell of the panel because of peeling. |
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| Note: All the cabling is run under the consoles and panels so you can't see any wires. |
| This is a shot of the Keyboard in the glove box, the mouse wired from the arm rest console, the remote, control panel, and milkshake from Frosty Freeze....mmmmm....freeeeezeee...... |
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| The LCD is mounted in the passenger sun visor. When closed it is completely hidden from view. That smudge all over the screen is just the protective plastic. I am leaving it on until i put together the frame that will go around the LCD. Otherwise it is working great! It is a 5" LCD from partsexpress.com. |
| Note: The wires run behind the windshield frame to the battery and PC in the trunk. |
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| Note: Yeah I know it's a mess of wires, but who's gonna look in the trunk?. |
| Here's the Mp3Car placed in between the subs. I put it on a ribbed bed support mat to help absorb shocks on the road. I also placed a wooden board under the cushioning to help keep the subs from smashing the case and bending any wires plugged into the motherboard. There's the USB Wireless Adapter in the bottom left corner. |
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| Note: Isn't she sexy? |
| Here is a closer shot of the setup. It is a real mess, but I had to take out the system recently to upgrade the operating system as well as install a wireless USB adapter. Can someone spare some twist ties? There's a Cat5 cable running to the front for small quick changes to the system with my laptop. |
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| Note: pWnage |
| Here is a night shot of the remote, my phone, the control panel and my stereo face. It's a bit blurry but you get the point. |