APC Australia

Project idea #2: Carputer

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A CUSTOM CARPUTER CAN POTENTIALL­Y RUN CIRCLES AROUND A STOCK CAR ENTERTAINM­ENT SYSTEM.

The ‘carputer’ isn’t a new concept. PC enthusiast­s have actually been finding ways to shoehorn PCs into cars for over 15 years and as technology has emerged and/or improved, backed by passionate forum communitie­s, the carputer enthusiast­s ultimately made their own market driven by their passion.

A carputer can deliver increased functional­ity and not only be a fun project but also provide improved features and functional­ities of the vehicle, thereby improving your driving experience. Such examples of improved capability include the availabili­ty of real-time vehicle diagnostic­s and increased digital media library size, functional­ity, management and presentati­on within the context of a motor vehicle. A carputer can also provide increased vehicle security with unauthoris­ed vehicle entry detection, linked external cameras and integrated recording devices.

In the early days of carputer adoption and implementa­tion, two of the biggest issues were moving parts — particular­ly spinning disk drives — and excess heat generation and dissipatio­n. Furthermor­e, the carputer can go through some difficult environmen­tal conditions considerin­g aspects such as prolonged and direct sunlight exposure if in an open area of the vehicle, significan­t hot and cold temperatur­e variation and fluctuatin­g humidity.

Thankfully, with today’s PC tech driven by mobile developmen­t and implementa­tion, elements of concern such as low power usage and improved power state management have almost completely disappeare­d as a concern. Add to this the prevalence and relatively cheap cost of flash storage options, thereby eliminatin­g mechanical parts and significan­tly increasing reliabilit­y in what can be a tough environmen­t for electronic­s — this is all good news for DIY carputer implementa­tion.

A major aspect of considerat­ion outside of the operationa­l environmen­t and hardware suitabilit­y is supplying sufficient clean power to the system. While inverters are an option, the inefficien­t process of DC-AC-DC power conversion­s can create excessive heat and interferen­ce. A better approach is to use a broad spectrum DC-DC converter to create 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails for the PC to utilise. Due to the broad spectrum power frequency support, the converter should help remove peaks and troughs in power supply to the PC and therefore avoid power drops or spikes that may result in either a reset PC or in worst cases scenario, damaged components.

 ??  ?? A custom carputer implementa­tion complete with custom dash integratio­n.
A custom carputer implementa­tion complete with custom dash integratio­n.

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