Hey everyone,
I'm relatively new to modding and much more of a computer person than a car guy. I was wondering if any of you had any thoughts, ideas, comments or suggestions when tapping into the car's electrical system. I'm looking into creating a computer with a touchscreen mounted on my dash and am uncertain about how to harness the car's power.
Any information would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

well, first of all, I'm a computer guy too, but recently have spent more time on cars(read: joy riding, taking everything off and put them back on simply out of curiousity), anyway, if you're looking to power a computer, with touchscreen, then I recomend that you run heavy duty gauge type of electrical wires straight from the battery terminals, through the hole for the wiring harness in the firewall, and then get at least a 400W power inverter with at least two female plugs and you will basically have your electrical system set up, besure to get a good power inverter to prevent flux(bad for computer & harddrives), as for the computer itself, what brand of mobo are you thinking? or are you just gonna slap your big ol PC in there? :P anyway, just a pointer, Via makes an incredibly small motherboard solution that also includes a 1 gig Via processor with audio and video built in, more than enough for your vehicle need, and to top it off, thermal won't be much of an issue since it runs super cool. How big is an entire system that some people had made already? take a look at your CD rom module, that how big their entire system is, if you need any more info, just post

 

okay mr.disgruntled.. u caught my attenion i recently was thinking about replacing the bose setreo and ptuting touch screen there and installing acarputer.. now my question is... what program would i use to do this...?

 

what do you mean what program? you mean GPS? It can, if you buy the kit with software, and a "carputer" will pretty much does what your home computer does, if you have enough cash, then you can get wireless internet
if not, then the following is just a basic rundown of what a "carputer" can offer you with minimum budget:
dvd player, mp3 player, wma player, 100gigs of music (think the KEG), it should runs windowsXP or whatever operating system you have, once again, its no different than your home computer.

from my estimates, you can get the whole system in for 1 grand or under with nice options, not just some basic crap, and half of that you will be spending on the touchscreen.

 

so u need internet for the gps..?
i thought the gps didnt require internet..

 

No, you do not need the internet for GPS
All that is needed to run GPS is an antenna, something to plug that attena into(your carputer), and software that drives it, (these usally comes in a kit that you can purchase for around 300-upper for nicer ones)
Also, I said that IF you got extra dough, you can have your car hooked up to a wireless internet service, and basically have internet access in the car.