Just the beginnings

[HappyJacky]

Since everyone else has started showing off their setups, I thought I'd throw my hat in the ring as well.

The battery in my laptop is buggered, and I rescued a pair of 12V, 12Ah batterys from a UPS a few weeks ago at work. Thought I'd wire em up to give my laptop some juice when I turned the Jackaroo off.

I've wired em into a project box from DSE, cost me a couple of bucks, with a cigarette lighter socket. At the moment, the wiring is straight thru from the external terminals which are connected to the cars cigarette lighter.

Plan is to rewire it to include a diode to prevent the "Auxilary" powering the vehicles accessories, and a fuse block to protect the sockets. Eventually it will be permently installed either under the passenger seat with only the project box visable for easy access, or the batteries under the bonnet.

Laptop is a Toshiba Satellite 1800 running XP Pro, with OziExplorer and GPSS (Just testing it, came with the GPS), with a GPS Mouse from TWIG Systems. GPS will be mounted in front of the windscreen between the wipers and cable feed through the firewall.

[arthurking83]

Sounds kewl :D

A UPS for the car PC :music-smi

[mitchofsutho]

G'day HappyJack,

I assume you are putting the power from the 12v batteries through a voltage adaptor and that you are aware that Toshiba laptops generally have a power input of 15 volt. Amps vary, but 3-5 amps is common.

I'd hate to see you wreck the laptop.

[festy]

...but as long as you're happy with the battery not charging up, most toshibas will run happilly on 12v. I've tried this with Compaqs and IBMs - neither of them are too happy to run off 12v. Another reason I like Toshiba laptops :)

[vincentvega]

Looking good mate, but you cant just charge SLA's by plugging them into your cigarette lighter, they will be way overcharged. You need to sort out some sort of trickle charger for them or they wont last very long at all.

[HappyJacky]

Hey guys,

Mitch, sure am. If you look just to the rear and left of the lappy, you'll see the Targus adaptor (Had to cut it open to find why there was no power getting through), turns out it was the input lead was broken at the ceramic filter which my boss cut off and rejoind the cable without it.

Vincent, Thanks for the tip. Hadn't thought of the batteries being overcharged. I'll add that to the list of modifications to be done. Will check DSE site for a kit I can fit into the box. The diode I'm putting in is only rated at 4amps so that'll help cut down on the overcharging (I hope).

thanks for the tips
Barry

[HappyJacky]

Well I've finally got my touchscreen LCD today, has taken me several months of grovelling and a bit of extra earnings at the right time. Purchased from eBay. Screen is an 8.4" USB with VGA & RCA in

Now all I have to do is work out how to install into the Jackaroo so it can be removed when not in use, and not drill any holes into the dashboard.

You may notice a cable coiled onto top of the Laptop, this is my remote power switch that I installed with the help of my boss at work (I'm a ludite with a soldering iron), had to remove the lid closure switch as the laptop wouldn't power-up unless the screen was open. The little keyboard came from an ATM that I changed the plug from AT to PS/2.

[vincentvega]

cool!

is that screen 800x600 ?

should be nice and easy on the eyes

[HappyJacky]

Yep, its currently set to 1024x768. maps look great, but text a little small. Will be experimenting with it over the weekend as much as i'm allowed.

Mounting in the vehicle is the majour headache at the moment, the supplied stand is great for the desk, but useless for in-car use. RAM mounts way outa my budget.

Oh yeah, as for charging the SLA's, they are pretty well shot now as the UPS they came out of, indicated they wouldn't hold charge. So if I kill them, I'll grab the next lot that come through the workshop.

[Pocileh]

Looks nice. I envy you ;)

As far as the batteries: If they're 12V and your rig is 12V you should be able to recharge them without any problem.
If you use a diode they even won't get their full load because of the voltage drop (approx 0.5 V) over the diode.
Make sure the capacity of the diode is sufficient. Something in the range of 20 Amps. This because the initial charge on a 'empty' battery will be lots more than 4 Amps.
Better is to use a FET-based isolater.
Like this i.e.: http://www.perfectswitch.com/isolator.htm
Then your UPS will get fully charged.

[Nicko]

Assuming its a windows based OS, you can change the font size within the settings. Go to Control Panel. Display Settings then Appearance.

[hangover]

Well I've finally got my touchscreen LCD today, has taken me several months of grovelling and a bit of extra earnings at the right time. Purchased from eBay. Screen is an 8.4" USB with VGA & RCA in

Now all I have to do is work out how to install into the Jackaroo so it can be removed when not in use, and not drill any holes into the dashboard.

You may notice a cable coiled onto top of the Laptop, this is my remote power switch that I installed with the help of my boss at work (I'm a ludite with a soldering iron), had to remove the lid closure switch as the laptop wouldn't power-up unless the screen was open. The little keyboard came from an ATM that I changed the plug from AT to PS/2.

What sort of $ was the touchscreen ?

[HappyJacky]

eBay $260 including shipping from Hong Kong.

Here's another one currently up for bids
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/8-VGA-TFT-LCD-Touch-Screen-Monitor-for-Car-PC-GPS-U3_W0QQitemZ280089063744QQihZ018QQcategoryZ29502QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem.

Tried it out on Sunday, after spending a couple of hours around at a mates place sorting out a rough mounting system, glad he has a metal lathe and a scrap of round aluminium. Photos to follow later.

[brownietodd]

Happyjacky,
how hard is it to wire in a remote power switch??? I don't have the problem of the laptop shutting down if the lid is closed but my lappy is sealed (opentec).
just wondering if you wire the switch straight onto the power button would it work???

Todd'

[HappyJacky]

Hi Brownietodd,

When I get a chance, i'll download the photo i took of the wiring with my phone, but that's exactly what I got my boss to do for me, soldered the cable to the power switch, which was threaded through the laptop chassis, under the hinge and out through a hole I filed in the hinge cover.

I had to remove the plunger from the lid closure switch because the laptop wouldn't power up with the lid closed.

Butchered a motherboard to get the CD Audio connectors which were then soldered to the cable to allow easy disconnection when not needed.

All laptops should be able to be disassembled, check for screws in the base, but it does depend on where your power switch is located as to how much you'll need to disassemble it.

[HappyJacky]

A couple of photos, one with the screen installed, the second of the makeshift mount which was screwed onto dash using the scew points where the two halves of the dash are joined above the stereo.

Laptop is on the left in the passenger footwell, USB hub just in front of gear shift to connect touch screen and webcam mounted on dash in front of steering wheel (which worked well until you headed into the sun)

[tony310864]

Looks like you have lots of bits to build a cool in car system.
Tony.

[HappyJacky]

Hi folks,

Well since my last post, I went and purchased a new 4x4 ('99 GU Patrol) and have had to start my install from scratch.

Slowly getting nearer to the final fitting. Here's some photos of the progress so far.

Top plate 3mm MDF, 6mm MDF plate installed under dash to provide support. Selly's PlastiBond used to shape upper plate to dash (Oven paper used to prevent sticking to dash during fabrication). Red Button will be Laptop remote power button and switch below screen will be master power switch for Invertor. Section of aluminium above screen will be cut off in near future.

[HappyJacky]

Hi folks,

Been awhile since last update. Have been doin some landscaping (30m+ retaining wall) with more to go.

Did some reading on the MP3Car forum, and thought it would be a good idea to install a voltage regulator between battery and touchscreen. Went to Dick Smith Electronics and picked up a little kit (#3592). Had to go back and grab a 2K variable resistor so I could get 2A instead of 1A. the kit said the bigger the heatsink the better it would be @ higher Amps, so I used an old heatsink from a VGA card, think it should do the job fine, but to make sure I installed a fan as well.

Al thats left to do is to wire it all up (I think I'll grab a proper DC-DC Laptop power pack instead of using the inverter, less hassle). I've also attached a pic of the screen fitted to the dash, as seen from drivers seat, before driving from Lismore to Grafton. On the blacktop, al went well, next test is off-road.

(Yep, thats a Michelle Sac's Water Bra in the background, my chrissie present)

cheers,
Barry