Multi-Media Center in my Car

[TheGreatSatan]

I have a crappy 1995 Ford Taurus Wagon that I've been doing repairs to lately. I would love to put a PC system in my car too, but I don't know how feasible it really is.

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/8496/car1ts0.jpg

I'd like to have something under the floor here:

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/5559/car2ik4.jpg

Like this:

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/7317/car3zl5.jpg

This really isn't hard, but I just don't know where I plug it in at?

[SgtM]

Power inverter dude.

[Eclecticos]

Looks like a great Idea.
Pimp my Grocery Getter. :D

[TheGreatSatan]

I know about those, but I have to run the cable from my lighter all the way to the back?

[jdbnsn]

It's very feasable. I almost tried it years ago and that was before they had all the nifty gizmos to make it work better. Check out www.mp3car.com for power stabilizers and such.

[jdbnsn]

This guy made a cool one also, before he was banned that is...

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8083

[SgtM]

I know about those, but I have to run the cable from my lighter all the way to the back?

You could just connect it directly to the battery with a toggle switch in the middle so you can turn it off and on at your leisure. I've actually been wanting to do this for a while now, but I don't have an LCD, and no money to buy one.

[simon275]

Try not use a inverter as they are inefficient and run hot and also create alot of inteference and could cause the picture on you LCD to come out bad.

You can get now 12volt LCD's and 12volt PSU's for those tiny VIA motherboards that are great for car pc's as they draw so little current.

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/

[jdbnsn]

One of the issues with running a comp in your car (at least back when I was looking into it) is power surges from the vehicles power supply. When cranking the ignition or drawing lots of amps from the stereo, the kick-back of power was blowing people's mobos. The folks on that website sell a device to protect against that.

[armadilloben]

This guy made a cool one also, before he was banned that is...

http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8083

btw why did he get banned?

[jdbnsn]

Don't know, was before I had the access.

[OvRiDe]

There are alot of examples out on the web, I have been thinking about it for a while as well. A really good example is Bellerophon's MagnumPC from over at Gruntville. He has a pretty good log showing what he did.

Its located at http://www.gruntville.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=13142&sid=25adab1c0f4f38f2eb91fde123e3c912

I played around with FrodoPlayer as a front end. It seemed pretty good, but I hear there are some better ones now. You should absolutely check out www.MP3Car.com There is a ton of info out there. Also looks like Oreilly as put out a Car PC Hacks book that might help out as well.. http://www.oreilly.com/pub/ht/175

Good luck and I would love to see your progress...

[chaksq]

This is something I have been toying with doing myself. Probably won't do it for a while as I am probably going to spend to much on the car this summer.

Good luck!

Oh and Ford FTW!!! I love my Escorts.