[Smiggs]

Hi guys,
New to car audio, I'm looking at putting a PC in my car to interface with the ECU to allow for on-the-go tuning and for audio via a conventional car audio system (DSP, Amp, and Speakers).
I'm looking for advice on what to do for a screen, the problem is most 7 or 8 inch touchscreen monitors are too low resolution to use with windows, I'm looking for something 1080p.
Raspberry Pi setups are popular and work well with the ECU as there is a Linux version of the program, but I'm not sure how the audio from one would be compared to an itx PC and the displays available are low resolution.
I've been looking at one of these:

It's a DSLR monitor which accepts HDMI and runs off 12v DC so I can power it, along with the PC, from a regulated automotive power supply such as this:

The monitor however whilst it is touchscreen, it appears to only work with the on-screen display, I'm not certain I could get the PC to recognise it as an input.
Any sane person would buy a nice Head Unit for the audio and connect a laptop to the ECU for tuning, but I think this setup could work with help from someone who knows more.
If anyone has any suggestions for monitors, or thinks they could find a way to make it work I'd really appreciate some input.
Thanks,
Owen

 

[Smiggs]

FEELWORLD LUT7 7 Inch 2200nits 3D LUT Touch Screen DSLR Camera Field Monitor with Waveform VectorScope Histogram 4K HDMI Input Output 1920X1200 IPS Panel-Zhangzhou SEETEC Optoelectronics TechnologyCo.,Lt

M4-ATX, intelligent ATX automotive power supply, 6/30V - power your PC in a car.

M4-ATX is an intelligent, high power, vehicle (car / boat / electric cart) DC-DC ATX PC power supply designed for use with car pc or general purpose battery powered applications

www.mini-box.com

The components mentioned in the Post.

 

[naiku]

Look into some of the Lilliput screens, those were typically always recommended when I looked into CarPC set ups. Audio out of the Raspberry Pi look into the HiFiBerry.

 

[Theslaking]

Using the hifiberry is a good idea. It gives you a high level output to your DSP via factory wiring and is a power supply for the raspberry pi. You can route a Bluetooth module to be automatically discoverable and sent to the hifiberry. The resolution doesn't bother me at all.

 

[Smiggs]

Using the hifiberry is a good idea. It gives you a high level output to your DSP via factory wiring and is a power supply for the raspberry pi. You can route a Bluetooth module to be automatically discoverable and sent to the hifiberry. The resolution doesn't bother me at all.

Thanks for the reply, I may end up going the Pi route as it's so much simpler to set up

 

[Smiggs]

Look into some of the Lilliput screens, those were typically always recommended when I looked into CarPC set ups. Audio out of the Raspberry Pi look into the HiFiBerry.

Thanks for the suggestions, lilliput make a nice 10 inch touchscreen monitor which seems to be what I'm after

 

[Smiggs]

Using the hifiberry is a good idea. It gives you a high level output to your DSP via factory wiring and is a power supply for the raspberry pi. You can route a Bluetooth module to be automatically discoverable and sent to the hifiberry. The resolution doesn't bother me at all.

Thanks again,
How is your screen and DAC connected? Can I use the bluetooth on the Pi with the Hifiberry or does it require a seperate module?
Cheers

 

[nhtunes]

Thanks again,
How is your screen and DAC connected? Can I use the bluetooth on the Pi with the Hifiberry or does it require a seperate module?
Cheers

I have the RasPi, Hifiberry in my trunk with the hard drive and WIFI into it with a cheap tablet. They didn't have the bluetooth option when I did it. Quality of sound is excellent, All the functionality stuff beyond playing music I couldn't tell you how it would work. Certainly not plug and play.

 

[Theslaking]

You can use the raspberry pi BT. I haven't had it in the car yet. My son had been doing it in school as a spare time project for like a year. He interfaced it with the Nissan data scan software and is going to get it to work with the Minidsp. Obviously it plays music but that's the easy part for this project. I have an electronically controled suspension so I'd also like to see that controlled from the dash too.

 

[imickey503]

Any tablet will work with a 1080P screen or higher.
The Dell is an OLED one if you don't mind screen burn in. Looks great however with wonderful contrast but direct sunlight is an issue.

Use Connect BOT or any VNC .

How to use an Android tablet as a Raspberry Pi console terminal and internet router - eLinux.org

elinux.org

ASUS tablets have IMO a SUPERIOR touch screen hardware that works SMOOTH in remote apps like you are on Bare iron due to the driver working well with software drivers from TeamViewer depending on the distro you use on your Pie.

 

[CrimsonCountry]

Nice! Always exciting to see someone looking into carpcs nowadays. Tablets and phones have caught up with PCs such that it's left to the enthusiasts (i.e. crazy people). Guess I'm one of them as I've been running my current CarPC (Windows 10) now for little over a year. Love it! It is nice being able to tune the DSP in a few seconds when needed...def not needed though. I use Foobar2k for audio (with various plugins and skins) and it's so easy to use. Everything is controlled by my steering wheel buttons too via the Joycon Exr (even the phone when it's on the display).

As ask the screen, I ended up making my own screen with an old iPad 9.7" lcd with a 9.7 USB touch screen. I looked at those same premade options when I started my build but ended up going the custom route.

The way my screen is setup now it controls my cell phone too. I just flip a usb switch and it controls/displays my phone (mirror or DeX). For audio, I've got it wired so that each unit can stream via the BT5.0 (Bludento BLT-HD) receiver or directly into my DSP via SPDIF (no Coax atm) via a powered splitter.

I'm also looking at that exact psu as my current Pico A3 ATX is shot. I also want more power since I'm looking to make it a budget game PC that I'll take into the house when needed. I'll need a new mobo too as I'm planning to swap back to AMD and try out the 1600AF cpu everyone is raving about.

 

[imickey503]

Man after my own heart!

 

[CrimsonCountry]

What are your PC specs? What kind if case? Where is it mounted?

I'm working on a mini-ITX 8th gen Core I7 build for my system. Optical to my DSP, USB volume controller, Rii K25 remote control/keyboard, wireless trackpad, single connection USB-C power and graphics to a 15.6" portable touch screen monitor, an additional center console 7" display, and stuff. Win10.

This PSU:

500W High Power 24PIN DC ATX Power Supply PSU with Dual 12V Output Channels | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 500W High Power 24PIN DC ATX Power Supply PSU with Dual 12V Output Channels at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Passenger dash display:

G-Story 15.6 Inch Ultrathin Touchscreen, FHD 1080P Portable Monitor | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for G-Story 15.6 Inch Ultrathin Touchscreen, FHD 1080P Portable Monitor at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Center console display:

Amazon.com: Touchscreen Monitor, EVICIV 7 Inch Portable USB Monitor Raspberry Pi Touch Screen IPS Display Computer Monitor 1024X600 16:9 Game Monitor for Pi 4/3/2/B Raspbian Ubuntu Xbox /PS4 Mac : Electronics

Amazon.com: Touchscreen Monitor, EVICIV 7 Inch Portable USB Monitor Raspberry Pi Touch Screen IPS Display Computer Monitor 1024X600 16:9 Game Monitor for Pi 4/3/2/B Raspbian Ubuntu Xbox /PS4 Mac : Electronics

www.amazon.com

Mini-ITX case going under the dash below my passenger airbag:

Goodisory A01 Aluminum Mini-ITX HTPC Desktop Computer Chassis (Red Tempered Glass):Amazon:Computers & Accessories

Amazon Goodisory A01 Aluminum Mini-ITX HTPC Desktop Computer Chassis (Red Tempered Glass)

www.amazon.com

Man...you may be my new best friend. Haha. Seriously sounds like a great setup. You will have way more screens going on than I do.

I have used that EXACT 15.6 touchscreen and it worked great. My only issue with it was with it not being IPS, the off-center angles weren't the best and it washed out from anything other than pretty straight on. This was a big issue for me since I had it mounted vertically, Tesla style. Another issue you run into is low brightness levels...especially on 15.6" lcds as they're all made for laptops so usually only go up maybe 300 nits. I seem to prefer 400+ higher for vehicle use but YMMV. Main thing would be viewing angles IMO.

And I've been looking a lot at that PSU for my next build. Have you done much research on it? Are you just going to use a step up regulator to give it 16-24v? Its dual power input (master and slave) as well but each side operates independently so you can use only 1 input if you want. Seems Pin 2 is more for GPU and such fron what I've read:

https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/400w-500w-picobox-psu.165990/

Love that case BTW! Haven't seen that one before.
===================

And my current setup is boring and nothing really worth mentioning as it's basically a repurposed E3IO carpc. Nothing more than a really expensive SFFPC using a standard MITX. I got it for CHEAP off Ebay in a moment if weakness and the quickness of a turn-key entry backing into the CarPC realm was one that I couldnt resist. Now I'm going back down the rabbit hole. I live dipping out of and back into hobbies because it's all new again! Lol.

Specs:
-Standard double din Mini ITX case you'll find on EBAY with custom I/O panel for the mobo. It also had a 7" touchscreen that I've since removed
-ASROCK B-85M ITX
-16gb DDR3
-i3 4630 Haswell (on-board GPU...boo)
-250gb SSD
-PicoPSU M3 ATX 125w
-Joycon EXR (resistive model) so I can co troll everything with my steering wheel
-Also use a wireless Dell touchpad that awesome! Think its 3"x4"
-Got the 3DConnection Spacenavigator Wheel that was all the rage back in 2000s. Havent programmed it yet but was going to use for another analog volume control

I have it mounted in the rear cargo area in a little side cubby. Its completely hidden and out of the way. I've ran a million cables up front along with a few USB hubs for connecting whatever I want easily and quickly. All 3 amps and DSP are crammed under my front seats too so everything is completely stealth. I mounted my horns under the dash so that's the only thing partially visible if you're really looking.

I have the ACC 12v routed up through the dash to a simple in-line switch that turns the PC on/off when needed. The PSU has the smart on off with a soft shutdown (seconds to allow Windows to close properly on its own) but this keeps it from coming on at all when I dont want it to. I've got the same "kill-switch" setup for my entire sound system too...b/c redundancy.

To tell you how crazy I am I'm also been testing out running a Samsung Tablet as my dash with RealDash (amazing app btw). Thinking of grabbing a 12.3" LCD since Realdash has a Windows version but not sure I want to rely on the PC for my dash too. The tablet boots up every single time and is worry free at the moment.

 

[CrimsonCountry]

Both of my screen spec sheets state IPS. I'm not really worried about it though as I am angling the 15.6 at me. I am building two small mounts that I will fix to the passenger side dash, each having a neodymium magnet. On the back of the display will be the two mating neo magnets. I wanted an easily removable display for video media, but I can run the system on the 7" dash screen if I don't want to leave the 15.6 in the car or take it with me somewhere.

I started a car PC thread under that category a few months ago. I'll dig it up and we should continue there. I have to get going for work but I'll be back online tonight and post a full spec sheet. I think I already have component diagrams posted up on it. I haven't started my build yet but I just about have all the components I need for the entire system. The decision to go car PC added another $1500 to the bill so the build has been delayed slightly Plus I'm working on other projects. I'll be honest, as I got closer to having everything I need to get started with the build, and I'm able to see it all in boxes in one place in my spare bedroom, the task becomes daunting and extremely work-intensive, and I lose a little bit of motivation to get started. I'm not quitting, just easing into it! This is a big build.

And yes, I'm using a DC to DC converter to bump up to the 19V the PSU needs

Amazon.com: KNACRO 300W DC Buck Converter Power Module Output Adjustable 20A Max DC-DC 6-40V Step Down to 1.2-36V Buck Constant Voltage Constant Current Module : Electronics

Buy KNACRO 300W DC Buck Converter Power Module Output Adjustable 20A Max DC-DC 6-40V Step Down to 1.2-36V Buck Constant Voltage Constant Current Module: Power Converters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

Oh, and 4G

Amazon.com: NETGEAR 4G LTE Broadband Modem - Use LTE as primary Internet Connection (LB1120): Computers & Accessories

Buy NETGEAR 4G LTE Broadband Modem - Use LTE as primary Internet Connection (LB1120): Networking Products - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

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Nice! I usually keep an eye on that sub-forum too but don't remember seeing one lately. Lmk and I'll head over there. Got more questions/ideas on the PSU implementation.

 

[yufeifei]

Hi guys,
New to car audio, I'm looking at putting a PC in my car to interface with the ECU to allow for on-the-go tuning and for audio via a conventional car audio system (DSP, Amp, and Speakers).
I'm looking for advice on what to do for a screen, the problem is most 7 or 8 inch touchscreen monitors are too low resolution to use with windows, I'm looking for something 1080p.
Raspberry Pi setups are popular and work well with the ECU as there is a Linux version of the program, but I'm not sure how the audio from one would be compared to an itx PC and the displays available are low resolution.
I've been looking at one of these:
View attachment 265224
It's a DSLR monitor which accepts HDMI and runs off 12v DC so I can power it, along with the PC, from a regulated automotive power supply such as this:
View attachment 265225
The monitor however whilst it is touchscreen, it appears to only work with the on-screen display, I'm not certain I could get the PC to recognise it as an input.
Any sane person would buy a nice Head Unit for the audio and connect a laptop to the ECU for tuning, but I think this setup could work with help from someone who knows more.
If anyone has any suggestions for monitors, or thinks they could find a way to make it work I'd really appreciate some input.
Thanks,
Owen

This one looks like it would be great.

 

[garysummers]

I am using this Lilliput monitor in my car. FA1016/C/T Integrated 10.1" HDMI Capacitive Touch Monitor
It does not fit flush in the dash but if you look at most cars today nobody is trying to hide the monitor flush anymore.
I have also constructed a mini ITX PC running a EVGA/Nu Audio 7.1 sound card. I am running the system in 5.1. It is close to being put in the car. When it goes in I will give full details.
It's all setup in my living room to trouble shoot before the car install. I have been playing the PC for 12 hours a day straight for the last week to burn it in.
The sound card fidelity is very good. Tried it first playing it through my McIntosh home system. Clean and detailed.
I am also running the M4 ATX 250w PSU. It works quite well and is very flexible.

 

[Israfel]

I am looking to do the same thing right now. Someone told me about the hifiberry amplifiers, as they are sooo great, however I am not really sure about that. My brother is having a hifiberry amplifier, and he told me that he is having some ... laggs if you can call it like that. However, I am sure that I am going to get the raspberry pi BT as a lot of people have told me that it is probably the best one from the price per quality point of view. Now, I will have to find a proper guide that would teach me how to rotate pc screen guide, as my screen is already installed, however it is not that great.

 

[nhtunes]

I just use a cheap tablet from Walmart, wifi connected to Pi in the trunk. After forgetting the tablet on the seat in the summer and melting it, I just buy another.