2011 Fiat Panda Car PC

[273BeLow]

Hello I just thought out of curiosity if nothing else some of you might like to see the log of my Panda car pc build!

I've had a system in my previous two cars, Honda accord aerodeck and before that a Renault laguna, for the panda however I decided to change almost all the hardware so I could use more up to date software and hopefully give it a more er.. finished look of installation!

To get the best result for a screen install I've secured a 7" VGA touchscreen, a pre fab double din affair in milled aluminium, I'm tempted to break it down and spray the surround black, but will wait and see how it looks in the bare alu for now.

This will sit (along with most of the PC's guts) in a aftermarket double din kit which should hopefully make its way to my door pretty soon.

For those interested the rest of the hardware is made up from,

Asrock A330GC all in one board using an ATOM 1.6Ghz CPU
2Gb RAM
250Gb 2.5" SATA drive
USB GPS/WIFI/bluetooth/radio/3G adapters
M1 ATX 90watt DC-DC PSU

software wise running Centrafuse 3 on top of windows XP.

Still trying to source a board based amplifier otherwise I'll just end up cramming the smallish amp from my previous car behind the glove box, at a later stage will add a USB DVD rom to the roof of the glove box for ripping CDs on the fly.

At the moment it's just a bundle of hardware under my desk most of the software is done, just need to copy 80 odd gig of music onto it with a bit more sorting than before.

I promise lots of lovely photos of the ongoing install as soon as the forum allows!

 

[273BeLow]

Well taken me a bit longer than I hoped to get round to this but have the day off so been hacking away at the panda!

First job was easy remove the standard CD player and try the double din surround. The double din surround fits well it bows down at the top a little but this is overcome as soon as the cage is placed inside.


After this came a pleasant surprise the panda does have a switched ignition line in the ISO block hurrah! I shoved everything into a box and wired it up to give it a test run, turned on the ignition and we have life! Turned off with ignition as it should as well.



Close up of touchscreen



At this point I made a bit of a faff the plastic piece at the back of where the radio goes wasn't letting the screen housing go all the way back so I took it down to a local metalwork place to cut a couple of inches off the back.

Then worked out there is no way I'd get the actual PC parts behind with the plastic part of the panda sticking out so far so had to dremel it off anyways d'oh!

Just waiting to get the screen housing back and then I'll have to cram all the PC parts into it, wire up the amp which will sit in the space between the passenger foot wells under the dash and be pretty much done (fingers crossed)

 

[volxstu]

Looks like a great start. Good luck.

 

[dombooth]

Looking brilliant! If I had the money and guts I'd do this to my Punto.

Good luck with it all!!

Dom

 

[273BeLow]

Apologies to anyone watching the thread with interest but unfortunately when trying to install the screen into the dash I managed to break the connector for the VGA/touchscreen and unless I can solder the pins back onto the board or directly to the cable looks like this is dead in the water

However if anyone has any car PC queries feel free to contact myself and will try to help (with advice such as don't jam things in place such as they rip cables out when you try to remove them :bang

 

[zanuda]

My version of the monitor 7"

Zotac 6100 itx
AMD 215
1Gb RAM
30Gb 2.5" SATA SSD
USB GPS/WIFI/bluetooth/radio-tv/3G adapters
M2 ATX 160watt

now reworked for 8.4"

 

[zanuda]

Version 2.0 Size 8,4"

 

[wellsy87]

I've just been looking into a car pc, how much did yours set you back (roughly) if you don't mind me asking?

I've been looking around different websites and I can build a midrange system with a 7" touchscreen for around £750 - does this seem reasonable?

 

[zanuda]

it's too expensive I think, a reasonable price is:
matherboard 50$
processor 50$
memory 30$
case 35$
power 40$
monitor used 100$
gps 100$
sound 120$
obd ii 130$
All bought in Russia