Having just spent about $400 to have my touchscreen mated to my center console, I have to wince a little when I see this. Now, dont make that face, I’m not being mean, I just hvae to point out the obvious. He could have spent a LITTLE more time integrating the components into his car. I will say that putting the little cam up front gave me an idea about placing a small USB cam in my rear window for backing up.
He gets props for putting a PC in a car, I’ll give people credit for that all day long. He does get a “Needs Improvement” on his report card for integration, which by all accounts involved a roll of Velcro and a roll of 16 guage wire. [Positive Spin Note = He wins the award for most frugal install]
Car PCs
I knew that once again Google would pull it out for me. I spent some time making search word combos and came up with a winner. Although it is $45, the problem it solves makes it worth the extra few bucks.
Since its made for vehicle use it might do better than your standard household unit with an aftermarket adapter.
Since I’m ordering one today, I’ll tell you what heppens.
Car PCs
In an effort to completely blanket the issue surrounding powered USB, J.P. Stewart offers up a recipe using the Ecovell 12V adapters. The issue for people installing a computer in their car is that often the computer does not have internal slots. The lack of slots in most in-vehicle systems demands that everything else (the fun stuff) needs to tether. Most components will tell you what their power needs are and if I’m doing my math right, each USB port ca offer up 500mA(Some electrical engineer is going to correct me on which letters in mA are in caps).
The common power suckers are USB TV Tuners and powered drives. Don underestimate power usage by GPS mice, Bluetooth adapters. Be sure to read the packaging or visit the manufacturers site for more details. Be sure to match USB2 to USB2. Windows XP will warn you when it senses a mismatched pair. Other operating systems may not forgive.
Random note on in car TV tuners - If the video is choppy, reduce the interlace setting. The initial setting is meant for faster systems than can handle higher rates. You wont notice any quality difference other than when in the lower setting you no longer have Kung-Fu movie audio / video sync. If you like everything to be a little out of sync, the factory setting will make you happy. Important Note - If you watch a Kung-Fu movie on your system with the factory interlace setting, it will un-Kung-Fu the Kung-Fu audio sync. Got it?
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Car PCs