Car Computer?

[7D_Sniper]

It just seems this computer would be perfect for a car.

Could the RPi be powered by 12 volts?

It would be nice to hook up an external hard drive and run a music program through the RPi and have a nice display on a small screen in your car.

I am sure this is possible and would love to hear any suggestion/ ideas about using RPi in an automobile.

[Helpme1986]

I would love to use it as a GPS Tracker, only thing would be getting it to connect to the internet which would be fine when outside the house (WiFi) or tethering phone but a bit pointless if it gets nicked.... (unless they happen to drive by my house again..)

[epifanio28]

Hi,

I'm also planning, to use it in car with touch screen monitor, to control audio and also gps. I'm only concerned with high temperatures in summer.

Best Regards,

Jose Epifanio

[s0mm3r]

I'm also thinking about using te raspi as a carputer

and to power it in you car just get a Micro USB Car Charger

http://www.amazon.com/Generic-.....038;sr=1-1

Because the raspi is using Micro USB as power source

[7D_Sniper]

Yeah would be nice hooked up to a touchscreen for music and GPS.

[mental2k]

Lol, looks like i'm not the only one to have this idea, lol.  Yeah I reckon GPS and music.  Also with a bluetooth dongle we have a phone car kit!  Now I was planning on hooking the GPS through the serial.  But if you stick the GPS in the USB, you could probably use the serial to communicate with an old Nokia, if the car is stolen, all you have to do is text the phone and it texts you back the GPS location.

Hell you could even stick a powered USB hub in too, charge your phone, add wifi or a USB FM receiver.

Composite reversing screen for the screen, and a 4 wire resistive touch panel over the top.

[7D_Sniper]

There are so many things you could do with this thing, It's quite amazing for such a small device. I was looking at the Liliput touch screen monitors with HDMI input. they look like they would compliment the RPi nicely.

[lek12511]

How about linking to a mini-projector for a head-up-display?

I expect the projector would be comparatively expensive but I'm tempted.

[scarfy]

I also want to make a CarPC.... and until now i created a list for components:

- rPI Board

- 7 inches UART TFT LCD Module http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-s.....rted-.html

- 7 inch Touch Screen Panel http://www.aliexpress.com/fm-s.....2-70J.html

- 4 CH internal Audio Amplifier http://www.aliexpress.com/prod.....alers.html

- GPS Module http://www.dealextreme.com/p/g.....tops-19498

- 3G modem http://www.dealextreme.com/p/e.....-gsm-54921

- Bluetooth 3.0 USB Dongle http://www.dealextreme.com/p/u.....ngle-65631

- USB WIFI Adapter http://www.dealextreme.com/p/c.....ter-114400

- Powered USB HUB http://www.dealextreme.com/p/7.....sb-hub-678

I need some other suggestion  about 7" Touchscreen, Fm Radio receiver, Power Adapter, and a Case....

[jackassplus]

I plan to do something similar minus the GPS and plan to use this as primary instrumentation for an old non-computer controlled car.

[Major_Sarcasm]

Scarfy said:


I also want to make a CarPC…. and until now i created a list for components:



*Snip*



I need some other suggestion  about 7" Touchscreen, Fm Radio receiver, Power Adapter, and a Case….


http://www.mp3car.com/blogs/14.....splay.html

[dave]

I have been doing a lot of thinking and research on this and have come up with the following concept:

*Raspberry Pi(obviously)

*EDIMAX BR-6258n 150Mbps Wireless Broadband Nano Router

*USB Hard Drive

*Cheap Touch Screen Tablet with WiFi and maybe 3G

The EDIMAX BR-6258n can act as a Access Point. You could then connect the tablet to this and then Remote Desktop (VNC, whatever) into the R Pi and control it from its desktop. With the GertBoard you could add a GPS module and map software and maybe even a CAN module so you can look at and control your car.

A cheap tablet can be had for around AUD$80 and will be able to connect to the internet wirelessly and probably give the R Pi net access as well.

What do you all think? Can anyone see any holes in my plans?

I think most of the needed software is available for Linux and most things will be

plug and pray.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/....._-33315095

[m3marte]

Major_Sarcasm said:


Scarfy said:


I also want to make a CarPC…. and until now i created a list for components:



*Snip*



I need some other suggestion  about 7" Touchscreen, Fm Radio receiver, Power Adapter, and a Case….


http://www.mp3car.com/blogs/14.....splay.html


I'm planning to build up a car-pc too, and asked the seller of this screen on ebay about driver compatibility with linux. He answered with this link http://www.ideacom.com.tw/DR_UTS6680.htm, drivers for Fedora and Ubuntu, but it seems x86 drivers only

[j4d]

How about hooking it up to the car's diagnostic system for a real time display of the engine's state?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.....iagnostics

[dgwebster]

I have been searching a lot recently, you can get lcd kits from China that include a controller board which accept an AV video feed in. Driverless LCD!

[dest]

This is exactly why I want one!

My car already has an Alpine headunit with 7" screen and RCA inputs, so an RPi as a media station/maps/satnav would be perfect.
Will be watching with interest

Also, anyone that has a VW/Skoda/Audi can currently get free software to connect to the OBD port and scan for fault codes and change settings using a cable that connects to a USB port, so if the software (VAGCom) can be used it would be perfect to have it onboard all the time

[hzrnbgy]

hot from iteadstudio, GPS add-on for the RPi

[Jim Manley]

7D_Sniper said: 


Could the RPi be powered by 12 volts?

In theory, the R-Pi can be powered from any 6 - 20 VDC source at 200 ma for the bare board, and up to 700ma recommended for maxed-out Ethernet and USB ports.  The 5 VDC micro-USB connector was decided late in the design, but, it should still work fine on 12 VDC, but, you may want to heavily filter (large capacitor) and regulate it (12 V TO-5 or TO-220 regulator) that so that surges on the 12 V vehicle power bus don't smoke the R-Pi (e.g., when starting the engine).

[Jim Manley]

7D_Sniper said: 


Could the RPi be powered by 12 volts?

In theory, the R-Pi can be powered from any 6 - 20 VDC source at 200 ma for the bare board, and up to 700ma recommended for maxed-out Ethernet and USB ports.  The 5 VDC micro-USB connector was decided late in the design, but, it should still work fine on 12 VDC, but, you may want to heavily filter (large capacitor) and regulate it (12 V TO-5 or TO-220 regulator) that so that surges on the 12 V vehicle power bus don't smoke the R-Pi (e.g., when starting the engine).

[ascheer]

j4d said:


How about hooking it up to the car's diagnostic system for a real time display of the engine's state?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.....iagnostics



I agree, read out and trackig on board diagnostic could be fun.

I would like to come back to this topic, when I get my Raspberry.

regards

[Charles]

Hi

How about adding a webcam or 2 and turning the RPi into a black box for your car.

Would it be able to cope with that as well as the other suggestions?

[monkeyra]

j4d said:


How about hooking it up to the car's diagnostic system for a real time display of the engine's state?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O.....iagnostics



Top idea

I've got a trackcar which I'm in the process of rebuilding, this will be finding it's way into it, and also for hooking up a camera and recording the image with data overlay

[bakerv3]

Hi,

I want to put a 3G stick on mine to provide a 3G router for the car and at the same time streaming Internet Radio.

Vince

[ghans]

Hmm.
I see you all are suggesting USB peripherials . USB a big problem on the RPi - not only power-wise , but also stability wise.
I'm not sure if this was more related to the kernel or the specific driver.

Furthermore , even if USB worked correctly , what about drivers for the device ?
3G modems - switching between CDROM and dongle mode (tricky, but possible)
WiFi - firmware BLOBs and driver issues
Touchscreens - only x86 drivers for specific distros ? - i bet they're BLOBs again (no porting)

And yes , motor monitoring/control has been mentioned repeatedly and should work.

ghans

[rikardo1979]

Just get the confirmation that my Pi should be despatched to me 9/7/12
I've ordered two units where I would like to use one as my HTPC with XBMC/Openelec in lounge and 2nd one I had and idea to use it as car media player.
All what I want from it is to connect somehow to my Audi car system - only audio is important to me.
I would like to play FLAC format from external pen drive or small 2,5" HDD. As I have most of my music in FLAC format so this would be great as I haven't found any other solution to play it.
Now there is how to do it and operate without any screen. I would like to have start some kind of software/player automatically and go straight to music library. Than there would be next chalenge and that is how to operate ??? Would be possible to hook it somehow over the BUS connection to Audi Symphony/Concert system ???
Would love to have this sys working somehow
Appreciate any suggestion

rikardo1979