Reverse Cam, anyone?

[eTiMaGo]

I'm just wondering if anyone's experimented with a wide-angle rear view camera to help when reversing? I'm thinking the best place to put it would be under the spoiler, looking down... then you gotta have some kind of display, I take it double-DIN head units with LCD screens would be able to be mounted in the dash?

[vodkalush]

I was thinking of doing this... you can get kits for this. But I dont really see the need (until I tint that is).

As far as the display would go, I was thinking either a indash LCD, Visor LCD or even a rearview mirror LCD.

[TrancosRt]

It would be SO cool to put an LCD Touchscreen in the radio slot and have a car-puter for misc. porpoises (just to name a few: rearveiw cammera, sound, DVD, heck, you can probably even get a kit to display real time car stats!)

[paultyler_82]

It would be SO cool to put an LCD Touchscreen in the radio slot and have a car-puter for misc. porpoises (just to name a few: rearveiw cammera, sound, DVD, heck, you can probably even get a kit to display real time car stats!)

The Pioneer AVIC-Z1 already does all that in a 2 DIN form factor, and by the time you put a carputer together, the AVIC would be around the same price.

[vodkalush]

The Pioneer AVIC-Z1 already does all that in a 2 DIN form factor, and by the time you put a carputer together, the AVIC would be around the same price.

perfect for a instant solution, but for a fully customized one-of-a-kind install I would recommend using an "older" laptop (3yrs) for a carputer.

I'm looking into doing this, but I have a big issue against non-oem looking dash area. so if I come-up with anything I'll be sure to post.

[paultyler_82]

I would love to do a carputer, but Startup times and poor AM-FM reception (not to mention hibernation mode headaches) are steering me away from that route, By the way, vodkalush, I'll help you out with the OEM looking dash thing... someone on MP3car.com forums found a jewel known as the DWW-6500. It's a Double DIN unit with flipdown face and integrated CD/DVD drive, the Drive and Touchscreen interface via USB, and the video is provided via VGA... plus I think it has a few other tricks up it's sleeve. http://www.digitalww.com/DWW-6500.htm is the link, but it seems as of this posting, Digital Worldwide is having site issues.

[vodkalush]

good find. I like that fact that it can turn on/off the carputer

[eTiMaGo]

I would love to do a carputer, but Startup times and poor AM-FM reception (not to mention hibernation mode headaches) are steering me away from that route, By the way, vodkalush, I'll help you out with the OEM looking dash thing... someone on MP3car.com forums found a jewel known as the DWW-6500. It's a Double DIN unit with flipdown face and integrated CD/DVD drive, the Drive and Touchscreen interface via USB, and the video is provided via VGA... plus I think it has a few other tricks up it's sleeve. http://www.digitalww.com/DWW-6500.htm is the link, but it seems as of this posting, Digital Worldwide is having site issues.

That is one sexy little unit... The price is not so sexy though, but in light of its capabilities, it could come in very very handy....

[paultyler_82]

That is one sexy little unit... The price is not so sexy though, but in light of its capabilities, it could come in very very handy....

I'm pretty certain it's the only 2 DIN VGA touchscreen unit, period, not to mention it even features a USB CD/DVD drive!

[eTiMaGo]

Yeah.. gotta do a lot more research on this, especially about integrating information from the OBD-II port into windows software... So much potential here!

[eTiMaGo]

hmmm well I could save a good wad of money by using my old laptop (pentium M 1.8, should be more than enough for this light-duty stuff) to power everything, the laptop's screen is a bit messed up, but with the dash LCD, that should be no problem!

[ChinoCharles]

I know you can buy carputer units whole, but is there any way to build one yourself? For example, if you have a spare computer sitting around.... haha.

[eTiMaGo]

You could, but the power requirements for a standard desktop PC are pretty high, which is why laptop or specially built low-power, low-profile PCs are recommended...

This simple idea of a reverse camera has started me up on doing a lot of research on a fairly well integrated PC-based entertainment and information system... wait and see... :wink:

[ism3t]

i have The Pioneer AVIC-Z1 installed on my car, and its the best car audio hu i have ever used, hands down. you can customize everything. and yes, i also have a rear view camera, its pretty nice, very shitting when it gets wet. The camera is in my rear view mirror, not my hu however, and my rear view has 3 inputs so i am also putting a camera on the front of my car, as the 3rd will be for the hu to route up to the moitor in the mirror. its pretty nice, very distracting, but the ladies love it.

[ChinoCharles]

You could, but the power requirements for a standard desktop PC are pretty high, which is why laptop or specially built low-power, low-profile PCs are recommended...

This simple idea of a reverse camera has started me up on doing a lot of research on a fairly well integrated PC-based entertainment and information system... wait and see... :wink:

Even demanding desktop PC's have power supplies mostly under 500 watts, which would put it in the realm of most 4 channel amps. Even so, you can build a 200W MicroATX barebone computer right now for under 200 bucks on tigerdirect.

eTiMaGo, can't wait to see your results. Keep us posted. :thumbup:

[vodkalush]

a high demand laptop only uses 90watts... and the lower the wattage the lower the inverter you need... although you can get power supplies for a desktop that are made for DC (your cars current) but they are (atleast last i looked into it) where at around $50-90... which is more then an inverter would be..

. eitherway I am looking forward to the results of this :smile:

[eTiMaGo]

OK, got my ol' laptop out of storage... It only requires 65W on a 19V input, so now I know what specifications I need for a DC-DC converter. Saw some universal ones online for about 50 bucks, but I should try and find one locally, no point paying through the nose for shipping and taxes for such a basic thing :wink:

The laptop's an old Asus M series, so it's lightweight (one of the lightest available in its day at just under 2kg), and it's not too big, with a 14" screen. I'll have to do some exploring on the car but I maaaay be able to fit it in the passenger side footwell, as far up under the dash as possible, and have some of the wiring (USB extension for keyboard, etc), come through one of the glove boxes.

But first, time to reinstall that little beast and experiment with different software front ends... I've been messing around with Centrafuse on this PC, it is pretty darn impressive, very well integrated software. But there's many many others out there too!

[grokdesigns]

Anybody interested in a carputer should check out www.mp3car.com, there are some very knowledgeable people there. There are some VERY OEM looking installs on there!

[mhero]

I think, Yaris is so small ... and I got no problem driving
backward or parking . . . so I don't think Yaris need one :)

[eTiMaGo]

Yeah but I suck at parking :biggrin:

plus it's mainly just for the cool factor... Or I could put the camera in the front with an IR illuminator, and get night-vision, mercedes-style!

[vodkalush]

Yeah but I suck at parking :biggrin:

plus it's mainly just for the cool factor... Or I could put the camera in the front with an IR illuminator, and get night-vision, mercedes-style!

haha, I think an expensevice part to that sys would be the high powered IR bulbs/led

[eTiMaGo]

most likely, yes, if you want any kind of useable range.... But that was just an hypothetical idea, the possibilities are really quite limitless!

[mhero]

Yeah but I suck at parking :biggrin:

plus it's mainly just for the cool factor... Or I could put the camera in the front with an IR illuminator, and get night-vision, mercedes-style!

I got it! This is why we modify our cars :thumbup:

[vodkalush]

most likely, yes, if you want any kind of useable range.... But that was just an hypothetical idea, the possibilities are really quite limitless!

that they are, now lets go explore the outer limit.. :headbang:
If you had it setup right, you could have your car sync with your home network+desktop every time you parked your car in the garage/in front (via wireless network and some mid level winxp/mac/linux knowledge). So that you have the latest movies/mp3s on your carputer.
If you had a bluetooth laptop/carputer + bluetooth cellphone you could configure the carputer to get weather updates and traffic updates at a set time/time period....

[eTiMaGo]

yeah, I do have Wifi at home and I think the signal should reach the front....
And internet over cellular, possible too, though over there the rates are pretty darn high... And there's no traffic information, or accurate weather information available anyhow!

Anyway, this project is kind of taking a back seat, as much fun as it would be, I do not think I will go the carputer route, probably stick to a Pioneer dual DIN headunit with all the bells and whistles, and add on a bluetooth adapter and ipod cable, rear camera module can also be attached and possibly also one of those vehicle dynamics processors. But that will be after adding a few horsies under the hood, I vowed myself not to have a "all show, no go" car, and that's basically what's sitting outside right now! :mad:

[funkstrong]

If its available to you, you can get one of those broadband pcmcia cards, I've used them before and they work pretty well with good speed. I had an idea that might be easier to do without really needing a carputer. You can buy wireless routers that have a usb plug for an external hard-drive. I believe they're called media storage routers, linksys has one for about $99.00. That way you'd only have to power the router and an external hard drive. I haven't been able to find a tiny device that will plug into an external hard drive and play its contents though. I think I might have a serious obsession with technology.

[ChinoCharles]

I've been reading up on mp3car.com, and there is a lot that goes into the install. By far the hardest part in a Yaris is... well, where the fuck do you mount a computer? Haha, I'm thinking driver side top glove box... has anyone had the dash off and is aware of what is back there? The airbag is in the steering wheel, so if theres about an inch or two of dead space behind the glove box I may be in business.

[yv1650c]

may sombody with the cam installed rear in a liftback add pics? just to watch hoy you did it?

[Black Yaris]

eTiMaGo... you have vehicle dynamics on your head unit, right? Your head unit can run a reverse cam plug and play :) Pioneer makes the cam kit that plugs right in and plays no worries

[mikeukrainetz]

ive seen car computer mentioned from panasonic and multi other types of system listed in other threads. just came accross this in the latest issue of PASMag from Drivesoft.
its an all in one in dash car computer coming out from Drivesoft.
dont know the pricing but you ought to read the review in the mag.

internet, car cam, blue tooth, car security control etc etc.

link for the system

http://www.drivesoft.net/dfs_hardware.html

link for performance auto and sound mag.

http://www.pasmag.com

[ChinoCharles]

Drivesoft products are both notoriously sweet and notoriously expensive. Their first carputer offering was a fortune.

[eTiMaGo]

eTiMaGo... you have vehicle dynamics on your head unit, right? Your head unit can run a reverse cam plug and play :) Pioneer makes the cam kit that plugs right in and plays no worries

I do have a reverse camera plugged in ;)

Mind you, it's not the pioneer cam itself, just a standard one, this is not recommended as you have to manually select the video source when you wanna use it. (so, it's rarely used, I might even relocate it as a front bumper cam) If it's the pioneer cam ($++), it'll switch on automatically when you put the car in reverse.

[dngz]

http://toyota.jp/dop/navi/lineup/option/backguidemoniter/index.html