Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

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AndyS95
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Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by AndyS95 » Thu Sep 17, 2015 11:17 pm

Hi all

Thought I would share my adventures in putting in a R-Pi into the Bongo. Essentially it's creating a solution for a problem that didn't exist - my iPhone could do everything & more that the R-Pi is doing but being of the Knight Rider generation, I always wanted a computer in the car. I used a rev B 500mb, with OpenElec OS running XMBC. Basically it's for media - audio & video and XMBC is one of the best systems for this. I originally wanted it to hook up to a web cam for reversing, GPS and other stuff but OpenElec isn't the most flexible for that sort of thing. If I ever did get round to that I would prob just run another Pi with Raspbian installed. As it is, the monitor I bought has 2 inputs, so I will probably just get a cheap rev camera from ebay and send it straight to the monitor.

As you'll see, I put the screen in the cubby hole - I got my measurements wrong and envisaged room for the screen along with flush mounted usb sockets all in the hole. As it turns out there wasn't room for that so the usb hub sits on the side. I think the screen will fit nice and flush into the double din space so I think my next job will be to swap places with the stereo. However, it works fine where it is - the missus can watch video while I drive and when we both watch it's via the 19" LCD in the back that has video fed from the Pi via a video splitter. We don't generally watch scheduled TV, just box sets and movies and these are all stored via a usb stick accessed by the Pi.

It was basically pretty simple but I ran in to a couple of small issues which I've not seen properly addressed anywhere:

1. You soon realise that the Pi's 2 usb sockets aren't enough and you need an externally powered hub. I had 2 x 12v sockets to power the Pi and the screen in the cubby hole out of sight. I couldn't find a sensibly priced 12v USB hub so I used a standard hub that runs at 7v via a multi-voltage adaptor that plugged into 12v socket. You can then run the Pi from one of the usb slots in the hub and the rest of the slots are from the Pi to the hub.So that was that problem solved for about a tenner.

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http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Regulated-300 ... 1084435675

2. Because of interference from the audio unit and the Pi the sound had issues. This is very common when connecting the Pi audio via mini jack in the the car aux in. This was solved perfectly with a Kensington noise reduction lead from Amazon - again about a tenner IIRC

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003 ... ge_o09_s00

That was about the only issues really, i got a 7" TFT screen from ebay for about £24 -they are the ones sold for reversing cameras and as it has 2 video inputs that switches to the reverse picture when you engage reverse I can still install a reverse camera and use the screen. If I do put the screen in the double din slot I may swap it for a touch screen but that makes things more complicated and would involve some coding probably and that isn't my thing (although luckily I do know a few open source geeks). Also I'm not sure you can get 7" compatible touch screens for reasonable money.

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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by dvisor » Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:02 am

Hi - Just a couple of thoughts, would a Pi2 solve your USB problem? It's got 4 ports rather than 2, and should also give better performance. Also, you want to be careful if you're pulled over by plod - I think you'll find that having the screen in a viewable position from the driver's seat falls foul of the law, even if you're not watching it. I've seen a few touchscreen monitors around - the smaller ones are pretty cheap, but the 7" (complete with driver board) are around the £60 mark.
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by AndyS95 » Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:14 am

dvisor wrote:Hi - Just a couple of thoughts, would a Pi2 solve your USB problem? It's got 4 ports rather than 2, and should also give better performance. Also, you want to be careful if you're pulled over by plod - I think you'll find that having the screen in a viewable position from the driver's seat falls foul of the law, even if you're not watching it. I've seen a few touchscreen monitors around - the smaller ones are pretty cheap, but the 7" (complete with driver board) are around the £60 mark.
Yeah, I was thinking if I do install another Pi i would make it the latest one and power them both from the powered hub giving me a total of 6 x free usb ports.. But having lived with the Bongo for while now I think it would just be over egging the pudding for my needs.

Not sure about the law re viewable screens, obviously lots of modern vehicles have screens that are viewable by their very nature as they are the media and general control units for the car. I guess if there's a video running that's when you could potentially run in to trouble - that's a benefit of having it in the cubby hole as it's not as obvious as having it in the double din hole. They'd have to be in a high vehicle to look down and see it..

hopefully they have better things to do with their time..
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by dvisor » Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:32 am

As a matter of interest, what are you using as an input device? IR remote, or keyboard/mouse?
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by AndyS95 » Fri Sep 18, 2015 7:01 am

dvisor wrote:As a matter of interest, what are you using as an input device? IR remote, or keyboard/mouse?
Funny enough both..

I have the popular IR remote: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_pg_3?r ... 1442556028 but it can be a bit hit and miss, it's widely used and recommended so it could just be this one is faulty or needs new battery.

So instead have a great little keyboard with with mouse-pad that works perfectly:http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4GHz-USB-Wi ... 1495334504
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by Gasy » Fri Sep 18, 2015 5:28 pm

Haven't got a clue what your going on about guys
But it looks a good job from pics
Ever need a problem sorting with your gas boiler , heating system I'm ya man
But computers ????
Gas safe heating engineer / plumber if you need any advice just shout.
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by sotal » Fri Sep 18, 2015 8:54 pm

How about something like this...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tontec%C2%AE-Di ... ouchscreen


I considered it but I'd prefer to replace the stereo altogether - but then have the problem of connecting to the speakers. I do have an old amp which might do the trick but I don't know. Then there is the fact that a radio would be useful.

May look into it more one day!
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by AndyS95 » Sat Sep 19, 2015 10:24 am

Gasy wrote:Haven't got a clue what your going on about guys
But it looks a good job from pics
Ever need a problem sorting with your gas boiler , heating system I'm ya man
But computers ????
Ha! :mrgreen:

I guarantee that you are much more of an expert in your field than I am in IT.. I'm just a tinkerer really..

Actually, while we're on the subject of gas and not to derail the thread to much - is there any simple,cheap device to determine the presence of gas? That is if your not sure if your nose is correct? At the end of our 10 day jaunt in Ireland,culminating in a 3 day festival where there were 7 of us getting changed, washing, cooking etc in the Bongo there was a bit of a gassy whiff.. my missus said she had turned the gas off but when we got back home i opened all the doors, had a good clean up and saw the gas valve was still opened to the max.. I turned it off and the next day the smell was gone but I am not sure if that was due to the clean up or if there was actually a leak. I had a good look round all the pipes / valves etc and everything seemed in good order?
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by AndyS95 » Sat Sep 19, 2015 10:33 am

sotal wrote:How about something like this...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tontec%C2%AE-Di ... ouchscreen


I considered it but I'd prefer to replace the stereo altogether - but then have the problem of connecting to the speakers. I do have an old amp which might do the trick but I don't know. Then there is the fact that a radio would be useful.

May look into it more one day!
That looks great value - thanks for the link.. it got me looking into again and I think I am now convinced to upgrade - about £70 for screen and latest Pi which is about 6 x more powerful than my current one - great value. Time to start tinkering again I think!

btw a company called Icarus have made a fully integrated unit including amp and touch screen powered by Pi with prices starting at just $199 which is damn good value -it even has ODBII hook-up - I think if the Bongo had ODBII i would have been tempted but in the event i decided it would be cheaper and more fun to cobble something together from scratch..

http://i-carus.com/
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by g8dhe » Sat Sep 19, 2015 10:37 am

The RPI now has its own screen designed for it http://cpc.farnell.com/Search?catalogId ... i%20screen
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by mikeonb4c » Sat Sep 19, 2015 11:06 am

g8dhe wrote:The RPI now has its own screen designed for it http://cpc.farnell.com/Search?catalogId ... i%20screen
That looks well worth the extra money over the cheaper 7" offering?

Just to rewind-bo-selecta, what are we talking about, and why is it an exciting thing. Or has someone mis-spelled this
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by mikeonb4c » Sat Sep 19, 2015 11:11 am

Panic over, just found it:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/help/what-i ... pberry-pi/

Well that's an interesting sounding little gizmo. Might be quite enough for my home computing needs :roll:
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Re: Carputer (Raspberry Pi)

Post by Kern0wsan » Mon Sep 21, 2015 3:42 pm

Good use for of a Pi, that will give me some ideas! I recently got a Pi 2 during amazon sales and it currently has Retropie installed.
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