CelicaMP3

                                                             Specs:
Motherboard: Epia M10000, 512MB RAM

Storage: -- 120GB 3.5" Hard Drive
                    -- 700 MB MSystems FFD Solid State Hard Drive
Case: Casetronix 2699R

Screen: Gain/Zenarc VGA Touchscreen In-Dash housing

Input Devices: -- Griffin Powermate
                                 --Sony Remote Commander Joystick
                                 -- CIMR Remote
                                 -- Gyration Wireless Keyboard/Mouse
DVD: USB2.0 External 5.25" DVD-ROM

GPS: CoPilot 2K3

XM Radio; XM PCR with optical SPDIF modification

Rear View Camera:

WLAN: SMC USB 802.11b adapter, external 7db antenna

Power Management: -- 12V DC-DC: Four TI PT5071's in parallel
                                              -- ATX Power: PW-60
                                              -- Standby: external 5V regulator
MISC: -- Power and Reset Buttons

Power Management
Motherboard:
The M10000 is powered by a PW60. The PW60 requires a regulated 12VDC power supply. I ended up making a 72 Watt 12V supply by connecting four TI PT5071 regulators in parallel. The PT5071 is a 84% efficient boost/buck regulator that outputs a constant 12V from a 7V - 16V input voltage. This provides steady regulation when the engine is off (battery: ~12.2-12.6V), when the engine is running (battery: ~13.5-14.5V) and starting the engine (battery voltage as low as 8V). The outputs from each of the four regulators are isolated from each other via Schottkey diodes. The Schottkey diodes drop ~.2 V- .5V depending on the current draw hence the output voltage can dips as low as 11.5V however this remains within the input specification of the PW60. I placed fans at each end of the power supply housing for cooling. Origionally I powered both fans to create a wind tunnel effect however it was too loud, turns out one fan provides plenty of cooling.

Standby:
My first setup used a simple relay to cut power to the computer when ignition was turned off. Standard boot time is over a minute and can get quite annoying, especially on short trips. I eventually migrated to S3 (suspend to RAM) standby and now boot up in ~5 seconds. I measured a whopping .6Amps at the battery when I first placed the computer in standby. This is equivalent to leaving an interior light on which can easily kill a battery after multiple hours. I decided to bypass the 12V DC-DC and the PW-60 altogether and power the +5VSB rail with an external PT6212 5V DC supply. The total current draw is now ~140mA which won't discharge the battery unless it has been sitting for a week. I placed a toggle switch so the +5VSB (purple wire) on the mobo can be powered by either the PW60 or the PT6212. The EpiaM mobo maintains power to USB while in standby which can create excessive current draw depending on the device. I noticed that the XM PCR, GPS receiver and SMC WLAN card draw from 50-120mA each. I remedied this by disconnecting +5VSB from the front USB ports and powering these ports from the main 5V rail instead so these USB ports lose power during standby.

USB DVD ROM:
I bought an external 5.25" USB2.0 DVD ROM enclosure which had an AC power input and replaced the internal AC/DC 5V & 12V power supply with a DC-DC PT6212 and PT5071 for 5V and 12V regulation respectively.

The screen I'm using is a Gain 700YYV 7" VGA LCD with touchscreen overlay. I purchased the unit from dscustoms.com and am very happy with the quality of the unit. The touchscreen is four wire resistive touch and interfaces to the PC via the serial port. I originally had the screen mounted in front of the shifter on a small stand which worked well however I wanted a cleaner install. Recently I purchased an in-dash housing from digitalww.com for a more custom install. It took some work to install the Gain screen in the in-dash housing but it wasn't too hard. I just followed the instructions at digitalww.com/VGA_Controller_howto.htm

The hardest part was actually installing the in-dash unit in the car. It may look like a single DIN unit but is actually a little longer and taller which made installation a pain in the @$$. I had to grind down quite a bit of metal from inside the dash to get the unit to fit and then I had to make custom brackets to hold the unit in place. The in-dash unit has to be secured firmly to counter the force when the screen is pushed in.

I wanted a stationary input device with a tactile feel that would allow me to select items or perform commands without looking at the screen. I already had the Sony RM-X4S remote from my old Minidisk headunit. I connected the RM-X4S joystick to the X-axis of the PC gameport. First I had to place 120k resistors across pins 1 & 3 and 6 & 8 to have the computer recognize a joystick. The joystick was then calibrated and I mapped each button to keyboard keypress with a program called Steering Wheel Controls. The keyboard values were then mapped to OS commands via Girder. The buttons on the remote select: scroll prev/next, select prev/next, enter, launch MediaEngine, launch XM, search while music is playing, close app, and put computer into standby.