DazV

Witness the effort that went into blending it with subtle skill into the background, rendering it hardly noticeable.

I call it the 'Predator' and will be patenting this idea asap.


[This message has been edited by DazV (edited 01 April 2001).]

Nate-old

DazV

Great install , best I've ever seen , I'd better pull my finger out and get to the patent office first.

Nate

chiark

Glad I'm not the only muppet. Although mine's a bit more subtle, it ain't much more subtle. The main box is in the boot and is a hack-sawed desktop case

Adam M

As a patent attorney I can confirm that neither of you can patent this now as you have just publicly destroyed the novelty of your idea. In future, secure the page with a password that is only released when the potential viewer signs a confidentiality agreement.

sgould

I have thought about making my own MP3 player. The only part I don't understand is how it either connects to your head unit or amps/specker system.

Can anyone help me here?

DazV

Well SGould, I'd hate you to think I had a working MP3 unit.

My was just a bit of ribbon cable (albeit UDMA66) stuck to the inside of my glove compartment.

Well, it was April Fools day when I posted it!

Besides, if you look carefully, you'll see the backplate of my proper Kenwood mp3 player in the dash.

chiark

Hook, Line, Sinker for me. I'll get me coat.

SGould - you'll want an aux input on your head unit, or a switch between head unit and mp3 player to your amps. The secondary route will be a swine with level matching, though...

Nick.

flak

You guys ever heard of going down the shops and getting an MP3 player. Kenwood do a very nice one for about 260 squidies.

Nice idea tho' but not sure that its going to take off!

Just on question guys where the hell do you get 240 volts to power ya PCs, and how do you change tracks etc! Alot of effort with little reward me thinks! Nice tho'

DazV

Flak - read the end of my 2nd post on this page.

sgould

flak:

Lots of people have managed to make there own MP3 player. the only part I couldn't work out was the connection.

A computer can run on 12v, so all you need is a power converter as your alternator can run at 14v and will blow the PC circuits.

chiark

Flak: Yeah, but where's the fun in that? And besides, you don't get a decent user interface and display on one of those units do you?

Regarding PSU, it's a bit more complex than just getting rid of excess voltage. You will find that you need 5V too and at a decent current - like 6 amps. I did consider making my own supply for a while, but in the end just bought one pre-assembled. Read my LIMP pages for more info on where and why.

You could just bung a 12v to 240v inverter in the car and power a normal PSU with this, but that's very inefficient.

For control, I use a 4x3 matrix and for display I use a 2x40 character LCD. Fits in the ash-tray of the impreza and looks like it's supposed to be there.

Nick.