Monthly Archives: August 2014

AV, Car, Electronics

Car Stereo Status 8-14

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Bit of a different post this week. Just a look at the current state of the car stereo install which is soon to get some attention now the sun is out 🙂

System is 95% functional most of the work to be done is cleaning the install up and making it all fit back together nicely.

System consists of:

-Acer Aspire One netbook with screen removed

-Creative Sound Blaster Play USB sound card

-7″ Double DIN VGA touchscreen

-Swiss Line SL-Q400 EQ and crossover

-Rockford Fosgate POWER! 6.5″ speakers (Fronts)

-Sony Xplod 6×9″ (Rears)

-2x Pioneer 12″ champion series (Not sure on model)

-Response AA0460 1000w Mono Block running at 1ohm

-Response AA0458 5 channel amp 4x60w 1x225w

 

Screen was removed from the laptop to allow good fit in the glove box and easy access if keyboard/touch pad use is required, handy for passengers looking for tracks, etc.

A USB cable then runs into the dash to a hub which has the connectors for the USB sound card, touch screen, SD-Card reader.

Laptop with screen removed in glove box
Laptop with screen removed in glove box

From the USB sound card it’s connected to the input of the Swiss Line SL-Q400 EQ which splits the signal out to the 5 amp channels (Front, Rear, Sub).

Swiss Line SL-Q400
Swiss Line SL-Q400

The left power button on the screen powers the laptop on and the right button powers the screen and changes screen input.

 

7" touch screen
7″ touch screen

The current state of the dash as it stands now. I still have to wire in a relay and the DC->DC converter for the laptop power. It’s currently running from an inverter.

After that the dash can start to go back together.

Current state of the dash
Current state of the dash
Rockford Fosgate POWER! 6.5" speakers
Rockford Fosgate POWER! 6.5″ speakers
Power splitters and breaker
Power splitters and breaker

 

Current state of the boot.

 

Subs and amps
Subs and amps
2x 12" Subs
2x 12″ Subs

Hopefully I will get a chance this week to get back to the car and finish off the install.

 

To-Do List:

-Build panels and mount amps

-Dynomat front doors and boot

-Carpet boot

-Replace rear speakers

-Change 5 channel amp out for 4x100w version

-Dash back together

-DC->DC converter for laptop power

-Update laptop software to Centrafuse

 

 

Home Automation

Quick update 19-8

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Still awaiting delivery of the RFID unit and power supply for the electronic lock so haven’t been able to make much progress on it other than running cables to the lock and position for the RFID reader. Hopefully should be here in the next few days.

In the mean time I have been playing with home automation software and think I have found the one I’ll use as it can interface not only with Insteon and X10 but any serial or IP connected device which will allow me to pull temperature, humidity, voltage and all sorts of other data into the system on which to make decisions from.

eg: turning the bathroom fan on when the humidity rises, cooling fan in the rack when the temp rises, email/sms notification of power outages, etc.

The software is called Home Control Assistant and is around $160.

I have ordered a USB/serial connect 4 relay board that I will interface with it to allow low voltage switching for things like the Kitchen amplifier, cooling fan in the rack and also to be able to unlock the door from the automation interface.  The unit is also capable of bluetooth or WiFi with a module but will be connected via USB. Picked it up for $35 on eBay.

 

Have also ordered a pair of DHT22 temperature and humidity sensors and a 5 pack of DS18B20 water proof temperature sensors.

DHT22 Temp & Humidity
DS18B20 Temp Sensor

DHT22’s will be mounted in the bathroom and laundry to allow automatic fan control when humidity rises.

DS18B20’s will be used mostly for data collection and also to trigger cooling fan for the rack.

More coming when the post man gets here 🙂

Networking, uRADMonitor

uRADMonitor

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I recently read about the uRADMonitor project and contacted Radu who runs the project to get on board and get a unit up and running here in Australia.

You can read about that building of the board here which in it’s self is amazing to see.

Bit over three weeks in the mail and here it is 🙂

All the way from Romania
All nicely packaged.
Package contents. uRADMonitor, USB cable, CAT5 cable, USB power

The unit is to be mounted outside under my veranda which means getting both network and power out to the unit. I opted to do a somewhat DIY POE method to save running multiple cables.

This involves splitting out the two unused pairs in the CAT5 cable (Brown & Blue) at both the switch end and the unit end to allow power to be “injected” at the switch and extracted again at the unit end.

In my setup I have only connected the data wires to the patch panel and the power wires are connected to a length of wiring running off to the power supply as shown below:

Cable is split at the rear of the patch panel with the unused pairs being connect to a 5V PSU.

Then at the unit end the data wires are terminated and the power wires split away for a power jack to be soldered onto.

uRADMonitor POE end
POE Voltage at uRAD unit

Next came mounting…

All mounted up.

Connected up the power and is now transmitting away 🙂

Electronics, Gadgets, USB

USB “Charger Doctor”

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Just a quick post today, received this in the mail from China today. A USB voltage and current tester for a whole $2

Nice simple setup plug one end into a USB port and connect the device you want to the other end and the display changes back and forth from current to voltage every few seconds.

Measures 3.5-7V and 0-3A.

Lets connect it up:

Unloaded USB port voltage.
4.91v
4GB USB stick connected.
0.08amp.
Connect to a USB 2.5″ HDD. 0.45amp

Nice simple device that does what it says on the box and quite useful for diagnosing USB devices, well worth the $2 to have around for the odd time you even just want to know how much current you’re getting out of a charger.