Scratch Build – In Progress RX8-CarPooter - July 27th 2009 - Software: WIP. Hardware: Nearly done.

If this was my car, I'd want it to look as clean as possible, so everything would be powered from the battery and not the cigarette lighter. For some reason I just hate seeing stuff plugged into those.

 

I know you want to keep it stock as possible and clean but would you consider splicing into the line to the lighter? Shouldn't be difficult and easy enough to undo plus you keep the clean look of not just plugging something in there.

 

I've found a neat, clean, way of running the wire, will do it tonight after work

The only thing I'll have to power by cigarette lighter is the screen, but it's only temporary, next week I'll strip apart the plug for it and see if I can wire it up cleanly.

I'll be splicing into it eventually, but for the PSU I'd much rather have a direct line to the battery, for the positive terminal anyways. The negative has to go onto the cigarette lighter since it only gets power when ignition is on, that way the PSU will turn on/on with engine.

 

what i would do is cut off the cigarette lighter plug off the screen and replace it with a molex plug. it's easy and it doesn't involve messing with the car wiring as much. I did it for my car pc (WIP) screen

 

Hmm.. We'll see, I haven't fully decided what I wanna do with the screen.

I finally managed to get a cable through, I got pissed off, took my soldering iron, heated it up, and just rammed it into the rubber wire harness cover and it burned a hole through it and most of the silicone, no wires were damaged, I slid mine through and sealed it with silicone.

I'm now kicking myself because I dropped the battery bolt connector into the engine bay and I can't find it..

 

haha, lost to the abyss.

I Didn't realize this was a lease, but like others have said, if you want it clean, splice it into an inconspicuous spot, maybe make a small distribution block under the center console?

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say:

Moar pics pls, kthxby

(ew, typing like that make me feel dirty)

 

I actually didn't take any pics of the installation process of the wires >.>

On the bright side, I had to give up last night after running the battery wire and will need to remove the panels again whenever I pick the project back up next week, so I'll post pictures whenever I get back from my trip this weekend

Word of advice.. don't hold the cable you just connected to the battery in one hand, and touch the car's frame with the other hand.. I won't be making that mistake again anytime soon o.o

 

Tingly!

 

+1, you typing like that even made ME feel dirty!

I agree with the sentiment though: moar pics!
(oh noes! it's contayjus!!!)

 

Project has been put on hold, my transmission is shot and I need to take it to the dealership, so I won't be working on this until they fix RX8 or give me a new one.

 

ouch. suck. hope they replace it as defect and don't say you were hard on it and launching hard.

 

If they replace it, it'll be my second transmission within 10,000miles. They had to replace the first tranny at 300miles because they sold it to me with a destroyed 3rd and 6th gear syncro (naturally tried to tell me I was at fault).

I'll be removing all wiring and stuff so they don't find some stupid excuse to blame me, I can totally see them say that because I added a wire to the battery I potentially damaged the car..

Dealerships are pricks.

 

I can't see what this has to do with the transmission, but you're probably right in taking your rig out.

 

Ok well I have the car back now, it's all good.

I'll be putting everything back in tomorrow, except for the cameras, I've been trying to find 2 very good day/nigh security cameras with auto-iris to be able to capture usable video while driving.

I did a test with the webcams and it was pretty crap at quality, and the angle was very narrow.

Expect updates soon

Ninja-Edit:

This is one of the cams I'm looking at:
http://www.at-fairfax.com/P1169-SecoLarm-EV133CDWAVQ.htm

 

Yippee you're back.
I like this thread. Put it back and I'm watching.

john

 

Same here. I love this type of thing!

 

Alrighty, major update! So yesterday I drove to my friend's house and we got to work on tearing the car apart and wiring everything up, putting movo in, etc.

I had to buy a VGA and USB extension cord and got them a bit too long.. but w/e, better have extra than too little.

On to the pics!

Backseats:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00886.jpg


Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00890.jpg

Centerconsole covers:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00887.jpg


Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00888.jpg

Battery connection cable:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00889.jpg

Rear speaker covers:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00891.jpg

I wasn't kidding when I said we tore the car apart, backseats:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00892.jpg

You can see the trunk and stuff here:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00893.jpg

Front, that pieces sitting near the shifter is the front cigarette lighter, I tapped into it for the flipped battery connection:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00894.jpg

Chaotic view of the front:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00895.jpg

View of trunk, you can see my laptop:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00896.jpg

All wires got routed like this, will get more pics of wires routed later:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00897.jpg


Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00901.jpg

Me, random:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00898.jpg

First re-route decision:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00899.jpg

Overview of first re-route decision:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00900.jpg

Motherboard:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00902.jpg


That's all I got for you guys right now, but trust me, there's a LOT more coming today/tonight because we're going to buy a 3.5mm audio cable and then putting everything back together and calling it done (until I get the dash cameras).

(these are mostly teaser pics )

 

Actually, I lied, I have more pics for you guys


Sorry for blurryness, motherboard mounted:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00903.jpg

PSU, not mounted yet:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00904.jpg

Front view of connected power:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00905.jpg

Wires routed:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00906.jpg

Final wire route:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00907.jpg

Close-up of cigarette lighter splice:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00908.jpg

View of rear speakers and amp:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00909.jpg

View of wires:
[imghttp://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00910small.jpg[/img]
Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00910.jpg

View of mobo plus wires plus SSD and stuff:

Hi-res: http://tech-burrow.com/bittech/DSC00911.jpg

More updates to come!

 

Ok so, I'll have pics of what it now looks like with all the panels put back together, there's still a lot to do though.

The current setup requires that I plug the screen into the cigarette lighter, so I have to have that panel open. I'll be taking it back apart and splicing the screen power into it directly and running the wire for it like the screen VGA cable, which, when I don't have the screen connected, I easily stuff under the dash.

After that I also need to acquire some sort of clamp to mount the screen, and finally I need to mount the PSU and SSD onto the ceiling of my trunk and/or devise some kinda of box for it all.