Wifi Hotspot Integration, UI Tweaks and Spintires :D

Hello and welcome to post #20 on my project of building a custom in-car pc and now also an infotainment and gaming(!) platform.

Today we decided to install a USB wireless dongle to add extra wireless networking capabilities to the car. One such use for these is creating an "ad-hoc" network where the car PC becomes the equivalent of a wifi hotspot/mobile LAN router. This opens up more possibilities and options for networking the PC and integrating it with mobile devices such as smartphones.

The USB Adapter in question

I fitted a TP-Link TL-WN727N USB 2.0 150MB/S wireless adapter. Its the lowest model TP link makes but I had it as a spare so i figured it couldn't hurt to try it.

After connecting it to the car (it uses standard windows drivers which installed automatically) to the computer we downloaded Wireless Adhoc Manager, which is an application which easily allows the user to create an ad-hoc network. It allows the user to set the SSID (the name of the wifi network) and password quickly and easily with no fuss.

One immediate use to improve the PC's usability is to connect my phone to the new wifi network and open Splashtop Remote HD to remote control the PC in real-time HD. When I buy a wireless or satellite transceiver for mobile internet anywhere this will allow setting up the car as a mobile hotspot.

One added advantage of having an additional wifi adapter (The PC now has 2) is that it allows devices to be connected to the TP-link while retaining its internet connection over my home wifi network.


For the windows 10 UI improvements, we did the following:

• Change windows explorer default start-up page to "this PC" from "Quick access"
• Removed the search button from the task bar to free up more space
• Removed cortana from the start menu and rearranged icons

Finally, we installed Spintireshttp://spintires.com/.

Spintires opening video

Spintires is a challanging co-operative multilayer offroad driving simulator game set in 1980's soviet russia. The player can choose from over 18 different Russian trucks ranging from light 4X4 scout vehicles to lumbering 8X8 trucks. The objective to the game is to drive from a garage to logging stations, pick up lumber and deliver it to an objective whilst driving through extreme terrain such as mud, swamps, lakes, water crossings, beaches, forests and rocky hills. The trucks can be customized with various attachments such as fuel tanks, repair kits (trucks incur damage if you drive them too rough). 

Spintires is only available on PC through steam (I installed it prior to the game)

In-game screenshot a truck slogging its way through mud

A truck edging its way across a rickety bridge. The level of detail in the game is impressive; the bridge flexes and creaks, threatening to collapse as the truck rolls over it.

Unsurprisingly the PC with its 4th generation Intel core i3 processor clocked at 3.8ghz and no graphics card (It has onboard intel HD4000 series graphics built into the CPU) the computer struggled hard to run the game at full settings, stuttering at roughly 10FPS. After some tweaking of the settings (720P resolution, Shaders set to low, Draw distance set to medium, Grass density low, Level of detail medium, Mud detailization on and most of the check boxes turned off

Spintires graphics settings menu. Note this is not my screenshot, I don't know how they managed to run a 6000X1080 resolution.

I can now proudly call my computer system a fully fledged multimedia and gaming platform, along with its other titles. As an added bonus I'll never get bored if I'm stuck waiting in my car again :). Goodbye and thanks for reading.

TLDR: I can no go 4wding from within my 4wd. I call it fourbyception :D 

Rear Programmable Keys, FM Fixed and Keyboard Installed

Hello and welcome to post #18 of my project on building an all in one in-car PC based multifunctional system.

Roughly a month ago the FM tuner app Radio Reciever in my Patrol started displaying an error when started stating it could not connect to the FM tuner dongle. I suspected the tuner to be faulty due to the poor FM signal I experienced in previous posts, so I ordered another almost** identical tuner from Ebay. 

After doing some research and popping the new tuner open when it arrived I made an interesting discovery. The older black dongle had the older R820T tuner chip (This is the part that the antenna is connected to and which selects the desired frequencies then feeds them to the RTL2832U which does the demodulation and interfaces with the PC). 

The R820T (older model) tuner chip that was housed in the black dongle

At first the dongles appeared identical, save for arbitrary differences like a white LED and different brand capacitors. It has the critically important RTL2832U but crucially it has slightly different (by one character) R820T2 chip which the manufacturer claims has a 6db lower noise floor than the the previous model. The bottom line is it can pick up signals better using smaller antennas. I found proof of this when I got an almost perfect signal while driving with the cheap telescopic adapter it was supplied with taped to my car's snorkel, whereas the older black dongle would struggle to get signal through the car's factory FM optimized antenna when it was fully extended.

I have relocated the FM tuner into the electronics bay (above the glovebox) and I will get a friend to redo the coaxial wire (which incidentally originally ended in the same area) and shorten it to suit the adapter to restore function with the factory antenna.

Aforementioned crappy antenna attached to my snorkel

Moving on to the next item - It was decided between my friend and i that we needed a better way to control the PC in case it needed software maintenance and configuration while away from home. The old solution of carrying an ancient Microsoft PS2 keyboard and USB mouse under the drivers seat was not practical. I had the idea of attaching a wireless keyboard to the back electronics bay door (located above the glovebox) so that when it was opened the keyboard swung down on with the door resting comfortably on the user's knees. This idea was further improved by changing the keyboard to a wireless one with a built in trackpad. 

Electronics bay door. I made it by cutting out the plastic plating that was behind it and adding a lock salvaged from a scooter seat and attaching it to the car once more with hinges. There is empty space (The safety pack model of the car housed an airbag here) which in the last post I filled with a switched power distribution system.

A quick online search to find a compact keyboard that would fit on the compartment door and a trip to my local electronics stores later and we had a unit that fit perfectly. It was necessary to grind off the plastic studs protruding from the inside of the door with a Dremel. After that we simply attached the keyboard with some Velcro tape for easy removal.

Keyboard/trackpad mounted in place on the electronics bay door.

However, Due to the large amount of USB devices (GPS, FM, USB3 hub, Touch screen, ECU diagnostic link, Volume knob, Bluetooth 4.0 dongle and the Wireless keyboard/trackpad dongle), only one free port remained. Therefore it was necessary to fit another hub which would be dedicated to running system infrastructure. To achieve this I bought a 7 port powered USB hub.then cut the DC power plug from the mains transformer and ran the wires directly into a multi-purpose DC-DC step down converter converter (The same model converter as the ones I originally used to power the old centre console USB charging set-up, except only one was used to avoid the interference issues). Then I wired the converter in parallel to the screen as I want the hub to only be powered when the computer is running (Ie the screen is on). 

7 Port USB2 hub with the new blue FM dongle connected. I chose the metallic case type hub as this design has proven durable for me in the past

Luckily running another 5m USB extension cable was not necessary as we simply used the one that was already there for the volume knob then connected the knob to the hub. I connected the 2.4ghz dongle for the keyboard/trackpad, and an extra 5M USB2 extension which I will explain later. After that we mounted the DC converter (now acting as the USB hub's power supply) in a small project box and secured it to the hub with double sided tape.

Power supply box. Note the 5VDC cable running to the USB hub which is attached underneath. 

Then the whole unit was attached to the side of the SPDS with velcro tape for a neat finish.

Hub and its power supply in its final position in the electronics bay.

For the final modification of this post, we decided to install the X-keys stick that I had ordered a few weeks previously. X-keys is a class of fully programmable LED backlit keypads designed by PI Engineering. The model I bought is the XK-4, which is a row of four programmable keys. I figured I could find a use for them somewhere in the vehicle. We ended up using it as a mounted remote control for the PC's media functionality. Being limited to four buttons (I have an XK-8 on order to mount up front for full media control), we chose to assign Volume up, Volume down, Play/Pause & Next track to the buttons. 

XKeys Macro Software

Before fitting the keys to the vehicle, we first programmed it by activating the hardware programming switch on the keys themselves, then using a laptop and the MacroWorks software which is downloadable for free on PI's website. This was a learning experience for us both, but we were both very impressed with the versatility of both the macro software and the keys themselves. 

The keys are able to operate in two modes: In Software Mode the MacroWorks software must be running in order to receive the button press signal from the keys, then execute the assigned macro(s) in windows. This is the most versatile mode and it allows full functionality, and I do mean full. There are thousands of different macros and functions that can be assigned to the keys, including keystroke macros and application specific macros, eg iTunes media library controls like play & pause. 

In Hardware Mode the onboard micro-controller does all the work. Keystrokes (but not software macros as the unit can only emulate a keyboard) can be carried out and the LED backlights programmed to do different things in response to a key press & release. This mode is used for legacy support on non-winows devices (eg android phones, linux, and everything that supports a USB keyboard) as no software is require for the keys to funciton.

We decided on a place in the back of the vehicle that is out of the way to mount the switch. The position is intended to prevent accidental pressing of the buttons by cargo or loose objects, and to be in a convenient place for the user to reach.

A wider shot showing the position of the keys

The place we decided on was both easy to reach when the back door is open, and also when sleeping in the back with the bed installed, while not protruding in an easy to knock place. 

To install it we ran a 5M USB2 cable from the new 7 port hub along the door sills then through the cargo area. The bolt to the right of the keys was removed and the USB cable fed down between the two trim panels. The excess cable was neatly bundled up and tucked into the removable cover that was originally intended for accessing the tail light bulbs (this seldom gets used to do the LED conversion I did on the car). Overall a neat installation that adds a bit more customization and flare to the project.

Installed keys. Note they are supplied with a sheet of pre-cut icon & letter cards as well as a blank sheet to print your own.

I have made progress on installing a system to synchronize my music and playlists, more on that in the next post. As always, thanks for reading.

Switched Power Distribution & Protection System

Hello and welcome to post # 17 on building a custom car computer. This post is long overdue so I'll get straight into it:

Due to the large amount of 12V DC accessories and devices of all different shapes and current ratings I have installed in my vehicle, there was a large amount of messy wiring taking up the space where many of the power supply and various signal wires run through the firewall (the only two openings on that side were jammed full of wires!) I decided to design and build a safer, more reliable and easier to fix system.

Messy wiring from the computer & various  power circuits.

My solution is the Switched Power Distribution & Protection System, or SPDS for short. It is divided into two modules stacked on top of each other and Its purpose and function is threefold:

1) Provide a high current link directly back to the auxiliary battery for running devices intended for use from that battery. This was done by using industrial grade 1 gauge wire ran directly back to the 100A breaker in my engine bay, which is in turn connected to the battery via a similar cable. The SPDS end runs into a gold plated terminal block (housed in the  distribution & protection module) where it splits into different sized wires to power various areas of the vehicle.

1 Gauge battery cable running into the distribution block.

There is also an additional two wires run out of the PD&PM from the terminal blocks and into two high current fuses. these power the four channel and sub-woofer amplifiers.

2) Provide a high-current and reliable platform for improving switching options on the PC. Two issues arose with the original design, which turned the PC on when the key was set to the accessory position in the ignition barrel, and turned it off after a one minute delay when the key was removed. 

The first was that it posed a security risk in situations where I wanted to leave the computer on but wanted to lock the car, and was forced to leave the car unlocked as the key had to be in the ignition (EG when I use it for music while working on the car and go inside for a break). 

The second was that in situations when I was driving and didn't want the computer to keep automatically turning on (the hard power button kills the computer when held for 3 seconds but it turns on again as its PSU is configured to keep sending an on pulse (the equivalent of someone pressing the power button again) if the key is in the accessory position. The latter function is achieved by simply adding a switch between the accessory wire and PC.

To do this I used three relay switches. The relay labelled illumination is switched by a wire from the park lights. It acts as an isolator between the main and auxiliary batteries so that various devices can be switched on by turning on the park lights without draining the main battery. This is irrelevant for PC functionality however it was installed to run the auxiliary running lights built into my Hella Luminator LED driving lights as it was more convenient to wire them to a relay, switch and then the auxiliary battery then run a power wire across the dash and to a high current park wire and switch.

Relay module

The relay labelled screen (far right) is turned on by a switch in the centre console labelled "Screen Power". it is powered constantly from the distribution module, which turns on when the key is moved to the accessory position. This acts as an isolator between the main and auxiliary batteries so that the turn on signal to the PC (this is a +12V signal which signals the PC to turn on, similar to the remote turn on wires found on automotive amplifiers) can be activated at any time simply by flicking the rocker switch, regardless of key position. If the key is on than this will have no immediate effect.

The relay labelled power is turned on by a wire that is connected to the cigarette lighter socket. It switches on a high current connection from the distribution module to power various devices around the vehicle that only need to be running when the key is in the accessory position, eg extra cigarette lighter plugs.

finally,

3)Put devices and systems on different circuits and protect them with automatic circuit breakers.

These are switches that protect  the wiring by automatically opening when a certain amount of sustained current passes through them, eg if a short circuit occurs. These are vital for redundancy as they do not require changing of single use fuses and can be reset on a whim. The configuration of the circuits and their rating is as follows (from the top down):

Distribution & Protection module

1)

Rating: 30A

Area Powered: Overhead Console

Connected Devices:

• Car Computer
• Roof Console Lights

Additional Affected Devices & Systems on Failure:

• Amplifiers will not turn on (Remote turn on signal runs from this circuit).
• 7 Port USB Hub
• PC Screen

2)

Rating: 30A

Area Powered: Rear Barn Door

Connected Devices:

• Rear panel fuse block

Additional Affected Devices & Systems on Failure:

Reverse/rear lights

Rear cigarette lighter socket (Beware if fridge is connected)

Rear USB Charging sockets X2

Rear table strip lighting

3)

Rating: 15A

Area Powered: Centre Console

Connected Devices:

• CB Radio
• Centre console USB hub Boost power
• Centre console floor light

4)

Rating: 15A

Area Powered: Unsure

Connected Devices: Unsure

To construct the modules I bought two small project boxes that can be disassembled by hand by pulling off the end plates. I drilled holes in the corners of one side of each box, then fitted metal standoffs and screws to hold them together. As an added bonus the spacing keeps the modules held securely in place in the electronics bay without the need for fasteners.

Fastening the two halves together
I mounted the components in the boxes with stainless steel screws, spring washers & nuts then crimped the wiring together.

Adding components

Connecting components with suitably rated wire

. The system took a whole day's work to build but will be worth it for the safe and reliable operation of equipment and systems on my vehicle. Keep an eye out for my next post and as always, thanks for reading.

Consult Gauges installed and working

Hello and welcome to post #16 of my blog on building an in car computer system. In this post I'll show you how I installed the ECU reader I built in the previous post into my vehicle.

To start off with I removed the plastic driver's side A-pullar cover and ran a 5M USB 2 extension cable from the car computer down to the lower dashboard above the pedals. 

From there I cable tied the OBD2 plug and wires in place, then attached the reader in an out of the way position.

ECU reader tucked away inside the dashboard

From there I plugged the USB extension cable into the RS232 converter, then downloaded and installed the driver for the converter. 

After that I downloaded ECUTalk onto the computer. From there I found the COM port number (there are several virtual com devices for various accessories) but opening device manager and selected the correct one.

ECUTalk selection menu 

ECUTalk will then automatically connect to the ECU and the parameters able to be monitored with a gauge appear one by one in the menu above. Alarms can also be set in another menu for parameters such as coolant temperature and injector duty cycle. 

ECUTalk is almost perfect for my needs, as it is a "one click" solution that automatically displays the gauges after connecting to the ECU.

As mentioned in the previous post, fault codes can also be read and cleared from this program which is really handy.

My gauges on my Patrol

That's all for this post, keep reading for future updates. In the future I plan to create a system to automatically synch music and playlists from the NAS on my home network to the car computer. As always, thanks for reading. 

Windows 10 Upgrade and Consult ECU Reader

Hello and welcome to post # 15 of my blog on building an in car computer system. Since the last post a few changes have been made. The OS was upgraded once again to windows 10 and I have created a fully functioning ECU reader to integrate into the computer system. 

Starting off with the windows upgrade, Getting windows 10 to download onto the computer (an upgrade was used, not the free download when it was released) was relatively straightforward and installing the drivers was no more difficult than when it was upgraded to windows 8.1. 

By changing a few registry keys some optimizations were made to windows 10. The key points for optimizing windows for the patrol are as follows:

• Use a local account, not a windows one as all "live" windows accounts require a password to log in each time the PC boots up, which is not ideal for practical use.
• Change registry key settings so the touch keyboard pops up automatically when a text field is touched in a desktop app (Ie when you tap a text box like you would on an iPhone the keyboard pops up)
• Setting up tablet mode for ease of use on bumpy roads
• Changing screen resolution to 720p
• Changing scaling options to make the windows and text bigger and easier to read

Now for the ECU interface. For anyone reading this who doesn't know, ECU stands for Engine Control Unit. It is a miniature computer that interfaces with the diesel engine's electronic fuel pump while simultaneously monitoring a bank of sensors to adjust fuel injection quantity and timing to maintain optimum engine conditions.

The ECU is able to provide real-time output of data such as coolant temperature, turbocharger boost pressure, oil temperature, throttle position ect via a digital output jack and computer interface known as Consult. In addition to providing real-time engine data the ECU also logs any faults and warns the driver by illuminating the orange "check engine" light. Any faults will be saved in the ECU as a code which is also accessible through the Consult interface.

I have been trying to read my Patrol's ECU ever since I bought it and I was not successful for years until I found some scraps of information on a forum that led to me building and prototyping my own ECU interface.

What makes accessing the ECU on the patrol so difficult is that Nissan in its infinite wisdom decided to use their proprietary interface protocols not with their own 14 pin Consult plug which looks like this:

 

14 Pin Nissan consult plug

But instead with the 16 pin SAE J1962, or more commonly known as OBD2 connector. Using any cheap OBD2 adapter from eBay would result in an error as Nissan consult is not part of the standard protocols that most cheap readers area able to detect.

16 Pin OBDII Connector

In order to build the module I used three components: A Nissan consult reader, an OBD2 cable and an RS232-USB converter. Here are the links to each.

• ECU Reader
• OBD2 Cable
• USB-RS232 Converter

Alternatively this cable might work, and would save a lot of effort in having to adapt the cables.

The ECU reader comes with the 14 pin consult plug, which is useless to me in my vehicle. I used a pinout diagram of the plug similar to this one

Pinout of the consult plug. All of the pins with labels need to be connected to the car

along with a multimeter to trace the wires, I labelled the five important ones with tape and a marker.

Labelling wires from the 14 pin plug

 From there I used this pin out for the 16 pin plug which I can verify to be correct, however it is upside down in relation to the orientation of the plug on my car.

OBDII Pinout on my Patrol

The final step was to cut the male end of the OBD2 plug and srip back the wires, then isolate the wires corresponding to the pins in the diagram above and solder them to the interface board plugs. After that I boxed it up and added the USB converter.

Finished Consult Reader

To interface the reader to the car I used a free program called ECUTalk.

I have completed the reader and am about the fit it to the car. I will need to fit a USB extension cable from the car down to the driers side footwell then install the software on the computer. In the next post I'll document how I fitted it and got the software working. Until then, goodbye and thanks for reading.

Volume Knob Fitting & RCA Rework

Hello and welcome to post #15 of my blog on building an in-car computer system.

This post will cover how I mounted & permanently installed the volume control knob system from the previous post, and briefly some further improvements and functionality upgrades.

It should be noted that the black machined knob pictured below was not sold with the kit and was purchased separately from Amazon - you can find it in the "people who bought this item also bought..." section.

As discussed in the previous post the volume control knob is fully functional with the computer; the drivers set up and the led's configured to how i want them. To mount it onto the vehicle, I made a trip to my local electronics store and bought some stainless 25mm M3 screws, anti-vibration washers, M3 nuts and some threaded nylon spacers.

Nylon spacers, though they were not used for this project

The first step of installation was to find a suitable place for installation. Keeping with a more traditional layout I chose to mount the knob on the bezel that surrounds where the head unit was located. There is plenty of clearance behind the panel and running the USB cable was easy.

Unfortunately, M3 was the smallest size screws/washers the store sold, so I was forced to drill out the holes in the PCB to suit the screws.

Back of the PCB before drilling

PCB after drilling

Fortunately, due to the excessive thickness of the PCB doing this did not damage the board or  any circuitry. The next step was to mark and drill the centre hole to mount the shaft of the rotary encoder, checking for clearance around and behind the bezel.

Then the PCB was test fitted to the panel, and the positions marked and drilled for the four centre screws

Centre hole and four holes for the corner holes. Note the distortion in the hole spacing is a result of the curved shape of the bezel; the board was test fitted so that the encoder was parallel with the computer screen and not the bezel

The volume control knob was then fitted to the panel, adjusting for fit to make sure the knob aligned parallel wit the screen.

Rear view of the PCB with USB cable attached

Top view

View before fitting the bezel

It should be noted that there were some slight clearance issues with getting the mute function to work properly with the knob (the knob must be pushed in for it to work). There was too much clearance between the end of the rotary encoder and the inside of the knob, resulting in the bottom of the knob touching the screws and bezel before it could push the button built into the encoder. The solution to this was extremely simple: I inserted a conveniently sized screw inside the knob which acts as a spacer.

Screw inserted into the knob to fix the mute function

Overall, I am very pleased with the functionality of the system. It works as intended and is very responsive. However the glow of the LED knob is somewhat covered. this is not a big issue as light shines from behind the knob in the dark, making it bright enough to find at night but not too bright so as to cause a distraction when driving. 

System with the knob removed to reveal the glowing rotary encoder

In addition to installing the volume knob, I also ran the 4 meter USB 2.0 extension cable from the computer down the passenger side A-pillar, as well as a 5 meter USB3 extension cable along the same route. This USB3 cable runs inside the centre console to the USB3 hub (see post #12) installed on the back of the console. The hub is now fully functional and makes plugging devices such as mice, keyboards and storage much much easier than reaching inside the roof console to connect them. 

Back of centre console with USB3 cable connected

The last main point of work for this post was the reworking of the RCA connectors on the cable which carries the audio signal from the computer to the main and subwoofer amplifiers. I was not satisfied with the quality of the connectors, and they were causing an intermittent signal fault with the audio. New gold plated connectors were installed with the aid of a soldering iron and parts holding tool. 

Exploded view (left) of the new gold plated connectors with an assembled one on the right.

New RCA connectors installed on the car computer

Finished product with volume knob and screen installed. A very clean and almost OEM looking installation.

All in all I am very satisfied with this latest update on the project. Fortunately I did not have to remove the computer for the car to do any of the work above, which was a huge relief. Next on the agenda:

• Software UI improvements
• Fit Auxiliary audio in/USB extension cable
• Set up automatic music playlist synchronization between computer and home library
• Get turn-by-turn offroad navigation software working

Keep reading for addition updates, and as always thanks for reading :)

Hardware Volume Control Knob Configuration and Windows Upgrade

Hello and welcome to post #14 of my blog on building a comprehensive in-car entertainment and navigation system

In this post I'll cover a few major changes that were made to the computer's software, and an important and vital hardware addition.

To start off with, I'll outline the situation with windows. It was deemed necessary to upgrade from windows 8.1 to windows 8.1 pro, because of the extra features and native remote desktop functionality it provides. Achieving this was a huge effort, however, as using the "upgrade" option on the virtual installation disc downloaded from Microsoft didn't work.

Because of this, I had to do a clean install on the computer which resulted in many many hours of effort in re-downloading the drivers (I didn't keep the old ones as I thought I had no need for them) and re-installing them and the applications originally on the car computer, as well as all of the updates for windows. On top of this, I had to manually upgrade to windows 8.1 pro from windows 8 pro as for some reason it would not install the update automatically. 

Once windows was reconfigured and all the drivers and hardware working properly, it was time to address a major usability issue that was outstanding on the computer since its first use.

This is that trying to adjust the volume while driving is extremely difficult. On windows 8.1, the easiest way to change the volume was to bring up the charms menu by swiping from the right side of the screen then tapping settings, then tapping and dragging the volume icon to the desired level. Not ideal at all. A tactile system was needed - ie a volume control knob akin to what almost all conventional car head units have.

To achieve this, I decided on a fully digital solution, rather than simply wiring an in-line volume control knob in series with the recently reworked RCA connection system (see previous post). The advantage of this is the volume can still be remotely adjusted from phones and there is the added redundancy of still being able to adjust the volume using the method outlined above.


After some searching I found this little gem, a rotary encoder based volume control knob that was designed specifically for in-car PC applications. One order from amazon.com and two weeks later and it was delivered to my door.

The unit itself is relatively simple. It connects to the computer via the supplied USB cable and will work with windows out of the box to control the volume without any need for driver installation. While not cheap, the unit seems to be of good quality and is properly and thoughtfully designed.

Turning the glowing knob adjusts the volume, and pushing it mutes all audio. In addition to this, it is backlit with a RGB LED and is able to be set to any color via software downloadable from the manufacturer's website. The blue power LED (see above photo) is also fully dimmable.

However, windows does not support the drivers for the LED control functionality, and manual driver installation was required. The supplied instructions asked me to manually install the drivers using device manager in Windows, however on windows 8.1 pro this proved difficult. 

Windows 8.1 would not let me install drivers that are not digitally signed (the unit comes from a small developer who for one reason or another has not signed his work), so It was necessary to activate the advanced start-up mode in Windows and disable the driver signature enforcement setting. I used this tutorial to achieve this.

However, this caused further complications, as an unknown error was preventing windows from rebooting into advanced start-up mode

This error would appear during restarting right before the PC power-cycled itself, giving me about 1.5 seconds to read it before the screen went black. The PC would then boot up normally into windows after instead of launching advanced start-up. This is an extremely frustrating and potentially dangerous condition as if there was an fault preventing windows from booting advanced start-up would not automatically launch, leaving me little options for recovering the PC.

After consulting my IT professional friend and some forums, I tracked down the cause of the problem. The CSR wireless Bluetooth stack software supplied with my bluetooth dongle was causing a windows C++ runtime error. To fix the problem, I had to uninstall the wireless stack and drivers, launch advanced start-up, disable driver signature enforcement, install the LED control software driver then reinstall the Bluetooth stack and reconfigure the dongle. A lot of work for such an arbitrary error!

Once the drivers were installed, the volume control knob was fully functional.

LED control software

The simple but effective software allows the user to pick any colour or brightness for the volume knob to glow, and control the brightness of the power LED. This only needs to be done once, as the program saves the settings in the unit's on-board micro-controller. Also Included in the software pack is the ability to flash new firmware to the volume control knob.

The unit still needs installing into the car's dashboard next to the screen, and a USB extension cable ran from the computer to the unit. I will do this when I have more time

I'd like to thank my friend once more, without your help I would still be stuck trying to install the driver software for the LED's!

That's it for this post, keep reading for future updates. As always, thanks for reading.