Hello and welcome back to my blog - it's been 3 years since my last post. I'm happy with my car PC, and people who have seen it have bee thoroughly impressed. Here are some good points about what worked about it, followed by negatives.
-Overall very reliable system. never had a serious failure that required removing the PC for servicing
-The nissan Consult gauge (ECUTalk) software works well most of the time
-The 3.5mm analogue input addition was used frequently and will be included in future versions
-The cooling and dust mitigation systems work really well, during internal inspections found minimal "red dirt" on the electronic components, and temperatures are well within acceptable limits.
-The combined touchpad-keyboard proved to be very useful for passengers operating the computer whilst on and off-road, as opposed to using the touchscreen.
The bad:
-Power hungry. With the car parked up and everything else off and the PC, screen and sound system are running, the power consumption is around 70-90W. Keep in mind I'm running this from a 100Ah deep cycle battery and also require it to run a 12v fridge and all other camping accessories for the night, before the solar system can begin recharging it in the morning.
-The bluetooth dongles I used to get bluetooth audio capability are very unreliable. I suspect it's the donges' low quality and small size combined with being baked in a car in the Australian sun during summer that kills them. The issues in an intermittent one, as devices connecting to the PC would work with both phone and audio mode, then over time the audio would not connect when turning the device's bluetooth on, then the bluetooth adaptor would stop working completely. I have replaced the dongle at least 3 times, and each would work for varying lengths of time before failing.
-Loud, though I don't consider it to be an issue, Passengers comment on the sound of it starting up being akin to a small jet engine. The fans ramp down to slower speeds once the computer has booted into windows.
-Cost, while I had no fixed budget when developing this project, the cost skyrocked into the multiple thousands of Australian Dollars.
-Difficult to service - removing the PC from the vehicle requires disconnecting all of the PC wiring, cables, ect and removing the entire roof console and PC as one.
-Invasive install - the original monitor installation required carefully cutting out large parts of the plastic face plate to make it fit.
Other comments -
Android auto was great when it worked, but getting the windows SDK to reliably connect to an android device running Android Auto in developer mode proved challenging.
I am considering updating the system into something that is cheaper, easier to install and service and also more power efficient and powerful. I am currently looking into pre-built mini PC's, as these look to be promising for size, power efficiency and computing horsepower. More updates to follow.
For future builds, it would be worth looking into sourcing a cheaper alternative for the touchscreen. The screen, while designed for industrial automotive use and works very well, was very expensive to buy new.
