[GRLUG] Carputer

[Collin Kidder]

On 7/7/2009 9:17 PM, Michael Mol wrote:
> Does anyone on the list have experience building a carputer?  I've got
> a number of things I'd like to build one to do.
>
> I've been asking around on IRC and such, and the biggest concern
> that's been brought to my attention was tolerance for the temperature
> inside cars; A car in the sun on a sunny day is an oven.  A car
> outside in the dead of winter is an icebox.  Both are outside the
> listed operating conditions for the vast majority of consumer-grade
> computer components.
>
>    
I've never built a carputer. But, I know that people use Arduinos for 
carputer applications. They use off the shelf components. I've also done 
some dash board repair. Most dashes seem to be run of the mill circuit 
boards with more or less normal components. That having been said, a lot 
of components come in a variety of packages. Some are rated for larger 
temperature variations than others. You can buy the hardier chips for 
use in a  car. I'd imagine that car boards, while they look like normal 
components, use the hardiest variety of each component that they can. 
Lots of chips are also custom made for automotive use and they, not so 
surprisingly, tend to be built for the abuse a car sees. You really want 
to seek out chips designed for automotive use if you can at all help it. 
The likely result of not doing so is component failure in a few years. 
Likely even junk Taiwan components will last a couple of years in a car.

The only other really big issue I can see is that car power is terribly 
dirty so you need much more power conditioning than you might use with a 
smaller battery powered system or something run off of a wall wart. This 
isn't a huge deal especially if you are already using a switched mode 
converter. Just put decent caps around your buck converter and you'll be 
all set.