I'm installing a touchscreen monitor into my car at the moment but am having problems,

The monitor has a 12v feed (2 wires - red and black) and a seperate earthing wire.

I've connected the red to switched ignition live, black to negitive and earth wire to earth, however the monitor doesn't switch on now and the wires get red hot in about 2 seconds

what am I doing wrong, this is really frustrating me now!

Make and model?

Do you have a multimeter? If so, check the wires to make sure it's rigged properly.

It sounds like the 12V+ is directly connected to the negative and shorting out the connection.I would suggest that the black wire shoud go to the negative connector, not a 12V+ line. But it does depend on the manufacturer.

If it still does that when you know your wiring is absolutely correct, it could be that the unit itself is But I hope not.

On another note.....if you get it fitted and working take some piccies and post em Been thinking about getting a touchy for the coupe, but because of the way the stereo fits in the console I have never found one that would actually it in properly

would like to see the install

are you sure its not supposed to go though a inverter?

After leaving it and sleeping on the problem, in the morning I went to the car with cup of tea in one hand and screwdriver in other.

Fresh set of eyes for the morning spotted the human error I
made.

All sorted and installed :-)

I am sitting in a field at the moment but will post pics when I get home.

I am happy with the results although there are some finishing touches required.

You will see later that I have moved the 6 buttons down to the ashtray location.

Pics coming soon

here is a couple of pics whilst I sort out the history of this project (which I will post in its own thread when completed)

let me know what you think, although i'm guessing not everyones cup of tea.

And yes it does need tidying up, Pinnin badge put back on and a general polish!

no one got any comments?

I can see a lot of time and efforts gone in to it. But at the moment as you say it needs a lot of work to make it something I would want to put in to my car.

The only thing letting it down is the lines, they all look a little wonky. The buttons on the side are not equally sized, and if I was to be very critical. It looks a bit flintstones...

That said, There is no way in hell I could do anything better than that, So I take my hat off to you and commend your effort. I wouldn't have got past the cutting stage

The idea is good, and the effort commendable, but one question...

what made you put the monitor there?

if you were willing to lose the ashtray why not put the monitor at the bottom of the console, would look much more subtle, less acctractive to thieves.

i suppose you could argue that its more arkward as the gearstick is in the way, but i think it would be more convenient to touch when your hand is already in that area on the gear stick!?

Is the pc for music/movies? or could you hook it up to a widget for a live feed of info? (like the startrek software!?)

digital dials would be

Ninja

thanks for the comments, ive been out in the car today and just looked at the pictures again and my opinion is that the pictures don't do it any justice. I personally think that it is far from the finishing touches but i do take on board some of the comments.
This is my first proper attempt at any fibre-glassing and painting (not to mention that i'm colourblind lol)

The main reason behind the screen is that I travel from Norwich to Cambridge every weekend to see my 5 year old. I thought with this solution, that he can watch a film or something on the journey to and from.

There are other reasons i choose this instead of an handheld DVD player.
I like my music, and travel to south of london and back most weeks and am forever making cd's to take in my car. now all my music is in one place.

Its my sat nav now aswell so as we have two cars, don't have to keep moving my sat nav about.

obviously it connects to my iphone as well.

and i just thought why not.

The screen wouldn't fit where the ashtray was becuase its 8" and the ashtray is only 3" or so high. plus the gear stick would be in the way.

in the place it is now, its most easiest to watch and control without taking eyes off the road. The software i'm running (streetdeck) has finger swipe motions for controls, i.e swipe anyway on he screen to the right for next track, left for previous, up for play, down for stop. Really imressive bit of software.

see www.streetdeck.com

Lastly i do have a widget mk 5 in the right air vent, and the plan is to hook this up to the PC to run live info. Although i don't know what other possibilites there are?

Oh and MacDonalds / other places are offering free wifi so can get online whenever i'm out and about.

The screen is completely fixed back to the dash so if a thief is in the car, he will proberly get caught trying to get it all out, if a thief wants something though i guess they will do anything to get it.

I do realise that this isn't everyones ideal solution, but its different, it serves all my uses and i like it.

Ninja

I'm not going to argue that it doesn't look nice, because it does look nice.

However, where is the stereo?

And as before, not the most practical space to put one, not easy to use whilst driving ie changig song and not easy for my boy to watch from the back seat as a shiney gear stick is in the way.

All said, it is a very tidy job indeed. If the framework for the centre console wasn't how it is, i would of prefered to have my touchscreen set back into the dash.

I Think for your first effort with fibreglass you've done really well,Great effort.

If you get the airmouse app for your iphone you will then have a back seat mouse and keyboard for people to roam the internet from the back seats (or the front)

that is a FANTASTIC idea!!!

downloading now

only works through a router apparently. obviously no router in car.

its ok, works from Tethered Iphone

Waht are the laws on playing moving pictures in the front of the car while the car is in motion?

My old Kenwood was equipped with a handbrake switch, so the image would only show when the handbrake was engaged for legal reasons. They are easily by-passed but obiously there for a reason.

Headrest mounted monitors are legal, not sure about console or sunvisor mounted ones though??

Ninja

Nice install, being considering something similar myself, any info on the system you are running?

On MP3car.com there is some car diagnostic plug-ins.

Have you got your iPhone setup in the network option to use internet tethering, might be handy if no wifi is about.

I certainly do, internet tethering rocks.

trying to learn how to fully intergrate my iphone now with it.

what you got in mind for an install?

The fiat gives no room for storage and ease of access, is your CarPC small? Mine fits under the passenger seat but is still a bit big. I'm looking at getting a new (really small) PC from CARPC.

Been thinking of using a pico itx board in a case mounted in the boot near the ski hatch, can then run the power supply with the amp to turn on with the audio. May need to put a second battery in on a split charge relay.

How hard was it mounting the screen, any obstructions behind the dash?

more to the point what steering wheel is that?very different

There was an LE a while ago (like several years) that had the airbag taken out and a pop-out screen in its place with a PS2 attached I think. Was very smart.

I got a DIN top box off a Impreza classic and trial mounted it on top of my dash, that looked pretty good as it looked like the centre console carried on up through the dash. I was going to fit a 7" single din DVD player with fold out screen but never could be bothered so sold it in the end

Wasn't that John Snook with his red LE? I met up with him a few times and had some pics (pre-digitial age ) it was in a magazine article IIRC?

Ah yes, Dec 2000 Redline, 4 page article

ive put a 3.5" flip screen monitor in my coupe trouble is for the screen to flip up i cant have the head unit flush with the console,dont want to sell the unit so in time i need to think of a better solution

there are spacers that you can buy to make the whole headunit sit proud of its original position. Therefore making it sit "flush" or "in line" with the console. just try not to knock your hands on it when you change gear.

Karl.

Doesn't sound very good, maybe some pics would help better describe, if possible.




That sounds really smart, probably the best solution i've heard.

Top effort. God only knows how you had the patience for something like that, not something id do but fair play!

finally you got it done ;), like I said before: it's a pitty you covered the "pininfarina" badge

Was just reading this thread due to the newest post, and thought you might be interested in seeing this:

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q255/MADCooP_2006/ICE/13.jpg

I saw this a few years back and thought it was a good idea. Again you lose the pininfarina logo, but I think it's well worth it.

Just an observation, but it seems that most modded german cars are fitted with a prancing horse somewhere or another ( check the steering wheel) Why, oh why!!! Perhaps debadge, but don't pretend!

That aside, I think the in-car computer option is a very worthwhile mod, leaving the possibility of rear headrest screens wide open. All good. Would be interested to know how this figures with a Barnacle widget too.

Iain.