06 Civic Build - New Build List on page 60

[Ammonium]

This build looks AMAZING! This is awesome!

[scooter99]

The problem with these sorts of carputer setups is that you can't really DIY the software or firmware programming. You're at the mercy of either spending more money on different brands of hardware or spending more time talking to overworked tech support. As long as you buy your stuff from stores with a generous return policy though you should be fine (boy oh boy did I abuse many a return policy in my days...)

Ya, it's frustrating. I'm not even getting a signal out though, that I can tell. I don't know how I would know though, other than nothing going through. But even plugging in the optical cable I'm not even getting a light out of the other end which tells me that I'm not getting a signal to put out. So I must be doing something wrong I don't know. I'm on with the tablet people on different forums exploring different options. The problem is I'm at work and would rather be at home troubleshooting so I can move on!

@ Ammonium - thank for the kind words. Enjoy, I've got much more coming!!!

[scooter99]

So here's what I did last night for a bench test.

Let's start here, first. I decided not to build an actual box but just to use what I had laying around for speakers. This isn't a sound quality bench test really, I just want to make sure it's all going to work before I start dealing with the actual install in the vehicle. I have here a set of cheap Orion coax speakers in an Amazon box! LOL

Next I got my Audison LRx 2.4 out to run the speakers.

Next, Audison bit one.1 processor

HDMI converter

with vga to composite adapter

Now we'll get down to some business. This is the power adapter for the HDMI converter. I had to do a couple of things here. First confirm the voltage coming out of it, and then figure out what's positive and what's negative.

5.17v

Next I got the DC-DC converter out.

[scooter99]

Now is where I started getting nervous. I grabbed the samsung 30 pin to usb cable, and I decided to sacrifice it to test this stuff out. Cutting things that are specific always make me nervous.

Next, Pioneer monitor for the video.

So I got things wired up. I love barrier strips. I use them in all of my installs and I used them here as well. Helps, especially when you have the bridges. When I do my final install in the car, if this all works, I'll be soldering wires that color match etc. I love these bridges and they're ok looking and quick, but they just don't look nearly as good as when you take the extra time to color match with wires and fork connectors, soldered and heat shrunk. No comparison!

Let me take a second to describe what you're looking at.

Right barrier strip - This carries the 12v constant power to the components.

Center barrier strip - This carries the ground wires to the components.

Left barrier strip - This carries the switched power (ign) to the components. To get this I used a rocker switch from the 12v power to act as my ignition.

I know it's not the cleanest looking set up at the moment but for what I had to work with, and the time I have to work with, it'll do. If you take a second and look at it you can see it's not nearly as messy as first appearance. I used wires from a previous set up, so I can color match things, for example yellow for 12v, red for ignition, and black for ground. The white wires you see go to the battery. One to negative and one to positive. I did them one at a time so I didn't mix them up.

Here you can see the components set up.

I have it going like this. The output from the analog signal on the converter, which in this picture is not hooked up yet, will go to the processor pre-in ch1 and ch2. This is what the settings were at from my previous set up. I just used that. There should be no change there. Then the VGA-composite adapter plugs into the video in for the monitor. Next I have output channels 1 and 2 from the bit one out to the input channels of the amp. Then amp to speakers obviously.

Then I powered it up.

Showing power before switching it on, 12.41v resting.

Ignition on!

[scooter99]

And we're all fired up! Amp, processor, DC-DC, monitor

This is the barrel connector for the converter, checking voltage before I plug it in. It's a little bit higher than with the wall unit (5.17v), so there's a difference of .16v. Not sure if that's an issue or not. Doesn't seem like much.

So I plugged that in, and that's powered up.

Bit One DRC ready to go.

Now we have all that powered and ready to go, let's get the source set up.

Got the Bit One software up and running on my laptop. WOULD LOVE to get this on the tablet. But there may be issues there, I'm not sure.

[scooter99]

This was pre plug in.

Then I plugged it in. This is where I got the red x over the battery and lighting bolt.

After this, the wheels fell off. I did get the wall charger for the tablet, if I remember correctly, and I still got nothing. I got no video, I got no audio, I got nothing. When I unplugged the HDMI cable, all sound came back to the tablet, like I unplugged my headphones or something. SO I plugged it back in and then it went silent, same scenario like I plugged in my headphones, but got nothing out of the converter. Nothing out of the bit one, amp, speakers, or monitor. I did keep getting a little headphone icon on the bottom menu which turns out to be some sort of media hub, or music player of some sort. SO maybe that's it's way of saying that I have to play stuff out of that particular application.

It just doesn't make much sense to me that in a mirroring situation, that you can't play certain things such as pandora or netflix. I never did try any other media cause I simply don't have any downloaded nor do I know how to download any of it just yet. I have a ton of music on my laptop, but it's through Itunes, and it's all been downloaded from another site. So I have no idea how to get that music onto my tablet.

So all that being done, and nothing seeming to work, I was burnt last night. I decided to walk away from it and come back to it and do some research today. I'm asking anyone who knows anything about this please to respond and give me anything you can think of that I'm missing or not doing correctly or anything.

TO me, if you have a signal to put out, in this case an HDMI signal, then it shouldn't matter where it goes, but maybe it's not that simple. Nothing ever is. I would hate to do this, but my next option is to go from the 3.5 mm jack in the back of the dock out to RCA's for my audio signal, and then try some way to get the video signal from the HDMI. I just don't think I'm gonna get that great of sound quality out of the 3.4mm jack. I do wonder, however, if it would improve with a line driver between that and the processor.

I just can't help but think I'm missing something. On top of all this, the damned original HDMI adapter that I ordered 2 weeks ago is STILL not here yet. I sent them an email last night saying basically "What the F!" I've not heard anything back yet today.

So for now I'm stumped, frustrated, and fearing that I've wasted a ton of money on an idea that just simply isn't going to work, when in theory it should. That's my biggest fear cause now I have no money to go out and get a decent head unit for what I want to supply in my audio system. But I'm not going to give up just yet.

[HatersGonnaHate]

Have you tried the android tab forums? Like XDA or android central or anything?

[scooter99]

I have. I MUST have done something wrong! I'm watching videos on You Tube right now using both of the HDMI options, Galaxy 7 Docking Station, and the Galaxy 10.1 HDMI adapter. Here's a specific one I just got done watching and it's doing everything that I want to do. With a converter I should be able to get the audio out of it as well. So I'm very irritated and probably need to go back and retrace everything and see what I come up with.

[HatersGonnaHate]

What did you cut into the 30 pin to usb connector for? I know the levels of resistance in the Samsung data cables play a pretty big part in the functionality/being recognized as a proper device, so if the resistance is too high or too low, it won't be recognized/work properly.

Edit: then again it could be as simple as double checking everything.

[scooter99]

I was trying to avoid using a car charger and trying to hard wire it into the DC-DC controller, or whatever it's called. When I found out it didn't work, I switched back to the wall charger and a different cable I bought (the longer one) and it was working fine. Matter of fact it's at home charging now. I'll have to get a car charger now and hardwire that. I don't want a charger sticking out of my dash. I'll hard wire it in behind the dash when I install it. Lesson learned.