I am doing it 2 ways.

Method A: A/V input.

This way is "full PC." I can play the laptops audio and display the video through the A/V input. 1-RCA (Yellow) comes from the converted VGA, 2-RCA cables come from the headphone jack (Red & White)

Method B: Rear Camera Input.

The headunit displays the rear camera feed when a trigger wire is supplied with 12v. This trigger would normally be the reverse lights, but I have a 12v switchable source. When I flip the switch, the head unit will continue to play from it's own cd player, radio, but will display what is being fed to the rear camera input- which is actually my video feed form the laptop.

Tyeler18 said:

I had the same setup as you Cox, but sold my laptop during a move. Anyone have a laptop with a junk screen they want to sell me?

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I snagged mine on black friday from new-egg for $160.

If I had to build this system all over again, I could likely do it for under $300. $500 if you include an OP2.0 Cable, software license and doing a custom switch panel.

Cox Abele said:

I am doing it 2 ways.

Method A: A/V input.

This way is "full PC." I can play the laptops audio and display the video through the A/V input. 1-RCA (Yellow) comes from the converted VGA, 2-RCA cables come from the headphone jack (Red & White)

Method B: Rear Camera Input.

The headunit displays the rear camera feed when a trigger wire is supplied with 12v. This trigger would normally be the reverse lights, but I have a 12v switchable source. When I flip the switch, the head unit will continue to play from it's own cd player, radio, but will display what is being fed to the rear camera input- which is actually my video feed form the laptop.



I snagged mine on black friday from new-egg for $160.

If I had to build this system all over again, I could likely do it for under $300. $500 if you include an OP2.0 Cable, software license and doing a custom switch panel.

Click to expand...

I have everything to do it minus the laptop I'm looking to spend like $50-100 for a laptop, but I'm being a cheapass about it.

I need to get a SSD drive in mine eventually. Keep that in mind if you go looking. Road shock will kill the hard driver, but a SSD eliminates that AND makes it faster.

Also, look for a unit that can be power up automatically when connected to a AC power source. Mine won't unfortunately, so I had to get creative with power management. If I could turn on when power was connected, I'd have it shut down and reboot automatically whenever I'd start the car, extending the hell out of battery life. My setup will work if I drive my car regularly, but I haven't put more than 300 miles on it in 2 years.

Don't get me wrong, the whole "PC connected to a screen" is cool, I just think it's more than most people need. Once my tune is dialed in, it's dialed in. I'm not upgrading parts on my car often enough to make tuning something I need to do more than once or twice a year.

So, unless you want it for on-the-fly tuning, I think the Evodroid is tough to beat. Mine was under $200 out the door for everything - no wiring, no set up, no keyboard, no mouse, and my stereo unit is still separate (positive for me, so i can see nav/stereo while monitoring everything). And, it's also a touch-screen tablet with built-in GPS, wifi, etc.

The only real problem I've had so far is when I corner really hard, the accelerometer in the tablet thinks I've flipped it into portrait mode, so the screen rotates . I'm sure that can be disabled, but haven't looked into it yet.

Both setups are really nice.

My situation is,

I need a stereo, But a stereo with cd/dvd/gps/bluetood/ etc, etc, etc will cost from $400 to 800, so saying that, If I get a datalog (pc) and integrate it as a stereo, I will get both in one, and I doubt it will end up the $600.

I don't need to be logging all the time, but my car give a shit on me so often, and some times I don't have my laptop with me and I hate it.

If I get this worked out, I can have more options on several things, Like disabling the spark on the motor when leaving the car for 2,3 or 4 hours in the parking lot, this way it will not run if someone want's to still it.

One of the other facility is, when I'm away (out of town) for a long time, I can switch from E85 to gas pump (or viseversa) if there is no E85 around the area, and swap the map. I really hate to carry my laptop all the time that I have to go out.

Here's mine, an 8" tablet


imgur

To the OP (or anyone else using EVOdroid for that matter) I have two questions.

1. Does your tablet auto power on when the ignition is switched on?

2. Is EVOdroid set to automatically load when the tablet is powered on?

My reasoning for wanting this setup again is for evoscan. GVR4 gauge pods are harder to come by without having them molded, and even then most ruin the look of the interior in my opinion. I already have a double din, with the laptop I can upload my dashboard onto the screen and log all my parameters at all times live without having an F17 style cockpit.

mike96 said:

To the OP (or anyone else using EVOdroid for that matter) I have two questions.

1. Does your tablet auto power on when the ignition is switched on?

2. Is EVOdroid set to automatically load when the tablet is powered on?

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When the evodroid is turned on, it automatically launches evoscan, connects itself to the OBD-II port and starts logging/displaying data. The tablet does need to be powered on and off manually, but that doesn't bother me too much. What does bother me, however, is that you can't keep the USB from the tablet plugged into the OBD-II port forever. I mean, you probably could, but the OBD-II port seems to charge the tablet, even when the car is off - which I'm not a fan of. For now, I just disconnect it, but I'm looking for a USB on/off switch that also passes data through. Haven't found a good one yet.

miguelmcv said:

Both setups are really nice.

My situation is,

I need a stereo, But a stereo with cd/dvd/gps/bluetood/ etc, etc, etc will cost from $400 to 800, so saying that, If I get a datalog (pc) and integrate it as a stereo, I will get both in one, and I doubt it will end up the $600.

I don't need to be logging all the time, but my car give a shit on me so often, and some times I don't have my laptop with me and I hate it.

If I get this worked out, I can have more options on several things, Like disabling the spark on the motor when leaving the car for 2,3 or 4 hours in the parking lot, this way it will not run if someone want's to still it.

One of the other facility is, when I'm away (out of town) for a long time, I can switch from E85 to gas pump (or viseversa) if there is no E85 around the area, and swap the map. I really hate to carry my laptop all the time that I have to go out.

Click to expand...

I was actually thinking of using the evodroid as a stereo. You can load music onto it, it can play videos, and it has GPS built in. It also has a headphone jack so you can run an audio line out to the aux in on any basic head unit, then just use the head unit for amplification. I'm pretty sure it also has bluetooth built in as well, but I'd have to double check.

I also go back and forth between pump and E85, but since I'm running an Evo8 ECU with tephra mods, I actually just have a physical switch in my glove box that lets me toggle maps without any computer. In terms of limiting and/or preventing unintended usage of the car, I use "valet mode" in tephra mods to limit the max RPMs when I know I either won't be around the car for a while, or if the car will be in someone else's care. Hell, you could even probably set the max RPM to something crazy low, like 300, so the car could never start when in valet mode. I simply hold down the accelerator for a few seconds while the car is not running to enable/disable valet mode, and I'm good to go.

But yeah, if your car is giving you problems often, definitely best to have something you can flash with handy.

For a tab, use a properly powered (2.1a) cig lighter convertor/or an inverter, and use Automateit or Tasker to sleep it and kill all extraneous apps/protocols.

I was looking to do something like this with a bluetooth adaptor and a cheap ebay tablet.

ive been wondering how you turn it on/off like the guy was asking above if its mounted so far into the dash i dont see how you could hit the power button

Haytees said:

ive been wondering how you turn it on/off like the guy was asking above if its mounted so far into the dash i dont see how you could hit the power button

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If only the answer was in the post right above yours.

LandoAWD said:

For a tab, use a properly powered (2.1a) cig lighter convertor/or an inverter, and use Automateit or Tasker to sleep it and kill all extraneous apps/protocols.

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