Car Computer questions

MRK · 01-01-2003

I had a thought today. Yes, an actual thought. Can you believe it!! lol. Anyway, i was sitting in my room and looked over and saw that i had an old p. 166 lying on the floor. It has a case, powersupply, mobo, cpu, ram, hd, and everything needed for a working computer. I then thought that it would be cool to mount that in my car permenently. This lead to a few troubling questions. Here are the questions.

I live in Oklahoma which has basically all four seasons to each extreem. (it just snowed a foot the other day. lol) And in the winter it gets quite cold. Usually below freezing. Would it be bad for the computer to be exposed to this temperature for long periods of time. (like forever) I know that one of my friends left his laptop in his car one night and arose to find that it had frozen and no longer worked. (being the rich whore he is, he just went out and bought a new one and gave the old one to me. lol. ended up selling it in a garage sale.) anyway, i'm getting side tracked. (as you can tell)

The other question i had is, since it has a regular hd (being a normal hd that has movable parts), would it be bad to have it running while the car is in motion. Would the car ride make it screwup or something? Like damage it mabey. I'm not an expert, but it seems logical that if it has moveing parts and my truck is moving that the two bounce around and make the hd. Miss or skip or something. I dont know. lol. Anyway, that was my concern.

I had some other questions, but it is late, and i really cant think clearly. So i'm going to bed now. Anyway, if you have any thoughts on this, please let me know. Thanks!!

-Mr.K

hydro27405 · 01-02-2003

I have had a panasonic toughbook in my truck for about 2 years now no problems as of yet, when I'm working at night its normally running, it is newer than the one your thinking about but its all the info I have.
By the way I'm in MN so it's seen all the seasons, and it's a company comp. so if it does die it doe'snt cost me anything, if I payed for it I would not leave it in the truck 24/7.

P.S. I was stationed at Altus OK for a few years and kind of miss OK

Madhadder · 01-02-2003

Since your area has some strange weather, you also might
want to think about moisture. Thus think what would happen
if condensation started to form inside you harddrive..

For my Car PC setups I use industral PC's (SBC to be exact)
the entire pc is the size of a CDROM drive, which makes it very
easy to remove for upgrades/weather-temp problems.

You can find these for around 200USD just add HD/RAM and
a CPU if you decided to get one without...

As for using it while the car is in motione, that depends on how
good a driver you are and how much you like to hit potholes.

With A good setup you won't have to worry about this..

Mr.White · 01-02-2003

Holy crap Hydro, I lived in Altus OK for a long time and live in Minnesota now as well. Eeeeeerie.......

hydro27405 · 01-02-2003

Well Mr. White it also looks like we have similar jobs, I'm in the Stillwater area, the company calls us field engineers but we are basiclly wireless techs in the field, I cover 500 cell sites at night about 60 of them belonging to me so to speek.

MRK · 01-02-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by Madhadder
For my Car PC setups I use industral PC's (SBC to be exact)
the entire pc is the size of a CDROM drive, which makes it very
easy to remove for upgrades/weather-temp problems.

Can you give me a link. All i can find is a place called nagasakii pc. And they just sell the parts. Thanks!!

-Mr.K

DigitalMDX · 01-02-2003

I've had a PC (laptop) in my last two vehicles. I'm in the northwest so the winters aren't too cold and the summers only get to the upper 90's if we're lucky. I developed a menu system for my Durango PC when I'm planning on porting over to my Acura. If anyone is interested in the menu system for their car PC, let me know and that will get me motivated to work on it again. Here are a couple of links to my old and new setup. The old Durango link shows the menu system.
-Jay
The Digital D Computer System (Archived Web Site)
and...
The DigitalMDX Wardriving Web Site (Current Acura setup)

eamonn · 01-03-2003

I think the issues with cold weather will be the toughest on any LCD displays. I don't know what the freezing point is of the liquid but that and the elelectrolite in capacitors would be what you would have to watch out for.

Most caps have ratings printed on them, I seem to think that they don't like much below 0° C for any prolonged period of time as the electrolite freezes and the cap is then a short.

e

Madhadder · 01-03-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by MRK
Can you give me a link. All i can find is a place called nagasakii pc. And they just sell the parts. Thanks!!

-Mr.K

Try These:

http://www.linden-computech.com/index1.htm
Look at the "Litte Boards"

http://www.acrosser.com/
Embedded PC
AR-B1663
AR-B1690
AR-B9629
AR-M9921

You can fing more with google.
look for "SBC Computer"
"Embeded PC"
"Single Board PC"

blueghost75 · 01-08-2003

I have left my laptop in the car overnight before, only once, and it did freeze. (It snowed in fact (in amarillo, texas

) but it booted right up and ran fine in the morning when i got in the car to drive.

just an FYI..... hard drives are sealed, and the disk itself would not condense, but the electronics on the outside, and whatever else would, alond with the rest of the computer. If you are careful, you can prevent that from happening though. you would want to turn the computer on immidiatly when you get in the car so it warms up and does not have a chance to condense from the warm air of your body/breath/car. stuff like that, you get the idea. Alright, i'm done blabbering.

01-01-2003	#1 (permalink)
MRK Grid Stumbler Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 241	Car Computer questions I had a thought today. Yes, an actual thought. Can you believe it!! lol. Anyway, i was sitting in my room and looked over and saw that i had an old p. 166 lying on the floor. It has a case, powersupply, mobo, cpu, ram, hd, and everything needed for a working computer. I then thought that it would be cool to mount that in my car permenently. This lead to a few troubling questions. Here are the questions. I live in Oklahoma which has basically all four seasons to each extreem. (it just snowed a foot the other day. lol) And in the winter it gets quite cold. Usually below freezing. Would it be bad for the computer to be exposed to this temperature for long periods of time. (like forever) I know that one of my friends left his laptop in his car one night and arose to find that it had frozen and no longer worked. (being the rich whore he is, he just went out and bought a new one and gave the old one to me. lol. ended up selling it in a garage sale.) anyway, i'm getting side tracked. (as you can tell) The other question i had is, since it has a regular hd (being a normal hd that has movable parts), would it be bad to have it running while the car is in motion. Would the car ride make it screwup or something? Like damage it mabey. I'm not an expert, but it seems logical that if it has moveing parts and my truck is moving that the two bounce around and make the hd. Miss or skip or something. I dont know. lol. Anyway, that was my concern. I had some other questions, but it is late, and i really cant think clearly. So i'm going to bed now. Anyway, if you have any thoughts on this, please let me know. Thanks!! -Mr.K

01-02-2003	#4 (permalink)
Mr.White OH such tacos will I give Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Minnesota Posts: 1,049	Holy crap Hydro, I lived in Altus OK for a long time and live in Minnesota now as well. Eeeeeerie....... __________________ A good way to threaten somebody is to light a stick of dynamite. Then you call the guy and hold the burning fuse up to the phone. "Hear that?" you say. "That's dynamite, baby." -Jack Handey

01-02-2003	#7 (permalink)
DigitalMDX Digital Stumbler Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Pacific Northwest Posts: 236	I've had a PC (laptop) in my last two vehicles. I'm in the northwest so the winters aren't too cold and the summers only get to the upper 90's if we're lucky. I developed a menu system for my Durango PC when I'm planning on porting over to my Acura. If anyone is interested in the menu system for their car PC, let me know and that will get me motivated to work on it again. Here are a couple of links to my old and new setup. The old Durango link shows the menu system. -Jay The Digital D Computer System (Archived Web Site) and... The DigitalMDX Wardriving Web Site (Current Acura setup) Last edited by DigitalMDX : 03-27-2006 at 12:02 PM.

01-03-2003	#8 (permalink)
eamonn UberCrumbler Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: nh Posts: 173	I think the issues with cold weather will be the toughest on any LCD displays. I don't know what the freezing point is of the liquid but that and the elelectrolite in capacitors would be what you would have to watch out for. Most caps have ratings printed on them, I seem to think that they don't like much below 0° C for any prolonged period of time as the electrolite freezes and the cap is then a short. e __________________ welcome to mudville

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01-02-2003	#2 (permalink)
hydro27405 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: MN Posts: 104	I have had a panasonic toughbook in my truck for about 2 years now no problems as of yet, when I'm working at night its normally running, it is newer than the one your thinking about but its all the info I have. By the way I'm in MN so it's seen all the seasons, and it's a company comp. so if it does die it doe'snt cost me anything, if I payed for it I would not leave it in the truck 24/7. P.S. I was stationed at Altus OK for a few years and kind of miss OK

01-02-2003	#3 (permalink)
Madhadder General "Noob Basher" Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Munich, Germany Posts: 1,620	Since your area has some strange weather, you also might want to think about moisture. Thus think what would happen if condensation started to form inside you harddrive.. For my Car PC setups I use industral PC's (SBC to be exact) the entire pc is the size of a CDROM drive, which makes it very easy to remove for upgrades/weather-temp problems. You can find these for around 200USD just add HD/RAM and a CPU if you decided to get one without... As for using it while the car is in motione, that depends on how good a driver you are and how much you like to hit potholes. With A good setup you won't have to worry about this..

01-02-2003	#5 (permalink)
hydro27405 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: MN Posts: 104	Well Mr. White it also looks like we have similar jobs, I'm in the Stillwater area, the company calls us field engineers but we are basiclly wireless techs in the field, I cover 500 cell sites at night about 60 of them belonging to me so to speek.

01-08-2003	#10 (permalink)
blueghost75 Registered Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Austin, Texas Posts: 7	I have left my laptop in the car overnight before, only once, and it did freeze. (It snowed in fact (in amarillo, texas ) but it booted right up and ran fine in the morning when i got in the car to drive. just an FYI..... hard drives are sealed, and the disk itself would not condense, but the electronics on the outside, and whatever else would, alond with the rest of the computer. If you are careful, you can prevent that from happening though. you would want to turn the computer on immidiatly when you get in the car so it warms up and does not have a chance to condense from the warm air of your body/breath/car. stuff like that, you get the idea. Alright, i'm done blabbering.