Just reporting in.

Had a week of work headaches and car computer headaches. The damn M2-ATX that I bought has given me nothing but grief and dead peripherals, it's taken out a mobo and a fully configured and loaded 250gb hard drive before falling over and dying itself.

Spent the last week rebuilding the system from the ground up and now have to return the M2-ATX to exchange it for an Opus (which I should have gotten in the first place)

Bummed, but still moving along.

Notion

 

awesome setup
somehow my setup cost me about $1800 plus another $600 for labor so someone else can install it
the problem im having is using the nav lid cluster for my 06 Z
the door operates on the push of a button (nav on= door opens)
to power it up with a 12V will fry the circuit board and i dont know any other way

any help would be appreciated....anybody think a 2004-05 lid cluster would fit snug?

 

i saw a thread on mp3car.com with an 06 Z guy putting in the 03/04 cluster. Fit with some dremel modding, but not snug.

Check the threads on this board; someone just gave info on how to configure the motorized 06 cluster

 

From what I have seen on this board, the 06 flip up cubby fits the 06 best, just a little cutting on the inner frame and it looks factory.

This thread talks about both pre 06 and 06 cubby installs.

Chris

 

i dont go onto the threads much and kinda hard to navigate around it... any specific site i can goto to make the motorized door work? or will the stock lid cluster (non-motorized) work fine?

 

I forgot to post the link https://my350z.com/forum/audio-and-video/177003-integrating-lcd-screen-into-cubby-hole.html

It shows the non motorized lid working just fine.

Chris

 

link to 03-04 cubby in 06:

http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/show...highlight=350z

might wanna double check with myzhi to see how his worked out, i think he's on this board as well.

he claims in that thread it's not a perfect fit and needed minor modification. paul's sig indicates a 05 z (same dash as 03 but diff color)

 

appreciate it... this door issue has been taking me months... all i want is this damn thing to close lol... didnt think it would take me forever to get up and working to get a door to close lol

 

Slammed a 400w inverter for $39 in today and got rid of all of my problems. The system is in and working well - of course I have engine crank issues with an inverter but at this stage my money has dried up and $200 for a 250watt Opus is too much at the moment.

The system boots up in about 30 secs so I'm probably going to just go for a shutdown controller on the inverter and call it a day.

I'll shoot another video in the week when I get time to show everything in and running.

Notion

 

I decided to change the software frontend away from windows media center. I picked up a copy of Roadrunner and found a great skin called BMW e36 which I modded to have my Notion Griffin logo.

Roadrunner really is a great piece of open source software, I'm really liking it and the skin fits pretty well with the rest of the dash, I've attached a screengrab...

 

RR rocks!

Right now I am in the middle of touchscreen driver hell. Without thinking, I accidental let MS update do my touchscreen driver and the thing has been freaking out ever since. After about a million reboots and un-installing/reinstalling the proper drivers and attempting to do a system roll back and no luck. I am in the middle of cloning it back to 4 months ago. Hopefully that fixes it.

Chris

 

Good old MS - screwing up perfectly good hardware for nearly 20 years lol.

I keep meaning to post video of the install but I have a few bits and pieces I want to finish off before showing it to the world including a little bling bling in the computer install area. I also need to build a USB hub into the dash for those handy dandy memory sticks, mouse etc.

Notion

 

Is it doing the thing where it is just moving all over the screen sporadically? In that case go into your device manager and disable "microsoft ballpoint device" or what ever it says close to that.

 

nice vid

 

Mega daddy update today.

Went back and updated first post with lots of pictures of the install. Also working on editing the video of the whole rig in place and working. I filmed it today but my computer is taking a dump on me at the moment so not sure how long it will take to edit and post.

Notion

 

I know it's a bit pricey, but the DSATX power supply is a great piece of hardware. Work's perfectly for me. I read about some problems with the M2, which led me to spend the extra for the DSATX

 

Yeah I'm looking at the Opus 250w unit. I knew the guy (Chris) who owns opus and makes the supplies - he had amazingly high standards as far as design and quality of parts used - his stuff really is A1 standard.

 

Finally the new Google Video Blog is finished and ready to view...

Click here for the new video of the unit fully finished and installed.

 

Great install...thanks for the second vid. I like the cheezy red led fans

 

A small update on this setup.

I installed the GPS receiver over the weekend and matched it up with iGuidance 3.0. The Roadrunner software played wonderfully well with iGuidance and it is all working great.

I also shelled out some bucks for the Opus 250watt intelligent DC-DC power supply which isn't cheap at $190 but worth every dollar. You can do a full engine crank with the computer running and it doesn't reboot, it starts the computer and touchscreen when you turn on the ignition too.

The best part about the Opus though is the shutdown controller. You can set it to keep the computer running for up to 2 hours after you remove the keys from the ignition. If you dont return to the car and start the ignition again within that set time, it safely powers down the computer. I have mine set to 15mins - just long enough to hop into a store or stop for gas without having to go through a full reboot when I start the car again.

The Opus also has a configurable battery health voltage monitor which tells it to shut down the system safely if the battery gets too low - avoiding any deep discharge.