Car headunit mod?

[shauns]

i was thinking....hmmmmmm would it be possible to use a car stereo rcv'r/headunit, on a computer....hmm....it would be possible to power it up, same type of power, but moving data...directly to the sound card? maybe?

 

[Nyrlath]

Its been done yes. I dont have any links but search the board, youll find it.

 

[Diggrr]

Yes, it's possible.

You'll have to mod a cable to plug into the soundcard's Aux. input, with the other end made for the line level output on the stereo. You can't use an amplified output, or you'll blow your sound card.
And, you absolutely must check the power requirements of the stereo, you don't want to overdraw from your power supply.

 

[Mr B]

Anyone else remember those "under the dash" cassette players from the AM-FM only days?? Wonder if one of those would fit in the cd-rom bay.........

 

[Diggrr]

Yeah, I've got one of the Pioneer's with the round 'tachometer' style dials...maybe I should measure it up, I know it's gonna take 2 bays high though.

 

[Crazy Jayhawk]

If you want the stereo to remember things like the time and radio presets, you'll need to find a way to get a 12V standby current to it. Otherwise you'll lose your settings every time you turn the computer off. I wouldn't recommend trying to step up the voltage from the 5VSB line since it's not rated for very high current.

 

[Krusty]

If you want the stereo to remember things like the time and radio presets, you'll need to find a way to get a 12V standby current to it. Otherwise you'll lose your settings every time you turn the computer off. I wouldn't recommend trying to step up the voltage from the 5VSB line since it's not rated for very high current.

As long as the current draw isn't very much, you can find some 12v power supplies that are plenty small to fit into your case along with the head unit. Come to think of it, the ac adaptor for my router runs 12v@1Amp. That might be enough to do it. Just mod the psu the way people mod psus to put in 110vAC pumps...or just have 2 plugs running into the puter.

 

[Crazy Jayhawk]

As long as the current draw isn't very much, you can find some 12v power supplies that are plenty small to fit into your case along with the head unit. Come to think of it, the ac adaptor for my router runs 12v@1Amp. That might be enough to do it. Just mod the psu the way people mod psus to put in 110vAC pumps...or just have 2 plugs running into the puter.

That'd probably work.

Also, just be advised that a lot of car stereos require four speakers to be hooked up to them. This is how I'd hook it up, assuming that the stereo has a stereo output for going to an amp (most do).

Get some high-rated 4-ohm resistors and use them in place of the speakers, and connect the amp output to the sound card input.

 

[Krusty]

That'd probably work.

Also, just be advised that a lot of car stereos require four speakers to be hooked up to them. This is how I'd hook it up, assuming that the stereo has a stereo output for going to an amp (most do).

Get some high-rated 4-ohm resistors and use them in place of the speakers, and connect the amp output to the sound card input.

Now that's an excellent idea. That way, you don't have to worry about blowing up your sound card by putting an amplified signal into your sound card.

Definately use the RCA outputs to put in your sound card input.

 

[Monaco]

dis the person who did this use a separate 12V source to run the head unit?

I've thought about this mod before, but I was always sure that it would pull way more power than my PSU could dish out.

I got an old Alpine here with 4-way RCA outs I want to play with

To keep the clock going, a 12V battery from radioshack would probably get the job done for a long time I bet.

 

[KLowD9x]

I say you just throw out that idea, and do this. Hook the sound card up to the head. Then get a good sized amplifier, and mount it in ur case. Then, using an old slot, add speaker connectors, and hook up some nice speakers. Then, crank the volume and shake the hizouse!

 

[*spazzed*]

You don;t need to have all 4 speakers hooked up to your HU....
there's no load, so nothing happens...
and hooking an HU up to your PSU might blow it....
as for the power oh all the time, you can use a transformer and a couple diodes to have power on all the time, since it won;t use much power anyways....and if the diodes are strong enough, you can use that to give you power too
You could always use a headphone jack-to-RCA adapter to play music through a reciver or mini system

 

[xl]

I have a pioneer one that I took out of my totalled car. Now it has lots of unlabled cables in the back, and it's got RCA plugs in the back. I'd have no idea how to do this, but that'd be cool if I could plug in some other speakers I have that don't have an amp.