Comment on Part 2 of car Raspberry pi 4 GPS project
sepi@piefed.social 5 weeks ago
Curious question: have you looked into something like this https://a.co/d/b6tSJDI ? Sorry for the amazon link there, use it as inspiration. Maybe some cheap stereo box with power supply, etc? This might fit better in a car than a pelican case and may allow you to stuff components, fan etc
Natal@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
Hey, thanks for the link. I haven’t looked at that type of parts because I’m not confident tinkering with the car, especially since it’s still fairly new and I’m too afraid to damage some plastic. And I also don’"t have any spare room available on the dashboard anywhere.
There’s a little nook to empty your pocket between the gear shifter (manual car) and the dashboard but it’s wide open, fairly hot, and probably still too small even to fit a raspberry pi in a case with the cooling I’ll need.
That’s why I’ve been looking at external solutions. If wires weren’t an issue, I’d put a trunk/boot organizer at the back and store the pi unit there during drives but it’s not practical with the wiring. Still routing cables in my head in case I’d get an idea.
Here’s a photo I found of the front of the car: ouestfrance-auto.com/…/sandero_stepway_1_0.jpg
CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works 5 weeks ago
Why not 3D print something for it? I printed this to make a digital photo frame with a Pi 4 and the official 7" Pi touch display. printables.com/…/44218-7-touchscreen-case-for-ras…
Printing it with something strong should help keep it safe in an accident though you’ll need to create a mounting solution.
Natal@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
He, I wish. I don’t have access to a 3D printer either at home or in the close area. I’d have to go to the closest big city for that and at that point it costs as much in fuel as it’d cost to get a new one. Granted I have to find one that suits my needs to begin with.
curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
How do you plan to get audio in? Bluetooth? Wired audio input?
In your first post you were calling it a head unit, which would replace everything. Given the picture, you have a more fully integrated android auto compatible system rather than a traditional head unit, so I understand why the other commenter pointed to that - its similar to what I would have suggested, which would be to get a din cover appropriately sized, then cut out for a screen.
So the question becomes how do you want to hear and/or see? That would decide placement requirements. For example, I have a nice spot in the passenger seat I could easily hide it behind a panel under the dash, but the audio input I’d have to bring over to the armrest. So I’d run a cable under the carpet to the aux input, bring it up the side of the armrest and plug it in.
FWIW, your phone may work nicely by rebooting into recovery and wiping the cache partition. That resolved things for my wife and her car, no issues or trouble since.
Natal@lemmy.world 5 weeks ago
For the audio, I’ll first try the obvious and plug the Pi to the USB A of the factory car unit. Maybe it’ll detect it as mass storage media and give it access to the built in audio system. Else, I’ll just use a bluetooth speaker I have at home. I don’t need good audio for “turn left/turn right”, just to hear it.
The whole project is an attempt at getting rid of Android Auto and having my own standalone unit that will free me from unwanted updates both from the OS and the apps. I’ve had Waze become useless three times in the span of two years because they pushed updates that made the app unstable enough to not be reliable.
For the viewing angle, on the car next to the existing head unit screen, there’s a mounting bracket. I’ll use that to mount a 7inch display I got. It’ll sit right above the existing one if that doesn’t obstruct the view too much, else I’ll have to get one of those arms with joints and lower it somewhere not annoying. Image
My bluetooth speaker is the perfect size to sit in the cup holder so if the car audio isn’t possible, then there’s a plan B.
I’ll try the recovery mode for my phone and see if that helps!
curbstickle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 weeks ago
It won’t. Both will be acting as host, so thats not going to work out.
What car do you have?
Didn’t you want to use it for your music as well with navidrome?
CoMaps may be up your alley, uses OSM.
Hope that works for you regardless, it was an absolute pain when my wife’s phone update (Samsung) broke android auto and Bluetooth connections. Especially since I just bought the car a few weeks before.