Pandora Car Kit

[andyB911]

Ok, I'll put the car speculation to rest now. It's a 1986 Ford Laser hatchback.





The angular interior is typical '80s so the age is no surprise. I would have gone with a Toyota, but given as we have never had a Ford Laser here in Europe (Escort was similar vintage / size I guess) perhaps not surprising didn't guess it.

Looks in remarkably good condition for the mileage - is that 200k km or 200k miles?

 

[riosingh]

Ok, I'll put the car speculation to rest now. It's a 1986 Ford Laser hatchback. I believe they shared a platform with Mazda for a period there, so Asian may well be right.

Tyrekicker factoids: Picked it up for $1200 from a workmate. 10 months rego, one female owner (seriously), full service history, brand new tyres, and the interior is in 95% new condition. It's gutless, but quite comfy. A hell of a bargain.





Nice.

 

[Spray190]

about your stereo link, you were saying that it would work out better cost wise to get a new one with line in, if you have a little more cash to splash out, do you think that a bluetooth system would work, i have been thinking about this a lot lately, i have a blue tooth stereo in my car that my phone is usually linked to as my music player, it also means that the phone can be controlled from the stereo, so could this be done with the pandora. Just a thought

 

[gruso]

^ That would be the ideal option. I'll probably suffer the FM transmitter until the new year, then I'll start shopping around.

[edit] Never did answer andyB911's question - it's km.

 

[gruso]

Bumpdate! I should just blog this shit or something. Anyway, I dismantled the dash and ran some cables today, very happy with the result.

^ In this last one, the 12V lighter power is coming down from the right, and you can see the USB cable (for Pandora power) coming down on the left. You can also see a red/black wire coiled on the left - this is a draw wire, the other end is coiled up the top behind the clock fascia. So if I need to get another cable up there for any reason, I don't have to dismantle the vehicle again.

I just have to re-solder the lighter socket on down here, plug in the USB adapter, then fasten it all up to the bottom of the dash.

 

[Gilrad]

Another more DIY possibility as far as the line out is concerned, is to simply solder in a toggle switch between your stereo and the speakers, and have the Pandora hijack the speaker wires. Sure it'll be a mess until you get it done, but when you have it done, just flip the switch to give the sound to the Pandora, flip it the other way to give it to your stereo system.

 

[Spray190]

Another more DIY possibility as far as the line out is concerned, is to simply solder in a toggle switch between your stereo and the speakers, and have the Pandora hijack the speaker wires. Sure it'll be a mess until you get it done, but when you have it done, just flip the switch to give the sound to the Pandora, flip it the other way to give it to your stereo system.

there is a problem with that though, the output on a standard headphone socket is very low, you would still need to have some form of amp running between the pandora and the speakers to get anything like a decent level of sound

 

[gruso]

Yarp. Also, I want to be able to remove the whole installation cleanly when I upgrade my car down the track.

Bluetooth stereos are now off the list, starting at $300 they're too pricey. I can get a new Sony with Aux input for under $100, so that decision pretty much makes itself.


[edit] Socket & USB adaptor in place.

There was an existing screw there, which I couldn't not utilise. It's hardly elegant, but it's neat enough and out of sight when you're sitting in the car.

 

[.Gogeta§§J4BR.]

nice!
have you thought about installing a power inverter, in case you decide to put more stuff for your carputer?
i've been researching it, and it seems a power inverter is the way to go if you want to install many things in your car

one very useful (not of the most powerful, but certainly handy) power inverter is this:
http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.12461

basically you put it in your cigar lighter 12V and it turns it into a 3-socket + usb port + another 12v socket, capable of providing 150W
this is more than enough for you to recharge you pandora, leave your cellphone charger there, etc etc.

I bought a little thing via dealextreme and I wanna see if it arrives correctly. If so, I'm definitely gonna buy this item for my car!

 

[gruso]

That's pretty cool! I definitely need to expand my power at some stage - at the very least, a double lighter socket.

While the thread is bumped... I've made a little more progress, no new photos though. The dock looks really good painted, it's right at home in the car. There will be more coats once I finish making plug holes in it, and I bought some clear lacquer too for that Web 2.0 gloss.

Mounting bracket (version 4) is done, it's a strip of flat metal that comes out from under the clock, and fixes to the underside of the dock ("artists" impression below). When everything is assembled, it's completely out of view. Finally, a decent solution.

What else... oh, it has little rubber feet now too. Amazing.

 

[RubiX]

Looking good
Don't forget to leave room for some sort of padding too. I'd go with that sticky rubber mesh stuff that's (mainly) used to hold things like mobile phones in caravans and cars. Can't remember what it's called at the moment though??

Hey man, that's cool you are also going to be building it into your car. As for the FM transmitter, I already have one which I use for my DS, yet im really not happy with it. When the engine is on, theres a pretty anoying buzzing sound which comes out from the speakers , ruining the sound quality for mp3's etc. Do you know if this happens to all FM transmitters available? Doesnt matter what I set the band to, its just poor when the engine is running. Doesn't matter where I place it in the car, I cannot get it clear.

Anyone else know a way to clear this up? I would like to use the same method on the Pandora if I can have the sound output without the buzzing sound I always get.

 

[gruso]

I've canned the FM transmitter idea, because they're inherently crap. Even a good one has trouble in big cities, trying to find an available frequency to use.

For me that means getting a new car stereo. Nothing fancy, just something with either a line input, or bluetooth. I think I'd prefer bluetooth, it's just a matter of waiting for the right bargain to come along. The first priority for the car kit will be satnav, so I'm not in a hurry.

 

[Username]

The FCC banned all good transmitters on the claim that they "disrupted the stereo systems of other people" (which is total bullshit). Now all devices that go through the radio have a very limited power.

 

[lingenfr]

I've canned the FM transmitter idea, because they're inherently crap. Even a good one has trouble in big cities, trying to find an available frequency to use.

For me that means getting a new car stereo. Nothing fancy, just something with either a line input, or bluetooth. I think I'd prefer bluetooth, it's just a matter of waiting for the right bargain to come along. The first priority for the car kit will be satnav, so I'm not in a hurry.

That was my experience in Washington, DC area. The Roady II XM Radio broadcasts over FM. It was a large pain in the arse. I found a device that plugged in to the CD changer port on my Honda OEM craptastic stereo. It has two RCA inputs. It works well. Looks like the extra cables wouldn't be a problem for you. There are also devices that broadcast over the powerline. They work better than the FM transmitters.

Bluetooth sounds interesting. I run Linux on all my machines. I've got bluetooth going but can't get my bluetooth headphones to work. They pair, but no audio. I think the stack associated with audio is still a bit dodgy.

 

[fischju2000]

Whoa there, I use one of these: CODE
http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cassette-Adapter-MiniDisc-Discman/dp/B00005T39Y/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0
(well not this model, a different one) and it works perfectly fine for getting my music to the car speakers. No need to buy a new stereo, if you have a cassette deck

 

[gruso]

There are only 30 odd posts, you could have read them. I have a CD deck. I also want to keep the whole installation as invisible as possible (which is why I'm leaning towards at a bluetooth stereo instead of one with a line input).

 

[gruso]

Bump!

I was in Jaycar today spending money unnecessarily, and found this in the bargain bin ($13):

It's an FM modulator, which basically allows you to feed a stereo RCA signal directly into the antenna plug of the car stereo. It hadn't occurred to me that these things existed. It won't suffer from the interference problems of a regular FM transmitter, and it also saves me having to upgrade to a Bluetooth stereo. Win!

 

[Nation.A.List]

saves me having to upgrade to a Bluetooth stereo. Win!

Don't know what the shipping cost would be but for around AUS$100 worth a look.

http://www.ugotadeal.com/product_info.php?products_id=6045&ref=froogle

 

[gruso]

Damn, that's cheap! I'd be a little concerned about the quality though. Anyway, I think I'm happy with my $13 spend. Saves me having to install a whole new head unit too.

 

[Jourdy288]

I started on my car docking station for Pandora today. The car is making the job relatively easy for me, as it has a nice flat shelf section on the dash with an accessible anchor point centered under the windscreen. I'll get some dash pics later on.

The idea in a nutshell, is that it will sit flat on little rubber feet, and will also be braced back to an anchor point to prevent it sliding around. A power plug will be fixed at the rear, so that Pandora is powered whenever it's docked. I'll beam sound to the car stereo via a mini FM transmitter. And maybe down the track, I'll add some external USB controls.

Here are the bits I've acquired so far:

<a href="http://img247.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0697ti3.jpg" target="_blank">

</a>

In the pic:

- Lighter socket extension with on/off switch
- Lighter socket to USB adapter, with power plugs for iPod, NDS, GBA, and PSP/Pandora.
- 3/16" threaded rod. This will form the bracket arms, and may fail horribly.
- Beige edition Pandora
- Little rubber feet
- A "craft box", purchased for its uncannily suitable dimensions. The less craftsmanship I fail to display the better. I'm sure it would look just darling covered in lace and filled with potpourri, but this little box has a date with a hammer.

A little bashing and reshuffling, and...

<a href="http://img247.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img0698mr9.jpg" target="_blank">

</a>

At this stage it resembles one of Homer's spice racks, but it'll get there. It does look like there's too much of a lip at the front, but Pandora will need a gap at the rear for the lid to swing back. <strike>This was a lucky coincidence</strike> I planned this from the start.

That's probably all I'll get done this week, stay tuned for more.

Ingenious, particularly the FM Radio!