Acer a100 tablet as a head unit Options

[b22ri22an]

earlier i attempted to make a custom phone dock to replace my stereo head unit, but my fabrication skills were lacking. I wanted something cleaner and a little bigger screen size. I bought a acer a100 7" tablet and permantly installed in my dash and so far I love it.



first order of business was using a razor blade to remove plastic ribs and the 2 clips that were preventing the tablet from sitting flush



checking the fit to make sure I could get the whole screen visible within the double din opening

the using some double sided mounting tape around the edges of the inside bezel I pressed the tablet into place, hooked up the charger and the headphone jack to the factory amp




finished product, I should have been a little more careful with the mounting tape, was too close to the edge and is visible, tomorrow I will pull it back out and have the mounting tape a little further from the edge so that it isn't seen

better pic in daylight with toyota wallpaper


Update to include parts list
1x Acer A100 Tablet
1x Acer A100 Vehicle Charger
1x 12V Accessory Socket
1x 90 degree 3.5mm to RCA jacks
2x Male to Female RCA 2 way splitter
1x Wiring Harness Adapter for 6 speaker stock amp
1x Volume Control
1x 3M double sided automotive mounting tape

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: May 19, 2012 - 4:24 AM

[jordisonjr]

So this is just taped into place?
Whats the advantages of using this over a touch screen double din?

[b22ri22an]

its automotive mounting tape like used on exterior trim, very strong bonding. advantages over a double din is that this was $189 for a 1ghz tegra dual core cpu with 1gb of ram w/android 4.0 capacitive multitouch 1024x600 as opposed to $900 for an 800mhz single core cpu 512mb of ram in a double din w/ android 2.3 resistive single touch 800x480, maybe one day the double dins will catch up with tablets as far as power goes, but for right now this year old tablet kicks the crap out of a brand new android double din and saved me over $700

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: Apr 30, 2012 - 3:03 AM

[Tigawoods]

............ this is

iwas never into the double din look, mainly because of the price...but this...

[Culpable04]

interesting, can you download one of those equalizer apps for it to have more control over the sound ? I guess in my case I would need to get a amp first, as my speakers get all their power of the headunit.

really cool idea.

EDIT. what about stealing the internet of my iphone so I can have GPS everywhere I go ? and Pandora ? now that would send me to the store right after work.

This post has been edited by Culpable04: Apr 30, 2012 - 6:44 AM

[rave2n]

interesting, can you download one of those equalizer apps for it to have more control over the sound ? I guess in my case I would need to get a amp first, as my speakers get all their power of the headunit.

really cool idea.

EDIT. what about stealing the internet of my iphone so I can have GPS everywhere I go ? and Pandora ? now that would send me to the store right after work.

All possible =P

Have fun, can do just about anything on them

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1324

This post has been edited by rave2n: Apr 30, 2012 - 7:34 AM

[Culpable04]

damm it, now I'm looking more and more at this,

planning to take it apart to remove the rear camera and mount it somewhere else useful ( driving vidoes ? rear camera ? front bumper camera for moving clips ? ) need to jailbreak my iphone so I can use my phone's internet on this so I can enable GPS, video calling and Pandora. I think this is a great idea, the only thing left to cinfirm is if this has HD sound or not.

[b22ri22an]

some needed apps for the install
Volume control app.. This app puts a volume up down and mute control in the notification window so you dont have to hard wire a gain control if you don't want to
Android FTP server.. allows for wireless access to your tablets internal memory and SD card to manage your music collection and movies
Sound EQ tweak your sound till you get it where you want it
OBD2 app.. connect via bluetooth to have real time diagnostics (have to buy the bluetooth scanner receptacle seperatly
Automate It. sets automatic triggered actions, I use it to turn display sleep off while power is connected the to turn sleep to 5 seconds when power is disconnected

then on your mobile phone if you dont already have mobile hotspot FoxFi will allow you to mobile hotspot or pan bluetooth tether

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: Apr 30, 2012 - 11:45 AM

[rave2n]

This is a very nice option I may consider.

It is lacking slightly in all things I wanted to accomplish with my ITX mini PC build to a screen about the same size as the tablet.

If I can figure the means to program it to read rs232 data and vice versa from a PLC then we'll be in business for a fraction of the cost.

Only other concern would be space limitations, but I'm sure it has a expandable port to attach a removable SDD. Or one can hope.

[Culpable04]

it takes SD up to 32 GB

[b22ri22an]

it also has a usb host that you can put any size drive you want in. Here's the 1TB drive I am installing on mine to host my music tv shows and movies, just need a microusb to usb a female converter i haven't sourced yet

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: Apr 30, 2012 - 11:53 AM

[rave2n]

it takes SD up to 32 GB

it also has a usb host that you can put any size drive you want in

Well then, with USB solves my RS232 and Storage...

I no longer have excuses =)

[spy00005]

hmmm this would be a real nice set up and i know android very well especially the developing side of it as i do have the hp tablet running ICS and can def do some real customizing on that table and get my droid phone to supply it wi-fi. only thing is i would have to make it so its removable i wouldn't leave that in my car in the area im sometimes forced to park. maybe make like a custom mount and make it just sit in place w/ Velcro or something then detach when i leave the car. but its def a nice way to use a tablet.

This post has been edited by spy00005: Apr 30, 2012 - 12:04 PM

[b22ri22an]

Car Charger This is a must as this tablet does not charge via usb

[rave2n]

Car Charger This is a must as this tablet does not charge via usb

Did you plug that in the front of the 12v socket, or did you cut the connection off and splice it into the lines of the 12v socket behind it? Would be a bit cleaner, and should keep it on fine.

[smkr3w]

I often thought about this after a friend of mine molded his iPad into the dash of his blazer..

Very nice

[Xander_X]

This is awesome. But it lacks one thing for me ... I need a CD player or iPod hook up. I have over 1200 CD's that take up over 140 GB on my ipod

[b22ri22an]

Car Charger This is a must as this tablet does not charge via usb

Did you plug that in the front of the 12v socket, or did you cut the connection off and splice it into the lines of the 12v socket behind it? Would be a bit cleaner, and should keep it on fine.

i used the power and ground from where the head unit would have received power right behind the tablet

[stephen_lee]

i like

[njccmd2002]

awesome..

[rave2n]

Car Charger This is a must as this tablet does not charge via usb

Did you plug that in the front of the 12v socket, or did you cut the connection off and splice it into the lines of the 12v socket behind it? Would be a bit cleaner, and should keep it on fine.

i used the power and ground from where the head unit would have received power right behind the tablet

Derp! Forgot about that, perfect!

[b22ri22an]

This is awesome. But it lacks one thing for me ... I need a CD player or iPod hook up. I have over 1200 CD's that take up over 140 GB on my ipod

I have 830GB of music movies and tv episodes hooked up to it on an external drive, got the cable needed to hook my external today

[b22ri22an]

been lied to micro usb is not a host usb its slave only, after hours today trying to hook up my hard drive i called acer support where the sad truth was handed to me that host support was not included on the a100 even after it was used as a selling point.

[spy00005]

been lied to micro usb is not a host usb its slave only, after hours today trying to hook up my hard drive i called acer support where the sad truth was handed to me that host support was not included on the a100 even after it was used as a selling point.

yea sadly i kinda doubted that it could host i was pretty sure the mirousb were never design for that. only connection option for external data that are usable is network drives, blutooth and card slot i believe. microusb is for transfer only (on most tablets)

[Culpable04]

I'm already looking for parrts for my setup

it will consist of

500 watts amp
Acer A100
16 GB SD card
New phone ( have iphone currently and will jump ship to Droid )
misc cables

and reading about how to take my tablet apart, I want to see if it's possible to remove the rear camera and install it somewhere useful, as well as micro USB and memory card slot so I dont have to remove plastics in the card everytime I want to plug / unplug something from it. some of these stuff may not be possible, but I dont know that yet.

[spy00005]

i can tell you right now most of the internal components of 80-90 % of tablets are soldered directly on the board usually with the exception of the screen. IF your willing and brave enough you could prob de-solderer and run wires but the connections are usually very close to each other making it difficult to accurately solder components and not cross anything. i'd say look around an see if you can find like extenders for like the SD card if they even make that for the cam you might be able to take it out as far as i know most tablets use generic cams with ribbon cables (don't think you'll be able to do much with unless you find a extender for the specific type of ribbon as well) micro usb gonna be soldered on the board its all do able but gonna be dificult and probably a PITA don't know if you've ever took apart a ipod/itouch/ipad before but the cram a lot into those little spaces.

i still stand by what i think get a laptop with bluetooth and connect through that can add remove stuff on table just get a big SD and leave it in or if you can park close enough to get ur tablet in range of your wifi there plenty of programs/apps that will let you manage your tablet and data on it from a computer via the network and sharing which would probably be the easiest and quickest way.

This post has been edited by spy00005: May 2, 2012 - 5:26 PM

[JPATTT]

So how do you run the audio jack to the car stereo? Does the factory amp have rca jacks? Or do you need to install an aftermarket amp?

[b22ri22an]

So how do you run the audio jack to the car stereo? Does the factory amp have rca jacks? Or do you need to install an aftermarket amp?

scoshe makes an input for the factory amp to be connected to the lines out of a headunit, you connect the headphones jack to the lines in on the scoshe connector link for connector you may want a hardwired gain control for volume but I use a software controlled volume myself, in my case the connector from scoshe was already in my car from the cheap ass head unit that was there, oh btw you need to tie together the power wire with the amp remote wire to have the factory amp turn on.

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: May 3, 2012 - 2:33 AM

[b22ri22an]

been lied to micro usb is not a host usb its slave only, after hours today trying to hook up my hard drive i called acer support where the sad truth was handed to me that host support was not included on the a100 even after it was used as a selling point.

yea sadly i kinda doubted that it could host i was pretty sure the mirousb were never design for that. only connection option for external data that are usable is network drives, blutooth and card slot i believe. microusb is for transfer only (on most tablets)

alot of talets these days have usb host, sadly the a100 wasn't one of them. I do believe the Archos tablets have usb host capability, and the a500 Acer does but its 10" and wont fit the double din. will have to do more research into the tablet to buy, at least more then i did. I however am quite happy with what i got, being able to hook up a 1tb drive to it would have been a huge bonus though. that all said just the android user interface and capabilities alone far exceed that of a car stereo even if I cant hook my external drive. Also the sound is extremely good, very clear and no noise I highly recommend using the power and ground from the head unit or picking a suitable ground other then the lighter socket for optimal results

[b22ri22an]

i can tell you right now most of the internal components of 80-90 % of tablets are soldered directly on the board usually with the exception of the screen. IF your willing and brave enough you could prob de-solderer and run wires but the connections are usually very close to each other making it difficult to accurately solder components and not cross anything. i'd say look around an see if you can find like extenders for like the SD card if they even make that for the cam you might be able to take it out as far as i know most tablets use generic cams with ribbon cables (don't think you'll be able to do much with unless you find a extender for the specific type of ribbon as well) micro usb gonna be soldered on the board its all do able but gonna be dificult and probably a PITA don't know if you've ever took apart a ipod/itouch/ipad before but the cram a lot into those little spaces.

i still stand by what i think get a laptop with bluetooth and connect through that can add remove stuff on table just get a big SD and leave it in or if you can park close enough to get ur tablet in range of your wifi there plenty of programs/apps that will let you manage your tablet and data on it from a computer via the network and sharing which would probably be the easiest and quickest way.

there are micro sd extenders available that you can buy, but i don't recommend trying to solder new connections to the board unless you are experienced in micro soldering, from what i have read soldering to these wave soldered boards is a real pita that you probably wont want to attempt as a novice. for the plans I have read in this thread you are far better off buying a netbook and a 7" double din touchscreen with a copy of centrafuse, then you could use all the usb objects that windows offers as far as cameras and expand-ability , for me what android offers was enough and chose that as my option. Read up on mp3car.com before committing any money on a project such as this to weigh everything you want from your installation. For me the android installation met my needs.

[JPATTT]

has anyone found a solution to be able to remove the tablet i agree i wouldnt want to keep the unit in my car when im parked.

[b22ri22an]

has anyone found a solution to be able to remove the tablet i agree i wouldnt want to keep the unit in my car when im parked.

I'm actually working on that idea, having it mounted in front of the radio bezel. there is a dock connector on the tablet that can be used for power and audio on the right side of the tablet, saving up some money now to buy the dock to tear it apart for a dash install. the plan is to have the dock connector on the far right of the bezel and small tabs along the bottom and top of the tablet to hold it in place. using a blank double din fascia to cover the radio hole. being able to still use the tablet as a tablet when not in the car is an idea that i like but it wont look nearly as clean as the way i have it mounted now. i have seen other tablet installs where they have they have the front bezel open like a door and slide it in place but i know i lack the fabrication skills to accomplish that install and the area directly behind the radio bezel is a very tight fit to the opening of the dash.

Acer a500/a100 dock

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: May 3, 2012 - 3:31 PM

[JPATTT]

if there was a way that it could clip into the trim that would be nice, ill prolly pick up a cheap tablet and try it out. Is the 7inch the biggest you can go?

This post has been edited by JPATTT: May 3, 2012 - 10:23 PM

[ricochet1490]

F-ing outstanding!!

Interestingly enough, i wanted something similar, thought about double din screen from indash dvd maybe with macbook mini under the seat going to the screen operated by voice command.... but touch, now that's awesome!

[b22ri22an]

if there was a way that it could clip into the trim that would be nice, ill prolly pick up a cheap tablet and try it out. Is the 7inch the biggest you can go?

yes 7" is as big as you can get, an 8" screen wont fully display in the double din opening and the housing of the 7" is almost too big to fit behind the bezel any bigger and it would reqire fabrication work in the dash

[ricochet1490]

did you get it with 3g? So you can navigate, stream, etc with it as well?

[b22ri22an]

did you get it with 3g? So you can navigate, stream, etc with it as well?

Its a wifi model but I am on T-Mobile business class and have wifi hotspot on my phone, almost all smartphones have some sort of tethering available either wifi or bluetooth or both to get internet in the car.

[Culpable04]

so, after some digging, found pictures of one taken apart, and as expected, the camera is soldered directly onto the board, but no fear, I have a friend who's a master of soldering very tiny electronics, and she saw the pictures and heard my idea, and said she can do the soldering for me and would take no longer than 2 hrs. so with that out of the way, the rest is just basic installation.


I will update the tablet to ICS before install, and will do all of the app download and settings before install, because my phone contract still has a few months to go, so no android based phone for me till then.

for those who care to know this. the Acer tablets come with an empty slot on the mother board where you can install a 3g card holder, it even comes with the holes for the screws and all, so all you need is the 3g card holder and antenna, no fancy fabrication as everything is pre-designed for it.

[spy00005]

link to the pic of it ripped apart just for kicks to see if i would try it.

[rave2n]

for those who care to know this. the Acer tablets come with an empty slot on the mother board where you can install a 3g card holder, it even comes with the holes for the screws and all, so all you need is the 3g card holder and antenna, no fancy fabrication as everything is pre-designed for it.

Why does this solution keep getting better and better....

[ricochet1490]

I've been looking for a way to bring the function of the car into the 21st century and this may be the way to do it..... significantly cheaper than using a mac mini lol.
The usage of 3g is just too good to pass up though...

[b22ri22an]

another need to have app for this installation Tablet Talk..
this allows bluetooth connection to your android phone to remotely dial and answer phone calls as well as send and receive texts combined with a bluetooth handsfree connected to the phone you dont have to touch your phone at all in the car other then to turn the wifi hotspot on before getting in the car

acer a100 cracked open Tech Republic - Cracking open the Acer A100

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: May 7, 2012 - 2:02 AM

[JPATTT]

Im most likely going to be using a rooted Amazon Kindle Fire for my build. I have to buy one first. Craigslist, people are selling them for around 80-150 dollars, ill keep you posted. Still trying to figure out how to mount it, and be able to to remove it when not in the car.

[JPATTT]

Bought a 7inch MID tablet for 90 dollars going to start working with it in the celica. Can someone show me the scosche adapter that can be plugged in with rca jacks? Plz and Thank yous

[b22ri22an]

Bought a 7inch MID tablet for 90 dollars going to start working with it in the celica. Can someone show me the scosche adapter that can be plugged in with rca jacks? Plz and Thank yous

Link for Connector

[richee3]

I like the concept If I was going to do this, I would still have a head unit mounted in a different location (glove box, center console, etc.) where it would still be accessible and run the tablet through that, as of it was an iPod/iPhone. That way, I wouldn't lose any of the functionality of a standard head unit but I would get all the perks mentioned in this thread. I've got other projects that take priority to this though, sadly.

[rave2n]

I like the concept If I was going to do this, I would still have a head unit mounted in a different location (glove box, center console, etc.) where it would still be accessible and run the tablet through that, as of it was an iPod/iPhone. That way, I wouldn't lose any of the functionality of a standard head unit but I would get all the perks mentioned in this thread. I've got other projects that take priority to this though, sadly.

That is kinda how I feel about it...I love the concept of the tablet being installed, but it almost feels like you are losing functionality.

Being I work in radio, I would have to have a radio tuner. Which I do not believe the tablet can provide. Of course it can most likely do pandora or something simliar, but I need real time for when a transmitter is going funky, and I have to dial in to hear what its doing =P

[spy00005]

well i guess you do lose some stuff but the stuff it adds i would say more than makes up. most radio station you go to their web site and you can listen to it. plus all the apps available in the android market place, you get an screen you can customize instead of just some buttons, its prob around the same price as most good 7'' radios (i got a jvc touchscreen radio paid like 350 2 yrs ago so this is way cheaper) GPS if you get wifi off your phone, ect but in your case i see why it wouldn't be as beneficial but you could always keep a walkman in the trunk of your car (i know VERY OLD SCHOOL) then if you get 3.5 input theres your am/fm.

[Culpable04]

no need for wifi to get GPS, this works just like your tom tom of garmin, it only needs wifi to download the maps, but you can download those for your state for a very small fee, after the maps are downloaded and save, you dont need wifi to get turn by turn GPS ( Acer A100 ) so add this to the perks.

[spy00005]

good to know. my gps is my phone but the 7'' tablet would be much nicer plus easier to look at while driving. the ONLY reason im not doing this is cuz the stereo i bought already i am very happy with and has a removable face plate, i like this better though plus sitting flush with the trim is a plus mine sticks out like a whole inch or two. plus i already have my hp tablet and its too big for this. but if anything happens to my radio or i just want to change it out this would be what i would do.

[rave2n]

well i guess you do lose some stuff but the stuff it adds i would say more than makes up. most radio station you go to their web site and you can listen to it. plus all the apps available in the android market place, you get an screen you can customize instead of just some buttons, its prob around the same price as most good 7'' radios (i got a jvc touchscreen radio paid like 350 2 yrs ago so this is way cheaper) GPS if you get wifi off your phone, ect but in your case i see why it wouldn't be as beneficial but you could always keep a walkman in the trunk of your car (i know VERY OLD SCHOOL) then if you get 3.5 input theres your am/fm.

True enough on the walkman =P

The radio stream sites are a no no. Those are typical around 6 minute delay from actual program audio.

[richee3]

Truthfully, if I was going to do this, I would go all out. The hidden head unit wouldn't need to be much, just a basic head unit with a couple of extras. I would get a tablet that can get 3G (such as an iPad) and add it to my phone account, then go crazy with everything. Use the head unit to receive the audio signal from the iPad and power the speakers so I lose zero sound quality, yet I still get 3G so I can use all the internet I want without having to rely on my phone.

Then again I'm a Mac guy so my choice is clear. I like the idea, but I definitely wouldn't use the tablet was never intended for mobile audio so I wouldn't use it and expect it to do 100% of everything I want.

[ricochet1490]

I totally agree on being a mac guy. I love my macbook pro and will never but a windows machine new ever again because of this. But there IS a radio tuner built into android... at least there is with my phone. I just need to plug in headphones and it uses the headphones as the antenna..... but this would suck severely

Prolly why I wanted a mac mini under the seat to be like a car computer.

[rave2n]

Well I was cool with Richee and Ricochet...until they said they are Mac guys...

[spy00005]

Well I was cool with Richee and Ricochet...until they said they are Mac guys...

LMAO, IKR. o well.
i won't get into a mac/pc/android/linux discussion here, all i'll say is to each there own.





(except for mac )

This post has been edited by spy00005: May 13, 2012 - 5:09 PM

[ricochet1490]

Like they say with anything boys.... don't knock it till you've tried it....

Quoting Toby keith
"I always heard that his herb was top shelf
And Lord I just could not wait to find out for myself
Don't knock it til' you tried it, Well I tried it my friend
I'll never smoke weed with Willie again"

HAHA
i use windows all the time and have it on my mac actually! running it currently. but IMO mac functionality is undeniably perfect.... you never need drivers.... for anything. you plug it in and it works...


BACK TO TOPIC: I won't put an ipad in the car. For ths use, android would be awesome and I think unbeatable.

[b22ri22an]

after using this as a head unit for 2 weeks I have to say it has some quirks that take getting used to.

the negatives

because it does so much you tend to get distracted while driving and have to remind yourself wait till your at a red light or parked to reply on facebook or look stuff up on the net
an actual gain control for volume is a must widgets do the job but when theres glare on the screen its far easier to just turn a knob then find the button hidden in the sun,
another quirk is that this tablet isnt made to be sunlight readable and I drive a convertible so the top has been up any time the sun is out so i can see my screen
no usb host, limited space on microsd card
no standard am/fm tuner

the positives

excellent sound quality
unlimited potential can do whatever you want it to do
multiple connectivity options , bluetooth and wifi
clean installation almost looks like it belongs there
ease of use (when not in sunlight) android ice cream sandwich is a very fluid os requires almost no prior android experience to use
net connectivity to social sites and messaging



the wrap up is if i were to start over i would still choose an android tablet as my head unit but i would not choose the acer a100 again for this application, usb host connectivity is important for mass storage and ease of transfering files and for connecting peripherals such as a 3/4g dongle, with more and more usb host tablets out there can look forward to a usb fm tuner or hd radio add on soon , a sunlight readable screen is a must for anyone that owns a convertible, while the acer a100 performs extremely well as a tablet the lack of host usb and sunlight readable screen make it not a great head unit for a convertible but still better then most options out there.

my next build will probably be a Trim Slice with a separate Sunlight Readable Monitor however saving up the $650 for the monitor may take sometime so the acer stays for now

[spy00005]

could always get a anti glare screen protector pretty cheap most head units are matte finish not gloss to prevent that too bad not all tablet use the same principle :\ i know when im outside w/ my hp tablet even with the brightness all the way down (which helps) still get a blinding glare if the sun hits it directly.

also to be fair a negative is no cd's/tape (if people still use those) but if it can read a 32GB sd card thats a lot of mp3s but then you have to add the sd card to the cost of the project.

This post has been edited by spy00005: May 14, 2012 - 1:13 AM

[rave2n]

Well I was cool with Richee and Ricochet...until they said they are Mac guys...

LMAO, IKR. o well.
i won't get into a mac/pc/android/linux discussion here, all i'll say is to each there own.

(except for mac )

Lol yea its been debated a million times, and I usually end up hurting someones feelings =P

And yes, Richo, I've tried. Many times over the last 15 years, still not impressed.

This post has been edited by rave2n: May 14, 2012 - 9:00 AM

[JPATTT]

So this is temporarily how i have mine set up. I used velcro to keep the unit mounted so i can remove it. Not fully satisfied but it can work for now!

[Tigawoods]

what do you do with apps ( if there are any) that are vertical justified?

[richee3]

I won't hold it against you, Rave There's absolutely no sense in having an online pissing contest over whose computer is better.

Based on JPATTT's install, it's obvious that an iPad is much too large to ever be considered for this. I have an Amazon Kindle Fire that appears to be roughly the right size, but the user interface would bug me to no end. I would hate having to slide through the icons instead of having an icon in a set place, like the OP's setup.

This post has been edited by richee3: May 17, 2012 - 8:17 PM

[spy00005]

pretty sure there developing (if it isn't already out) and android mod/rom for the kindle and i thinks its from the same guys that did the hp the cyanogenmod. there work is top notch. if your willing to try and mod it that is (i bought my hp knowing thats what i planed to do and not everyone would try that warranty void if it bricks ect ect)

[yellowchinaman]

I too was thining of doing this but needed to think about how to wire it to the speakers?
Also finding a btablet which fits in the double dinns slot like this.

So my questions:
Whats the measurements of the Acer a100? And visable screen size?
How do you turn it on? Isnt the power button on the end which is now inside the dash?
Also how did you wire it to the car audio? Phono to amp>speakers? Can you not use an amp with remote volume controller wired to dash?

This post has been edited by yellowchinaman: May 18, 2012 - 2:47 PM

[b22ri22an]

I too was thining of doing this but needed to think about how to wire it to the speakers?
Also finding a btablet which fits in the double dinns slot like this.

So my questions:
Whats the measurements of the Acer a100? And visable screen size?
How do you turn it on? Isnt the power button on the end which is now inside the dash?
Also how did you wire it to the car audio? Phono to amp>speakers? Can you not use an amp with remote volume controller wired to dash?

dimensions are 195 x 117 x 13.1 mm with a 7" diagonal viewable screen size, screen fills top to bottom but has about 5mm of bezel on either left and right sides when centered, however that extra bezel allows the front camera and home button to be accesible
I never turn the tablet off it runs on internal battery while sleeping with the car off, when the car is on it turns on the charger and brings the tablet out of sleep, i use an app called automate it to change the sleep states triggered by charger connection charger on = display never sleep charger off = 5 seconds till sleep
3.5mm stereo to rca female adapter plugged into headphones jack, male to 2 female rca splitter for both left and right channels plugged into the audio adapter and the scoshe aftermarket radio connector that connects to the cars stock amp. i currently use an app widget to control volume but a gain control is recommended for volume control, i have bought one just haven't decided where to mount it yet. of course you don't have to use the stock amp, you can use a separate amp, but the stock amp was good enough for me

[yellowchinaman]

I too was thining of doing this but needed to think about how to wire it to the speakers?
Also finding a btablet which fits in the double dinns slot like this.

So my questions:
Whats the measurements of the Acer a100? And visable screen size?
How do you turn it on? Isnt the power button on the end which is now inside the dash?
Also how did you wire it to the car audio? Phono to amp>speakers? Can you not use an amp with remote volume controller wired to dash?

dimensions are 195 x 117 x 13.1 mm with a 7" diagonal viewable screen size, screen fills top to bottom but has about 5mm of bezel on either left and right sides when centered, however that extra bezel allows the front camera and home button to be accesible
I never turn the tablet off it runs on internal battery while sleeping with the car off, when the car is on it turns on the charger and brings the tablet out of sleep, i use an app called automate it to change the sleep states triggered by charger connection charger on = display never sleep charger off = 5 seconds till sleep
3.5mm stereo to rca female adapter plugged into headphones jack, male to 2 female rca splitter for both left and right channels plugged into the audio adapter and the scoshe aftermarket radio connector that connects to the cars stock amp. i currently use an app widget to control volume but a gain control is recommended for volume control, i have bought one just haven't decided where to mount it yet. of course you don't have to use the stock amp, you can use a separate amp, but the stock amp was good enough for me

Thanks.
So how long does the pad last in sleep mode before battery dies? Because my car is a weekend car so it not driven for 5 days normally. Also how long does it take to fully charge the battery because if I only do a 30minute trip then it's never going to charge the pad fully rite?

Lastly silly question, but where is the stock amp? I've changed head units a few times on my four but never noticed a separate stock amp.

[b22ri22an]

i was in the hospital for 3 days last week and when i got in the car after being released the tablet was at 45% battery so it was 3 days in sleep on battery, from 0 battery to full is 2 to 3 hours charge with a 2 amp charger, i have never had it over 1amp draw so it should be good off charger power alone to do anything you need it to regardless of battery level. my car otherwise is used 8 to 10 hours a day 5 days a week for work so my battery usually never dips below 95% other then my brief hospital stay. my cell phone however dies very quickly with wifi hotspot on have to plug it in all day as well while in the car.


the stock amp for a 6 speaker celica is right behind the hvac control, the connection i described is for this config. some do not have a stock amp and some have an amp located under one of the seats with the 8 speaker premium sound config, you would need to find out what your cars setup is to determine where your amp is or if you have one, if you dont have one you would need to buy a separate amp. i am not sure how to hook up to the amp under the seat as i don't have 8 speaker premium sound

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: May 19, 2012 - 3:57 AM

[yellowchinaman]

I think its best if I wire in the charger to a perminant source to keep it charging or it'll die however in the long run it's not good for the pad battery.
REgarding volume, one way to do it is to have this installed btween the pad and the amp.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Universal-Car-Am...=item4163b8d702

[b22ri22an]

i have almost the exact same gain control, however i haven't decided where to mount it yet, i am thinking of putting it where the cigarette lighter is, also i updated the original post to show all parts bought

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: May 19, 2012 - 7:23 AM

[yellowchinaman]

nice one!

[yellowchinaman]

found this:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pyle-Marine-Boat...=item5648caefb2

Think it'll work?

[b22ri22an]

i'm sure it would work, but i am also sure there wattage claims are full of sh*t and it probably wont be very loud, from the size of it I would assume no more than 15 watts per channel actual specs it doesnt have enough surface space on its body to dissipate 400w like it claims

[MisterRay]

nice job you done there.

im planning on doing the same thing soon hopefully. my visible screen on the tablet is perfect for trim.

i got a quick question tho. does my car have a factory amp built in or do i need to buy one? i got a '97 Celica ST with a four speaker config and im pretty sure the original double din is pre-amped tbh. if it does have one... where will i find it lol i've never noticed 1 in my ST or GT before

[richee3]

It was the 6 and 8 speaker systems that were amped. The 4 speaker system doesn't have a factory amp.

[b22ri22an]

Updating my setup to the nexus 7 when it arrives, planning on modding the dash so it docks and is removable. I should have my new unit by the 1st of august so shortly after that I will be starting a new thread.



after rooting the nexus the usb will support OTG allowing for mass storage options something I really need that the acer doesn't have, and the method for docking the nexus looks cleaner the docking the acer.

anyone selling a stereo bezel send me a pm with price shipped to 33897

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: Jul 4, 2012 - 10:51 AM

[KAOS]

Remember this article I posted a while back, Brian??



http://www.tuaw.com/2011/01/07/control-a-c...d-mounted-ipad/

I'm glad you actually went through with it.

[b22ri22an]

after having a tablet mounted in the car I can never go back... it will feel like somethings missing

my first thought of a tablet install was pre-ipad though, i was gonna either install the archos 5 with android 1.6 or the archos 9 with windows 7 the 9 was too big for the car much like the ipad and the 5 android 1.6 wasnt mature enough as an os to be truly useful. Ice cream sandwich and jelly bean however on a 7in tablet is the perfect fit for in car infotainment

[njccmd2002]

why not just get the app radio from pioneer.

[b22ri22an]

why not just get the app radio from pioneer.

cause its $500 for the unit
then another $100 for the android kit

This post has been edited by b22ri22an: Jul 4, 2012 - 11:19 PM

[njccmd2002]

500 its a drop in the bucket for most people here...

[yellowchinaman]

I was looking in another direction of buying a GPS sat nav specific android tablet which is cheaper and does the job too but the spec isn't as high.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251076209058?ssP...984.m1423.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140759378563?ssP...9#ht_4787wt_913
no to mention that the home and return buttons are usually along the bottom not on the side outside the screens.

[b22ri22an]

500 its a drop in the bucket for most people here...

apparently i'm not most people.... $500 is months of saving above my bills. saving $200 to buy the tablet took 3 weeks.

[kurt95gt]

500 its a drop in the bucket for most people here...

apparently i'm not most people.... $500 is months of saving above my bills. saving $200 to buy the tablet took 3 weeks.

Same here man. 500 takes time lol

[njccmd2002]

lol, JK.

the most i paid for a radio was 300, and thats the current one i have, no intention to change it sooner, a tablet would be ok, i just dont drive the celica that much.

so................

woud 200 be drop in the bucket?

[b22ri22an]

lol, JK.

the most i paid for a radio was 300, and thats the current one i have, no intention to change it sooner, a tablet would be ok, i just dont drive the celica that much.

so................

woud 200 be drop in the bucket?

$0.25 would be a drop in the bucket anything over $50 requires planning

[JPATTT]

^agreed

[masr1979]

I'm running the same setup, but I haven't really haven't mounted the tab. I've been waiting to find a bezel to play around with, but have had no luck, so in the mean time I'm just using the tab and placing it on my lap, I have a stereo bluetooth adapter hooked up to the amp, and automateit set to open Apollo (media player) as soon as it connects to the BT adapter. Sound is good, but I need to get another amp and an external volume control... plus I need to mount the tab, but I'm also going to probably wait 'til I get a nexus tab, or the new kindle fire which I much rather use just because I'm not a fan of Nvidia... of course, if amazon doesn't have either a) sdcard slot, or b) usb host functionality, then they are out of luck.

I just wish I could mount it outside so that I can remove the tab when I get out of the car, but at least with the A100 there's no way to do it so it looks clean, at least none that I can think of. I bought one of those sleeves for the tab, thinking I could slap something like fiberglass on it to harden it to make a cradle, but the tab is a wee bit too wide to fit properly.

*EDIT* I almost forgot, I also set the tab to say "Hello Manny" when it connected to the BT adapter. I freaked out a friend one time since I set up a 5 sentence conversation between me and the car, for a sec I had him thinking I was called Michael Knight *EDIT*

This post has been edited by masr1979: Jul 10, 2012 - 6:40 PM

[toyota123]

B22ri22an. I have a question for you . I know some who can custom make me a tablet to almost what ever specs I want for pretty cheap because he owes me a favor. I have a couple of ideas in mind he says usb host support isn't a problem to install so no issues with storage space luckily .I really want something with Beats Audio on it (love the sound enhancement it offers) which he says is also no problem buy it Dosent work with a Bluetooth out connection so finally I get to my question. If I have him hard wire an audio in can I run the head unit through the tablet to make it work or better yet he tested another option and says he can get a tablet to run 2 different Bluetooth modules at the same time. Can the head units Bluetooth module be used to broadcast a signal out instead of just in. The reason I prefer this route is I won't have to disconnect from Bluetooth OBD2 adapter. Do you have any ideas on the success of either of these two options. Or any ideas you can offer.up to help

[b22ri22an]

B22ri22an. I have a question for you . I know some who can custom make me a tablet to almost what ever specs I want for pretty cheap because he owes me a favor. I have a couple of ideas in mind he says usb host support isn't a problem to install so no issues with storage space luckily .I really want something with Beats Audio on it (love the sound enhancement it offers) which he says is also no problem buy it Dosent work with a Bluetooth out connection so finally I get to my question. If I have him hard wire an audio in can I run the head unit through the tablet to make it work or better yet he tested another option and says he can get a tablet to run 2 different Bluetooth modules at the same time. Can the head units Bluetooth module be used to broadcast a signal out instead of just in. The reason I prefer this route is I won't have to disconnect from Bluetooth OBD2 adapter. Do you have any ideas on the success of either of these two options. Or any ideas you can offer.up to help

sorry haven't been on in a few days, the head unit idea wont bluetooth wise because no head unit broadcasts bluetooth only receives, you can have your tablet audio over a head unit but not the other way around, if you have a tablet with an audio in you would be able to get sound from your head unit into the tablet but without a data port connection you wouldn't be able to control the head unit from the tablet, and even if you did manage the data connection for control custom software would have to be written for the control and ui. most tablets can handle more then 1 bluetooth connection at a time example i am running bluetooth audio and tablet talk via bluettoth to my phone and have no issues so i dont think you need 2 bluetooth adapters in the tablet. hope that was helpful

[toyota123]

It was thank you I want to hard wire head unit through tablet because a) I need to have a radio sometimes and B) Beats Audio won't enhance athe sound through a Bluetooth only hard waited connections. I'll let you know how it turns out when I'm done I.may be attempting a dash fab for the project so it may take a while though

[yellowchinaman]

just bought my self this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230695517570?ssP...#ht_2064wt_1097

and this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140759378563?ssP...9#ht_4787wt_902

I think that's everything I'm going to need