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2nd Try: 924/944 custom screen/audio setup. This time it actually does what I want
I think I posted my original try at this here, but this is my update....
As a former music store manager and non-millenial, I have something like 20,000 songs on my computer hard drive (combination of iTunes stuff and hundreds of ripped CDs). While I stream music as well, I like to have "my" music on-hand in digital files for when I'm out in the middle of nowhere with no signal, or don't want to use my phone as a wifi hotspot. So, my solution was to replace my '88 Porsche 924's center speaker with a magnetic mount for a tablet. The car has a fairly modern Kenwood stereo with aux and USB inputs already, but don't want to get a fold-up screen deck since that would block half the dash controls. Since the opening is only about 8" wide, I had to find a tablet that is pretty small compared to most these days. And since I'm cheap, not dropping hundreds on an iPad or something. Originally I tried an old Kindle Fire that I got for almost nothing, but without bluetooth or GPS, and a very small memory capacity (and no slot for SD card), it just didn't have the capability to do what I wanted.... So enter the Huawei T3. We use an older version of this in the rally car to run our trip computers/rally computers and GPS. The T3 has GPS, bluetooth, and while not quite as fast or smooth in its operation as high-end tablets - I woudln't want to use it as my "everyday" tablet for doing stuff on constantly - it's plenty good for my application here. The T3 is under $100 online (I got mine for about $60 on Amazon). It has 8GB of internal memory, but more importantly (unlike the Kindle Fire) has a microSD port. And it's just over 7" wide, so perfect for my application, with buttons on the "long" edge so they'll be accessible the way I want to mount it. So ordered that up along with a 64GB microSD*memory card. In addition, it obviously can run Google Maps and whatever else I want to run on it using my phone as a hotspot. https://i.imgur.com/hcUvhSnh.jpg Since Apple sucks and won't put out an iTunes for Android, I downloaded the Pi Music app, which I have to say, is awesome. A billion times better than iTunes and it seamlessly imported the 20,000 songs (correctly filed and with full artwork) that I copied from my laptop onto the card. Added the metal mounting plate to the back, and ran hidden power and AUX out wires, and voila..... In addition, I can run a digital speedometer/odometer with it, since it's GPS-enabled. My speedo works, but it has always been out of calibration (reads high even though I have larger-than-stock tires, go figure). My stock odometer works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. So I don't trust it at all, and want a data-logging odometer for my longer road trips for sure. I know there are other more tech-y ways to do this, especially using all-inclusive setups with dedicated A/V in-dash decks, or using a larger phone - but I don't want to use my phone for this, I want something cheap I can just leave in the car and not worry about (much). So, here's the final product, aside from a bit of cosmetic trim work I plan to do to clean up the install..,.with under $100 invested total. https://i.imgur.com/ROHlvC4h.jpg https://i.imgur.com/dYi1T5Vh.jpg |
That's pretty cool, nice job!
GHEN |
Nice install! How is the sound quality?
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