SB2 or SB3 for car DIN-mount project?

[Porter]

As the title says...

I am about to embark on a vehicle-mounted SB rebox project, with a linux laptop in the trunk running SlimServer. The Squeezebox will be attached to an Eclipse CD8443 head unit through the auxiliary input.

I'm trying to figure out which SB variant would be the best for this, i.e. simplest to integrate. It will be a wired system, so no wireless really necessary. I understand there was a non-wireless variant of the SB3, but I can't find those online.

I have a full DIN space to work with in which to mount the SB guts, and display.

I have some questions...


Are the displays on the SB2 and SB3 the same size?

How robust is the SB with regard to hard power off and on through the power supply?

Does anyone know a good source for bare sheetmetal DIN enclosures?


Thanks for any help you all can provide! I will post pics of course.



Jason Porter
Roanoke, VA

[JimC]

As the title says...

I am about to embark on a vehicle-mounted SB rebox project, with a linux laptop in the trunk running SlimServer. The Squeezebox will be attached to an Eclipse CD8443 head unit through the auxiliary input.

Can't wait to see the pics when you're done!

Are the displays on the SB2 and SB3 the same size?

Yes.

How robust is the SB with regard to hard power off and on through the power supply?

I'm not really qualified to answer that, but I'm sure someone with more electronics experience than me can help. You will have to go through the network discovery every time you start.

Does anyone know a good source for bare sheetmetal DIN enclosures?

I've used Hammond products before. They have a pretty wide selection of enclosures.

http://www.hammondmfg.com/scpg.htm


-=> Jim

[Porter]

Jim,

Thanks very much for your comments and advice!

I think an SB2 may work best for this project, due to the layout of the connectors on the circuit board. With a longer ribbon cable I should be able to mount the whole board sideways in a standard ISO 7736 DIN enclosure with the display mounted to the back of a custom front panel.

I'll keep you posted on progress as I acquire the bits and pieces and start to put it together!



You know, with a separate board containing a logic chip for IDE or SATA access and an embedded operating system of some flavor (Busybox?) running a "light" version of SlimServer, this sort of thing would make a fantastic automotive or marine media appliance. Heck, it could make a great home media appliance, and serve to other Squeezebox units.

The basic hardware elements of a Squeezebox combined with a laptop hard drive seem like a no-brainer to me. A self-contained solution that's the same size and shape as an SB3, just a bit thicker.

[pfarrell]

You know, with a separate board containing a logic chip for IDE or SATA access and an embedded operating system of some flavor (Busybox?) running a "light" version of SlimServer, this sort of thing would make a fantastic automotive or marine media appliance. Heck, it could make a great home media appliance, and serve to other Squeezebox units.

There are lots of vendors of such things, I am currently working on project/product using an EmbeddedArm http://www.embeddedarm.com/
Mine has an ARM, but they have X86 processors as well. Its PC104, so it starts with an IDE interface.

If you search the forum archives, someone else put a SqueezeBox in the dash of his car, I think it was a Saab.

[ermine]

OK. I'll bite. Why? SB is already a right PITA to use from the remote, though a dream from the web. Now that's a minor hassle at home, but a major safety issue in your car.

Plus what does it do that an Ipod + Apple lossless won't, for which there's hundreds of exisitng auto interfaces I believe. Or am I just on a totally different planet. I don't understand why MP3 isn't good enough in the car, it's a noisy environment and the acoustics suck bigtime.

But hey, it's your life and your money. I'm just curious - and I'd really prefer to be on a different highway when you choose to change tracks on your rig

[Beann50]

I put a SB2 in my car about a year and a half ago. There are a couple of pics about half way down in this thread.
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=31248
If you remove the the top half of the case and mount the board with the display directly to the dash kit, it is possible to fit in a half din. If you have a full din of space available, it should be easy.

I suggest buying a wireless SB2 if you have not yet purchased one. You can connect the SB2 to the car PC with a cable and use the wireless to bridge with your home network and sync up with a home Slimserver. It is really handy if you listen to podcasts or add music to your collection frequently.

[JJZolx]

OK. I'll bite. Why? SB is already a right PITA to use from the remote, though a dream from the web. Now that's a minor hassle at home, but a major safety issue in your car.

I'm with you. I just can't see how you can create a safe, effective user interface for use in a car audio application. A voice controlled interface is about the only thing that makes any sense. That, or you concede that you have no control over the device while driving. You either just play random mode or else you pull over and park the car to queue a long playlist.

The thing I really don't get is how you can use the remote interface when there are no physical buttons on the SB. Do you use the remote control held two inches away from the dash-mounted Squeezebox? Or maybe you duct-tape the remote control to the gear shift. Either way, it's pretty silly.

[Beann50]

I've tried several different car setups and this has been the easiest way to deal with having a large collection of music to choose from. The idea of a voice activated setup is nice, but I haven't found any software that works well with my scratchy voice.

I usually leave the remote in the cup holder in my center console. I can pick up and use the remote without looking at it as my arm is always resting on the console anyway. Even my non-technical girlfriend does not have any problems operating the SB while driving. This weekend, I let my 10 year-old nephew select the music and it took about 5 seconds for me to explain to him how it worked.

What amazes me is that the original poster asked a simple question hoping to get some helpful suggestions. Instead of that, several people chose to say that his whole idea is bad. I can understand suggesting a different type of system if you have experience with it, but there is no reason to bash other's ideas when you haven't even seen or tried the setup.

[Porter]

OK. I'll bite. Why? SB is already a right PITA to use from the remote, though a dream from the web. Now that's a minor hassle at home, but a major safety issue in your car.

Plus what does it do that an Ipod + Apple lossless won't, for which there's hundreds of exisitng auto interfaces I believe. Or am I just on a totally different planet. I don't understand why MP3 isn't good enough in the car, it's a noisy environment and the acoustics suck bigtime.

But hey, it's your life and your money. I'm just curious - and I'd really prefer to be on a different highway when you choose to change tracks on your rig

You've made a number of assumptions about my motivations that are incorrect at best, and though I appreciate your input and I think your intentions were good, the suggestions that you've made are insufficent to meet my needs.


First, the cost associated with a high-capacity Ipod and associated hardware (including a good quality direct Ipod-control head unit) skyrockets well north of the $1000 mark. I already own a decent portable player that I am using in the car, and I dislike it generally as a solution. The squeezebox solution is shaping up into a $300 project, total. If I already owned a 60GB Ipod, that would be great... but I don't.

Second, I have a great deal of music in FLAC format, and the idea of transcoding hundreds of albums worth of audio just to have it available in a separate system in the car is an inconvenience that would invalidate the whole rationale of using digital audio in the first place.


So, my solution is to add a digital interface to the car that
A) supports the storage of 150+GB of data in a mobile format
B) doesn't involve fiddling with a wired handheld player while driving, which I would tend to drop/break/etc
C) supports the playback of all of my music in its current file format
D) provides a quality line-out signal (proper impedance) from a decent D/A converter.


So, your suggestion may work for you (and I hope it works well for you), but it doesn't meet my needs.

[bludragon]

I would say, SB in car with wireless sync capability when you're parked at home is just about the ultimate solution.

However, a head unit that supports a USB mass storage device, combined with a portable hdd that doesn't need an external powersupply, works very well. Several companies do one or two models now for not too much money. The emphasis is still ipod, which I really don't get, as it is far more expensive to get an ipod than a portable drive, and then you have to mess about pulling the ipod in and out every time you get in and out of the car.

I got a kenwood head unit and an 80 gig drive for ~£200. I've used some velcro pads to attach the hdd under the dash, evey month or so, I can reach under there and pull it out to add new tunes. Tunes are converted from FLAC to a suitable format by foobar, which did not take too long to set up. Works very brilliantly, and I could never go back to cds in the car now. Of course, like all aftermarked head units, I now have to take the face of the radio all the time (vs the manufacturer one), it's too bright at night, and the (unamped) sound is pretty ugly compared to my home system.