Topic: Xbox In Car (Read 110 times)

bettyjunior · « **on:** November 19, 2006, 05:12:00 AM »

Hi Everyone,

I've just about got all of the parts to put my xbox in my car - including building a prototype faceplate which has been rewired to use the buttons from an xbox controller.

I've read a few reports that I'll have to ground the shielding in the AV cable by soldering a wire to it and the body of my car - otherwise i'll apparently get inteference, particularly in the video signal.

I'll be using an inverter to run the xbox, and the screen will most likely be coming straight off DC, so no inverter needed for that.

can anyone out there confirm this about the cable? It'd be annoying to have to do it if i don't have to.

jcdenton2003 · « **Reply #1 on:** November 19, 2006, 01:11:00 PM »

Iv never heard this before.. The Shielding grounds on the Xbox mobo ground when plugged in so i guess i wouldnt hurt to ground the mobo?? I dont see why it would change anything tho? I guess its up to you.. dont think i would bother.

bettyjunior · « **Reply #2 on:** November 19, 2006, 07:01:00 PM »

Sweet - cheers for that.

I'll try it without and then if it plays up i'll go to plan B.

I'll chuck some photos up when I'm done - that way everyone can be envious of my 1992 Nissan Pulsar Q. Zoom!

BigRobTX · « **Reply #3 on:** November 20, 2006, 08:55:00 AM »

i use my xbox in my truck all the time. ive never had issues. i use a 150w inverter to power the box, which sits in the back seat, and wireless logitech controllers. then i just run a/v wires to a 7 inch lcd i have strapped to my visor.

what i would suggest is to move the xbox away from the motor and tranny. they do emit em feilds.

kerbyjames · « **Reply #4 on:** November 21, 2006, 10:24:00 AM »

right i tried putting the xbox in the boot but no avail... any more tips anyone?

HandledOut · « **Reply #5 on:** November 21, 2006, 05:33:00 PM »

All you have to do is ground the xbox case shielding to something like the frame. i've done this, even when you get all the grounds you possibly can, you will have a slight hiss in the background, or atleast it will sound alittle hollow at best. You need a EQ of some kind if you want it to sound good. Another alternate to get around this is to pass everything to a small decoder like the Creative ddts-100 and use upmixing and alter the dynamic compression a tad bit...but that is another 125usd :-/ (so find a cheap EQ)

For the boot up look in the tutorial section on this site for turning a 20usd C battery doorbell into a remote of booting on. Basically, you connect the 3.3v to the front panel, and mod the door bell so that every time it should ring (you of course disable the actual bell), it turns whatever on. Get one that use's 2 C batteries. it can also shut it down, or even you can program another ir remote to operate it. i use XBMC to shut it down, or you could just unplug it (maybe even turn off the car if your lighter doesn't work without a running alternater). i got my doorbell ringer for this purpose from Home Depot, but i'll tell you know, it's a worthless mod i never wound up using, so i took it out.

Also, if you put a touch screen in it, make sure the touch screen is one that requires an external controller. This way, it will almost always work with XBMC. (ikan models are cheap touch screens, but do not work by default, they use software for the controller, so you're looking at spending quite a bit).

kerbyjames · « **Reply #6 on:** November 22, 2006, 06:13:00 AM »

thanks mate.. ill try the grounding in the morning... if thats the case with jsut tacking the shielding to the car does that mean ill be able to house it under the drivers seat again just makes life easier as switching on also when taking unit out is just as easy etc... im not using the touch screen on the dvd as it is just designed for the pioneer add ons and th ebuilt in dvd and all the rest of thouse gizmos... jsut arranging other gadgets in my car i have just installed a in car freeview tuner. and trying to bodge the car ariel into it. anyway tahts anoughter story...

kerbyjames · « **Reply #7 on:** November 22, 2006, 11:09:00 AM »

jsut incase anyone is interested apparently just tacking from the av sheilding does fix it so gunna try that in case of the hissing i just bought of ebay a rca noise filter.. was only 10gbp

HandledOut · « **Reply #8 on:** November 22, 2006, 01:05:00 PM »

Yeh but you want to ground the actual xbox don't you? Seems like it might save you a mobo down the road. Grounding the xbox anywhere will work, but now you would be forcing everything to ground through the av cable. if something bad happens, then xbox would be fried aswell as anything else not grounded up to the xbox (or actually the av cable). Your car stereo is grounded (i hope), so if you ground the actual xbox too then anything in between (ie. the cable) will be ground aswell. Again though, no matter how many grounds you do you will here some hollowness in the sound. i tried to ground everything (even the power cable), and the same exact hollowness always appeared. Ground 1 or everything yield the same sound.

kerbyjames · « **Reply #9 on:** November 23, 2006, 05:09:00 AM »

i couldnt try it today but will try it tomo as working all night and will have a chance to do it tomo before my road trip! got hold of a couple of croc clips so i can ground the actull sheilding only problem im gunna see is that i removed the top sheilding as it its a lE crystal xbox.... might go buy a couple of spare boxes tomo morning as there only 50 GBP for a second hand one here that way i can play around with it

jcdenton2003 · « **Reply #10 on:** November 23, 2006, 06:33:00 AM »

So what do some power converters need you to ground the xbox? Iv done a few before with no ground and they still work perfect?? Only grounded one when i built it into the dashboard but i didnt have to i just thaught it would be for the best if anything went wrong.. Ill just put a bolt through the metal shielding on the inside and through to the plastic around the lan and av connector area so i can slide a earth cable on if i ever need to..

HandledOut · « **Reply #11 on:** November 24, 2006, 03:57:00 PM »

it's not the power inverter, but yeh all inverters should be grounded most defiantely! The xbox doesn't have a earth, notice the plug? So yeh, you got to ground it properly like you would any other car stereo component, which by default the xbox isn't grounded properly (which i'm sure was a factor somehow when all those caught on fire a couple years back). i guess you wouldn't have to ground a toaster to the inverter, but the xbox is not a toaster (could be without a proper gound though).

Anyhow, i know you get it working right (don't forget the EQ). So what do you plan on using for the interface? A wireless controller? You can buy a usb 10key for like 8usd now days, that seems best if you are not using a touch screen. Also are you doing the 5.1 with a decoder of some sort? 5.1 in a car is damn near useless i know, but always something to play with :-).

BTW, what is the model/specs of the speakers you are using?

Also, i don't know what you mean by 12v screen...did i miss something?

Forgot, if you can, remove the hdd from the xbox itself to make it last alittle longer. All the bumps on the road will eventually make the heads loose or scratch the plates. So, really (follow me here), if you wanted to still run games, you could run them all off the hdd right. Well, then dvdrom is only good for what? Movies, data...etc basically non-xiso's. So, now you can use a PC dvdrom. This is good because basically you can chop up the xbox to half height (atleast half), and stick it somewhere with a long enough ribbon to the front console. Obviously being a ribbon that long (i think the spec says don't go longer than 18in), you might get something not working, but it's worth a shot. Mine for instance, i just totally removed the dvdrom all together. There is though ata133 ribbons tested for higher than 24", but i've never used one. Think about if you really need that dvdrom all the time or maybe just some of the time using it as usb in xboxlinux. Remember though, if possible use one of those shock packs (~8usd) around the hdd if you can.

kerbyjames · « **Reply #12 on:** November 27, 2006, 06:19:00 AM »

hi all well got it working in the end...
xbox now in the boot (trunk as far as you guys are concerned) just soldered a bit of wire to one of the xbox's screws and to the shielding on the ethernet.... then those both went to the tacking point where my subs amp is connected....

ive got a 160 gig hd in there at the mo this is only a a testing stage atm as im working out what im gunna do with it and besides found out today im getting rid of my car in march as im buying a new toyota MR-S so thanks to all for all your help!

so in conclusion for anyone getting a buzzing and noisiy screen from their xbox with a car headunit/screen solder a cable to the sheilding and then to the body of the car... it does work... also using a lil gadget i picked up off ebay that reduces noise through aux's

cheers lads!

Author Topic: Xbox In Car (Read 110 times)