Mounting a laptop computer in a 4wd
Submitted: Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 10:24
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Greg
Can anyone please help with suggestions for mounting a laptop computer either in front of the passenger or in the centre console area of a 4wd. I would imagine some form of cushioning will be required to prevent vibrations. Protection from the sun may also be needed. Sitting it on a pillow on the passengers lap or the
seat does not meet my requirements.
Reply By: Phil G - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 11:05
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 11:05
Mine is mounted on a stalk between the front seats above and behind the centre console. I prefer not to have it in front of me. Can see it from both sides. On top of the stalk, I have mounted a piece of ply, glued car carpet to it and I use velcro to attach the laptop. Sits
well and the carpet/velcro is solid while giving some vibration protection.
AnswerID:
16767
Follow Up By: ExplorOz Team - David - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 13:13
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 13:13
Phil,
How have you mounted the stalk and what is it made from?Regards
ExplorOz Team - David
--------------------------
Always working, not enough travelling ;-)
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Follow Up By: Phil G - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 20:53
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 20:53
David,
The stalk is a single piece of 20mm RHS steel. It "sits" on the hump in the middle of the Prado's back
seat and is secured to one of the big bolts for the rear
seat. One bolt removes it. In the event of a collision, I anticipate it would fold down and forward, but don't plan on testing that!
I also fit a cage for extra water and fuel instead of the 2nd row of seats and the laptop can also attach to that. I've emailed some photos to info@exploroz
Cheers
Phil
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Reply By: Pilbara Lad - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 12:51
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 12:51
This just has to be an opportunity/market for the budding entrepeneurs out there.Do or Do Not - there is no try !
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Follow Up By: Member - Willem- Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 19:52
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 19:52
Hi
Pilbara Lad...........Just how many owners does this vehicle have as I seen it with Coops, Allyn and ? Just wonderingCheers, Willem
Never a dull moment
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Follow Up By: Allyn (Pilbara) - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 21:41
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 21:41
I have an identity problem, that's for sure !Do or Do Not - there is no try !
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10505
Reply By: Member - Glenn(VIC) - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 13:02
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 13:02
Greg,
I am in the same boat as you. If anyone has any photos of how they have done it could the email them or direct me to any sites that have examples.Just Do It!
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Follow Up By: Member - Peter (WA) - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 14:21
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 14:21
me to please re photos phewitson@westnet.com.auBorn to drive a 4x4 , not a keyboard
Peter
York 4x4
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - Lex - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 13:52
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 13:52
Mounting a laptop is very difficult and time consuming.Ihad partial success with a tray mounted in the central storage bin of a L/C 100 series but there is less room between the seats in a Patrol.
I gave up trying and bought a Ipaq handheld which mounts beautifully on the dash in front of me with velcro. Runs OziExplorer CE.Great screen with little or no reflection.Keep the PC tucked away for occasions when tou need to downlooad other maps etc.
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Member - Moggs - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 14:51
Reply By: Member - Colin (ACT region) - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 15:02
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 15:02
A friend has his laptop mounted in a frame in the centre just behind the front seats. The frame sits between the roof and the top of his 160 litre aluminium aux. fuel tank (which replaces the rear seats)! He has the full set of 1:250 000 topo maps loaded which is connected to the GPS so you can see the moving picture in the rear view mirror. The unit slides out easily so you can use it out of the car. I dont believe he has had any trouble with dust or vibration, althogh the GPS played up on our CSR trip in 2001 (a set of paper maps is a good idea for these remote trips!). This setup is in a Subaru
Liberty - of course!Colin - Subaru Forester
- size isn't everything ! -
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Follow Up By: Outnabout David (SA) - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 08:52
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 08:52
Colin,
If you are looking through the rear view mirror aren't all the maps back to front?We have so little time to enjoy our land
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Follow Up By: Member - Colin (ACT region) - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 11:38
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 11:38
? mekborp a taht sIColin - Subaru Forester
- size isn't everything ! -
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Reply By: Member - Moggs - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 15:11
Reply By: Grinner - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 15:55
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 15:55
I had mine sitting on a board on the front passenger
seat. I moulded the bottom of the board to sit flush with the contours of the
seat (used thin mdf) and covered the top of the board with vinyl. I used some of those plastic clips that hold window flywire screens in place to hold the laptop on the board. Set the laptop on an angle so that you could see the screen just by glancing down at it.
I now have someone sitting in my front passenger
seat (yippee!) and need to think of another way. Ideally I'd like to mount the laptop somewhere out of the way (under the
seat or infront of the cargo barrier) and use a small 5 or 6 inch LCD screen mounted somewhere on the dash. Any ideas where I can find these screens relativley cheap?
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Reply By: Member - Raymond - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 20:04
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 20:04
Hi Greg
I am 3/4 of the way through installing the laptop in the GU. As I am using it mainly for moving maps with the gps I have mounted the Laptop in a pocket made for marine ply (overkill but I had some lying around) which is lined with marine carpet with extra foam at the bottom. The pocket has cut outs for the cables and for the fan. The front of the pocket only comes up half way so that the battery does not get hot. The IBM is powered of a 300 watt inverter. The screen is a dropdown LCD screen mounted on the roof.
Will load up photo's next week. (Truckster where are you) for you to look at. I will probably have to send them through to David at ExplorOZ
Raywanderin' in retirement. victor 2010
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Follow Up By: Member - Peter (WA) - Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 20:56
Thursday, Apr 03, 2003 at 20:56
Raymond I have just ordered a laptop (my first) Iam new to computer stuff what is LCD screen ? is it seperate from main laptop ? how much does it cost ? and how does it plug into the laptop ? I am thinking of a screen that I saw for running DVDs in the car am I right or way off track ? also what are the advantages of this system? SO MANY QUESTIONS SO LITTLE TIME???????Born to drive a 4x4 , not a keyboard
Peter
York 4x4
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Reply By: Member - Allan - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 01:02
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 01:02
Greg, the in-dash stereo / TV units have now come down in price and most have aux inputs that you could use with your laptop. The laptop could stay tucked away in a safe place. Other bonus it can be used to play DVD's for those travelling with
young ones. Mine is an Alpine system and I plug the video camera into the aux input to view/playback. Marlows do quite a cheap in-dash as well.
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Follow Up By: Janset - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 11:30
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 11:30
Hi guys.
I was talking to another guy about a remote LCD screen but he said that he went into it only to find that he could not display the
OziExplorer moving map program on the remote LCD screen. Apparently it had something to do with the pixels.
Are you saying that it can be done and it does work?
Regards
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Follow Up By: Greg - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 14:16
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 14:16
Thanks to all who have replied. I certainly like the idea of using a remote screen. After posting the question I found professional moving arm units with photos on www.motiontouch.com but not sure if anything similar is available in oz.
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Follow Up By: Member - Bob - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 15:36
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 15:36
I just picked up a Samsung 15 " flat screen from Hardly Normal for $540 and am just in the process of fitting it in the vehicle at the moment. It definitely works with the laptop (Toshiba) running
Oziexplorer. The original stand attaches to the monitor by way of 4 screws. With this removed it is a matter of fabricating a plate attached to a swivel arm and then locating its base on the dash somewhere. The swivel arm came from a light fitting and cost $20 (I wanted an iMac arm but they kept watching me in the store). I'll photograph it when complete.
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Follow Up By: Member - Allan - Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 23:29
Friday, Apr 04, 2003 at 23:29
Janset, I have not used the moving map software but I can not see why it would be a problem. The remote screen looks the same as what is on the main screen (spreadsheets included) so I assume it would work. Anyone else experienced any problems before I fork out $ for any software or maps?
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Reply By: Janset - Saturday, Apr 05, 2003 at 15:32
Saturday, Apr 05, 2003 at 15:32
Hi Allan.
I have
OziExplorer on my laptop and have just wired up my iPAQ 3870 PDA to replace the laptop as it is more convenient for me.
Getting back to your question. If you can run any other program on your laptop and view it on your external monitor screen then I can see no problems that you might experience with the OxiExplorer program running 'moving maps', after all it is nothing ,more that just another program.
My concern was that the external screen (your proposal) was not compatible with a PC/Laptop as the resolution may be different.
Enjoy your 'Moving Map" program, its a ripper!
Regards
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