Case and power supply

The case and M3-ATX power supply arrived during the week and the motherboard was installed into the case. Here is the picture of the M3-ATX and picopsu-80. The differences between the two power supplies are that picopsu expect a regulated 12V input while M3-ATX can have a wide range input 6-24V. While picopsu works just like a normal desktop power supply, M3-ATX has in-car specific features like turning computer on when key in ignition and remote ON for amplifier to eliminate thump. M3-ATX is on the left.

There is no hole or port for serial so I made one.

More update, just before the end of the week, two more parts arrived. It is the radio connector and Melexis’s TH3122 kbus transceiver IC. The bezel is expected to arrive this week.

Amplifier construction

The amplifier IC came in just before the new year weekend. TDA7560 is quad 45W bridge amplifier IC, datasheet.Supporting components and parts for the amplifier box were acquired and build up started. Pictures!

In the end, the amplifier worked on the first try, no smoke or burning power supply. The amplifier has a fixed gain – no gain control on the box – so volume control comes from the computer itself. still need to be done is air vent on the box so the heat from the amplifier can escape the box.

Update on other stuff, still waiting for the case and connector. Bezel was bought from Janus design.