Car Stereo In a Pc?

[ac1d 53rp3n7]

Hey, First of all I would like to appologise as I think this is in the wrong category, Second, Please only reply if you actually know the answer or have some useful information, and now onto the question...
Is it possible to mount the car audio (controll drive) in a drive bay on a pc and wire it up as an aux input?

Thanks, Dave.

 

[soundguruman]

yes, it can be wired into the audio input. you already have 12 volts inside, why not? There is usually only one analog audio input, but you can "Y" the connections.
You must use a radio with a line level output. (RCA jacks)
Do not hook the speaker outputs of the radio to the computer audio input. The computer only takes a line level audio signal.

 

[anwaypasible]

of course you need to measure the drive bay to see if it will fit without needing to be cut.
you might have to custom mount the hardware if it is too big or too small.
and that means you need to have a good look at the material you are cutting to know if there is enough room for the cut and if the area is strong enough, or big enough to add support.

i would suggest some caution.
a car audio device might emit more energy than a computer device.
you dont need the emitted energy making a mess of the functionality of the computer.

premium rca cords should help with any electrical interference from the cord.
but simply powering the car audio unit into the power supply of the computer might cause a problem.
depends on how dirty the electricity is of the car audio unit.

computers can work with stains and spills in the electricity.. but car electronics are probably better in such situations.

worst case scenario.. you find a car audio unit that is clean, but maybe it has a fan on the back that spits out lots of interference.
that interference might be harmless to the car audio unit.. but it might be a nightmare for whatever the fan is close to.

maybe you need some 'electronic radiation sheild' paper.
or a rubber mat and place the car audio unit on top of the pc case.

the electronics are essentially a different class from eachother.
as a computer runs its function on very small voltages, meaning electronic interference can degrade the function (or make it not work at all)
shielding can certainly help.. as one would think the motherboard has some shielding of its own to prevent damage or problems.

let's say some car audio units are safe for the computer.. and some arent.
you dont have to look for 'trunk mounted' in the description of the car audio device, because most of the cars have absolutely nothing behind the radio inside the dash.
many of the electronic heating and air conditioning controls are analog.

anything running on electricity can be affected when met with something close to the electricity it is running at.
no shielding to prevent such a thing allows for smaller amounts of electricity to cause a problem.

i dont think anybody here wants to see you harm your computer (or the opposite, and harm the car audio unit)

for one to actually know, they would have to know the model number of your motherboard.. what other devices are installed.. where those devices are located.. where you plan on putting the car audio unit.. and to know the car audio unit itself.

some people cant afford to replace hardware when it is broken.
other people cant afford doing it wrong and breaking something.

you might run a benchmark program for overclocking to detect electronic errors.
but
that doesnt mean a piece on the motherboard is connected to the processor to show a problem. if the piece is doing something else, then a different part of the motherboard could break.

the situation isnt for the light-hearted.
somebody might give wrong advice.. or you simply have the wrong combination of hardware.
SOMEBODY has to be able to visually see or detect electronic inteference.
i'm sure they make tools for doing it.
it would be best to bring the car audio device and the computer to someone who has such a tool, to let them 'actually know' if it is safe.

if a person knows what the car audio unit is.. they dont know if it was repaired.
the repair might have caused new electronic inteference being emitted.
sure, that person might say 'the metal is designed to keep the interference inside of the unit'
but
that doesnt mean it isnt escaping from a fan or hole where there is a missing screw.
or even an aftermarket screw that was used in place of a lost screw.
that one screw might be acting like an antenna, leading to a problem.

to 'actually know' is to be a special person.. or a person who has the special tool.

i am the type of person to say, it is better to be safe than sorry.
it might be 'possible' to do it.. but maybe the motherboard dies early.
'safe' is a matter of how long you expect the motherboard to function, and if the combination of the two pieces of hardware exceed that duration of time.

and when you ask somebody if they did it and found it to be safe.. you dont know if they had the car audio unit 3-4ft away from the computer causing it to be safe.

ask yourself if it is worth replacing something if/when somebody is wrong.

 

[ac1d 53rp3n7]

Thanks for the help, it looks like you spent a lot of time researching into this so... well... thanks