The Planning Phase

So I've been thinking a lot lately about what exactly I'm going to do with my mighty wagon now that I've actually got one. Should I do a full restoration and try to keep it perfectly stock? Do I make it the ultimate green vehicle? Should I just strive to make it live comfortably off the grid while camping? Perhaps convert it into a mobile office? Dog kennel? All of the above? Who knows? Right now I'm just putting together a few crazy ideas, mulling them around, doing some preliminary research, and then seeing what sticks. I live for this kind of stuff.

Anyway, today I've been thinking about electronics. This is largely because of an idea I had to try to only buy second-hand items for the van. So I was browsing craigslist and I ran into something that I wasn't expecting. It was a Mac Mini computer sitting there for $350. The coolest thing about this little box was that it is about the dimensions of a cd jewel case but an inch or two tall. My Dad has been talking about building a car computer for a little while and I immediately thought about what a perfect car computer that little Mac would make. For some reason the Vanagon just seems like it should be powered by a Mac. Plus, its easy to convert its adapter to use 12V power and when on it only draws around 30W. They are also using a laptop harddrive so it would do a pretty good job of dealing with road vibrations. After a little research I decided that I can probably find one of these mini computers for around $250 if I'm patient. Since I have no idea when I'll be ready to install it I shouldn't have any problem waiting around.

So I've been thinking of what I could do with a car computer besides just watch movies and listen to music.

-First thing I'd do is find a small lcd to mount in the dash along with a gps receiver and I'd make a little navigation system. I'd also probably want to a large dropdown lcd between the driver and passenger seats for watching movies in camp.

-Second, I just picked up a web cam from a coworker for $10 so I should also be able to easily make a backup camera just like the big rigs have. The camera I got is actually an old Playstation 2 eye toy camera so really I should be able to use it as a digital rear view mirror. That would be pretty cool since it would mean that I wouldn't have to futz with the curtains when I drive off.

-Third I was thinking it would be really useful to access Yahoo Yellowpages or something like that from the car so I'll need to get a wifi booster that I can put on the roof so I can take advantage of wireless hotspots whenever they are available

- Another thing that would be really could would be a system for remote monitoring. With a few sensors and a little bit of code I could build a system to publish my cabin temperature, fridge temperature, water stores, aux power, and propane stores to the web so that they could be monitored in real time from everywhere. That would make it a lot easier to safely leave my dog "Bird" in the van without having to worry. I could even set it up to text message me if any system gets to a dangerous level.

- Finally, I could possibly use the computer to optimize energy collection and usage. If I install solar then I should be able to program my own system to automatically adjust the pv panels to maximize collection. I should also be able to automatically turn on fans as needed as well as control lighting. This kind of thing gets me really excited. I might just have to pick up some sensors and start fooling around with some code at home.