Car modder installs water-cooled LED-backlit LCD

If you think hooking your ride up with an in-car PC is 1337, or if you were impressed with Samsung's lineup of LED-backlit LCDs earlier today, you'll probably admire this one as well. For reasons unknown to mere men, a crafty car modder set out to not only install a water-cooled LED-backlit LCD into his ride, but to actually construct it. Taking a 12.1-inch widescreen display, he replaced the CCFL lamp with no fewer than 32 one-watt Luxeon LEDs, resulting in brightness akin to staring at the world's largest star. Additionally, he utilized a liquid-cooling setup which he later stated wasn't entirely necessary, but it does give you one more reason to boast. While we highly doubt the novice DIY crowd should try to replicate this without tons of dough and time to waste, be sure to click on through for a few more works-in-progress shots, or hit the read link for the full skinny.

[Via Hack-A-Day]

[Just.Rob @ Feb 1st 2007 10:01PM]

IT'S A BOMB!!!

[Edward @ Feb 1st 2007 10:39PM]

no.

its the bomb

[Josh @ Feb 1st 2007 10:09PM]

Seems to have gone from impossible to see to washed out, hopefully he can control how much power is flowing through the bulbs in order to dim the light and not wash all detail out.

pretty sweet though, wish my ES300 had some sweet stuff like that in it... just seems like it takes alot of knowledge of car electronics that i lack all together.

[Redian @ Feb 1st 2007 10:13PM]

haha yeah i know trhis caravan, he sold it though... hes got a caddy and is doing the same thing to it ^^ its somewhere on the mp3car forums

check out his thread, its freakin' amazing

[SpeZek @ Feb 1st 2007 10:43PM]

"...resulting in brightness akin to staring at the world's largest star."

I never realized earth had stars in it. How mesmerizing.

[Hugh Jass @ Feb 2nd 2007 2:05AM]

LOL...

[Shibathedog @ Feb 1st 2007 11:15PM]

Its a bomb hahahahaha. (He was referencing the Aqua Teen LED bomb scare if you didnt get it)

[DWells55 @ Feb 2nd 2007 12:02AM]

Just.Rob, that was easily the greatest first post ever and literally had me laughing out loud. Thanks, that really was a great reference to the whole ATHF thing.

On topic, I suppose this is pretty cool idea for seeing the thing is daylight, but doesn't it appear that the backlight has completely thrown off his color and contrast?

[me duh @ Feb 2nd 2007 1:23AM]

why are people suddenly making allusions to the aqua teen hunger force?
Has the 'what's old is new again' force gone so way out of whack that something that isn't even from the last decade yet is already re-coolified?
Besides having always sucked!

[Aaron @ Feb 2nd 2007 4:48AM]

I agree that Aqua Teen Hunger Force sucks and always has, but the reason people are suddenly bringing it up is this:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/31/aqua-teen-hunger-force-viral-ads-cause-boston-bomb-scare/

The joke is more about that story than the actual TV show.

[karmaghsot @ Feb 2nd 2007 7:02AM]

Awesome mod, but will it blend?

JUST KIDDING! I meant to say that the image looks a little washed out, don't ya think?

[rj @ Feb 2nd 2007 8:12AM]

same as others... looks terrible imo. washed out... with a green hue. how wonderful.

[john @ Feb 2nd 2007 8:39AM]

hey guys, a camera image is not the best way to judge the image of a really bright screen, this shot gives you an idea of the difference in brightness.... in person this screen looks great...

consider that the average lcd screen will be totally unreadable in the direct sun to the point that it can be really hard to even tell if it's on or not, forget about reading & using it.... this one is easily viewable & usable even in direct sunlight, which was the goal of this project...

also keep in mind that this screen can be, & normally is dimmed quite a bit from max in normal use, it is a huge improvement over an average lcd, unless youv'e tried to use an average lcd in the sun it may be hard to comprehend what this mod really is:)

[srw @ Feb 2nd 2007 9:50AM]

Likely not street legal in Boston..

[Ryan @ Feb 2nd 2007 9:57AM]

Maybe it's because I work in Houston--where the car thieves would rival those of any other city--but I don't understand the need to mount all of this stuff in your vehicle. Buy a nicer car, a good laptop (e.g. a MacBook), and a mobile broadband card, and away you go--without having to desecrate your dashboard. As for navigation, get a Treo, a Bluetooth GPS receiver, and a Telenav subscription and you're set. The best part is that all of this stuff fits in a briefcase (or man-purse, depending on how you like to rock). Bottom line is that at the end of the day, all of these things can be REMOVED.

This guy did a great job, though. Made for a very interesting read.

[john @ Feb 2nd 2007 12:36PM]

funny... in my new caddy I have my Fujitsu tablet & an evdo card that I have to use temporarily, till I have the time to install... it sucks to use it like this though, functional maybe, but not acceptable as anything but a temporary solution to me....

I can't wait to desecrate that dash too:)

a PC in my car is as much a necessity to me as your a/c may be to you, sure if you HAD to do without it you could, but you wouldn't want to

I wouldn't want to ever have to drive a car that didn't have a PC in it... it's like a cell phone, once you have it you wouldn't want to not have it:)

there is no car on the market that would fill my needs & wants, I can't buy what I want so I have to build it.

I do wish I could be content propping a tablet up in my car but I can't...