The Mégane II Owners' Club

The car is a 2007 Renault Megane Sport Saloon 1.5dci Lux Privilege.

It's a little different from a stock one especially on the inside, where the main attraction is the fully integrated carpc. The basic idea was to integrate almost everything so that in the end the car would have a stock look...

The computer consists of a 1.8Ghz Celeron CPU with 1GB DDRAM, a 260GB HDD and loads of USB devices. The computer is mounted in the glove box. For that I needed to modify the Travla C137 case a little bit so that it would fit in there. Everything is powered by an Opus 150W PSU.
The "cool" thing about mounting it in the glove box, is that the carpc is cooled by the AC at all times. Also in the glove box we can see the IR sensor from the cordless notebook size keyboard.



The screen for the computer is a 7" Hitachi custom mounted on top of the center console. The console is custom made, and it's based on the X3/Z4 OEM navi, custom modified to match the Megane's dashboard and it's a motorized fold in/out type of monitor.











The entire PC is controlled from one single point...everything from mouse movement to volume adjustment is made from the SpaceNavigator located just above the handbrake.
Some of the functions like volume control next/previous song or play list shuffle are also available on the modified steering wheel control, where we can see the Griffin Powermate integrated in there as well.





There are a lot of USB devices hooked up to the CarPC, like:
1. DVB TV Tuner with the antenna hidden away in the stock tweeter location.
2. FM Tuner
3. GPS BU 303 mouse also hidden in the same location
4. The 2.7" Mio H610 custom navigation located in the clocks is also permanently hook up to the PC through an USB port. It's antenna is also hidden in a stock tweeter location.
5. Griffin Powermate in the steering wheel controls
6. USB joystick for the actual steering wheel controls
7. USB DVD player - mounted just below the factory CD player
8. USB Wifi stick - also hidden in the dashboard
9. USB GSM modem for Internet connection
10.Bluetooth for phone connection and for a mini Bluetooth Keyboard.
Future plans:
11.USB Rear Parking sensors - coming soon
12.USB Tyre Presure Monitoring Sensors - coming soon
13.USB Valetine One radar Detector - coming soon

Of ocurse navigation could've easily been implemented on the carpc, but the fact is the pc is handling so many devices and it can do so many things, I just didn't want the screen to be always showing the navigation.
That's why I decided to have a separate navigation system. Custom mounted inside the clocks it's a 2.7" Touch screen Mio H610 navigation system. You can see in the first pic the factory clocks that come with the Megane. I also changed the background foil with a black one, sprayed with black the inner plastic rings, and added two chrome rings that really give the interior a premium touch.
The key and STOP light have been also relocated in the left/right of the trip computer.











Hooked up to the front monitor is also a rear view camera mounted in the rear badge of the car.



One of the most interesting things the CarPC does is the DSP feature. I have no head unit, so the sound commes out of the PC directly into the 3 amplifiers mounted in the trunk.
So the sound is processed by the PC with the help of the Audiotrack Prodigy 7.1 HiFi Sound card (made by ESI) and a few very smart bits of software.
The sound system is a 4 way active system and it consists of the following:
- tweeters: Helix RS801 Competition custon mounted in the side mirror supports
- midrange: DLS Iridium 3" custom mounted in the front doors (the design is not yet finished)
- midbas: Focal Polyglass - will soon be changed with Helix RS806
- Subwoofer: Phase Thriller 15” in custom case inside the trunk
- amplifier for the mids and tweeters is a Helix DB4
- amplifier for the midbas is a Helix DB2
- amplifier for the subwoofer is a Phase Linear RS1 monoblock
Again, the sound install was ment to be as low profile as possible...that's why the subwoofer and amplifiers are hidden away for the untrained eye...

A few pics of the sound system:
















As for the car, the exterior is almost stock, only the bumpers and side protections have been painted to match the car and a window chrome strip has been added. Also the rear lights and the side repetears have been smoked, an Eibach Pro kit has been fitted to lower the car just a bit, and the 17" Wolfrace wheels.
There also little details like the interior ambient light, LED mirror turn signals, mirror ambient lights, spray window washers borrowed from the Laguna or high beam HID lights (the low beam is HID from factory) were also fitted.

Amazing!

I especially like the factory-like finish. Any pics of the construction phase?

How long does it take for the high beams to 'kick in'? I mean, the xenons usually take a few seconds to 'wake up'.

Fanbloodytastic job.....and great car. In my book the saloon is an absolutely great looking car, especially this one.

Thanks Terry!


Cheers TheFinn. Coming from you means something. You're car is amazing! I do have a few construction pics, but for what part exactly would you like to see?
Unfortunately I do have issues with the high beam...it takes a few seconds to kick in, much much longer than the factory HID low beam...I think I'll swap them in place f the fog lights, but I really do like the flash effect they have...too bad there isn't a HID kit that lights up almost instantly...

hello,

I am thinking of doing the gps mod you have done but without the pc install, i did install a 2 din gps unit previously but it was stolen within two weeks of fitting it, so am reluctant to put any more pc/gps systems in the car that can be stolen.

before i buy a h610 please could you answer some questions?

please can you post some pics of the rear of the instrument console or explain how you fit the h610 and how you got the instrument display around the touch screen so neat!!

how do you turn the 610 on and off when it is behind the instrument panel, is there a setting in the 610 to turn it on/off with the car power adapter being powered up/down when the accessory power is on in the car or are you using the usb power on setting from the car pc you have installed?

what gps program are you using in the pictures you displayed?



thanks a lot in advance

simon
manchester uk

Hello Simon,


unfortunately I don't have any pics of the back of the instrument cluster. The H610 fits almost perfectly in between the clusters...but it doesn't fit perfectly without a bit of sanding on the side of the H610's plastic body. So in order to get it in there in get's in there really well left/right. But up/down, that's another story...First of all, there is no way to fit it with the Board Computer and the 3 warning lights on the bottom...so all the middle part from the clusters has been cut, starting from the bottom with the three warning lights and all the way up to the Board Computer. The gaps have been filled in with fiber glass, smoothed with filled, primer and paint. Also, the Board computer has been slightly shortened in hight, but also in width so that the key and Stop lights relocated to the left/right of the BC would have enough room.
The software is the one that come from Mio, Mio Map.

Thanks for the last post, one last one, how do you turn the h610 on and off?

Sorry...missed that one the first time...


The H610 has a power on/off button. A simple relay turns it on and off when the ignition is on/off.

so have you removed the battery and soldered onto the on/off button of the gps unit ? or have you used the orignal car power supply, sorry its confusing when you cant see it and i have not yet got the h610 i have bought one today but waiting for it to arrive, just collecting parts for the build.

what i am meaning is how do you get to the on off button on the gps unit to turn it on/off when it is on the side/top and this is under the instrument panel or have you modified the gps units on/off button/wiring.

thanks

simon

You could make it easier by just soldering two wires on the power button. You can then connect these two wires to a button on the steering wheel controls of your choice.

thats what i was thinking of doing but like the idea of it coming on when i press the ignition/accessorie button it would feel more standard.

what type of relay did you use and for the benefit of myself and others is there any chance you could do a quick diagram on paint or something or explain

is the on off button one press for on one press for off? or push and lock?

thanks for your time.

simon

I don't know much about the relay because a friend of mine made it for me. There is a downside with using a relay however...the power button of the H610 is just like a keyboard button, so it's one press and it's on, same button, same press, and it's off. The downside is, you could enter a loop...if you start only the ignition and not the car, the nav switches on, but when you actually start the car with the ignition turned on, the nav switches off...this is a tricky one to overcome...I didn't, as I don't usually keep the ignition turned on. Anyway, you'd be better of with a simple button on the steering wheel controls.

i have had a think and a play about and found the starter button produces a push on non latching action and is not 12v so i am going to take a feed from this for the power button, will let you know if it works.

thanks

simon

Let us know.