CD-ROM Car Cup Holder

13

Who would make a car with one cup holder in the front? GM that’s who :). Well that is even an over statement since the cup holder spot is also where the ash tray goes. Here are a few easy steps to add a much needed cup holder to your vehicle. You will need a few common hand tools, a spare computer CD-ROM drive and a voltage regulator.
There is a video of the final product on the last page!

Step one is to find a place to put the new cup holder, how about where the radio is? Sounds like a plan.

Pages: 1 2 3 4

You May Also Like

USB Barbie Doll

Hard Disk Clock by Martin Stromer

Modified Ink Printer Prints Electronic Circuits

13 Comments



  2. i know its off topic, but how did you install that keypad? and does it control your ignition? if you have a writeup on that id love to read it… hit me back at big528hemi@hotmail.com


  3. Hi Shawn,

    It does control the ignition. It was installed in the car when I purchased it though.


  4. well…crap. guess ill have to figure it out on my own then. by the way, is that a sunfire? somebody saw the picture and said it was


  6. Yes it is a Sunfire. Nice find, that module seems interesting. I would have thought there was a controller box somewhere and that unit was just a matrixed keypad. By the look of the simple design it looks like someone could simply cut the keypad module out of the circuit and hot wire it.


  7. perhaps, but if the keypad was recessed into the dash or wherever it was mounted, it would be diffucult. i think that it is probably more for the cool factor than security.


  8. that’s fantastic but I am having a bit of trouble following your wiring (I’m not techno pro so forgive me).

    Could you draw up a basic diagram (or anyone else) please?

    I have the parts but am not sure about wiring it up! :S


  10. Thanks, I’ll see how I go. Unfortunately I burnt out the button on my last DVD drive whilst trying to wire up another button to it. If I ever get it to work it will be pretty awesome.


  11. I wired it up and it worked like a charm =) So happy.

    However, the regulator was extremely hot after about 1 minute of being connected :/ Is this meant to happen? How can I fix this?

    Thanks!!!


  12. Depending on how much current the 5 volt control circuit draws it could get hot. Generally for more than 100mA of continuous draw you will need to operate with a heat sink. If the regulator you got is a to220 case style http://www.ges.cz/images/pictures/t/to220.jpg then you can get something like this to bolt onto it http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?parentPage=search&summary=summary&cp=&productId=2102857&accessories=accessories&kw=heat+sink&techSpecs=techSpecs&currentTab=summary&custRatings=custRatings&sr=1&features=features&origkw=heat+sink&support=support&tab=summary

    The normal configuration of a LM7805 has the center pin and tab being common meaning you could also mount it to the metal of your car to sink the heat.


  13. Awesome, thanks for the help! I have the day off tomorrow so I’ll give that a go. Hopefully I can get it all done in a day though I am doubtful!

    I’m also going to have to borrow a solder sucker to rewire the button in a more convenient place.

    My next project is a bush starter button that is wired in to the top of my gear shift knob. 🙂 That’ll be hot.

Comments are closed.