Jeep adventure wrecked my Empeg. Time To Patch it together or buy one!

Hi! I've been around even before mark 1 shipped. I love empeg! Never made it to a meet or got to code anything due to that thing called life - but i swear by it and to this day everyone is curious/jealous of it.

Unfortunately looks like i toasted the Hard Drives on a road trip across the country where i drove around for 3 months. I repaired it on the road, but then I lost the screws for the shock plate at a camp site and the HD stopped working coming down from the Grand Canyon Rim.

Then I had to cross a flash flooded river and shorted out the MB. I almost have a new one patched together but the screen is garbled (MB fuse maybe or cable - cable frayed!)


If you are interested - here is a little Empeg powered Jeep off road action video!

Wow, there's wrecking an empeg and then there's wrecking an empeg. At least you had fun doing it!

Good luck getting a working player again!

No glamour shot of the empeg in the video?
Looks like a great time. You should be able to pick up a replacement readily, they pop in the the For Sale section often enough.

Seem like a CF card and adapter would be "just about necessary".

If this is too personal just ignore. How were you able to take three months and just drive around off road?

I guess I’m a slave to my possessions and worry about the future too much to dump my job and hope my money holds out until I’m done playing and can hopefully find a new job. Of course maybe if I was rich I’d have a different mind-set.

It's not too personal - although the grass always seems greener on the other side - I actually was asked that question by some people i met on my travels included border officers. I dont have a family (wife, parents or kids) and I am not tied to my possessions, i dont even watch TV and I currently work in a capacity that I dont have a 9-5. Working now to close a deal that hopefully will free me to do it again for a run to Burning Man with my lasers and empeg all ready to rock.

I probably am a good target for a SSD drive this time around - right now i just realized time marches on - i dont even have a serial port on the PC anymore , time to try to fix it from the linux box.

Yes I am envious. Sounds like you have a good handle on life and you’re living it well.

I’m trying to free up my ties so I can do some traveling. Though riding around in an RV isn’t anywhere near as close to your Jeep adventure but it is as close as an old geezer with a family can get.

Don't forget to check your tranny and diff fluids after deep water crossings. It may continue to run fine, but if there's water in there, it'll eventually do damage.

Did you drive Diamond Creek Road down into the Grand Canyon? Always wanted to do that while I was living in AZ.

I did not, but I shall do it soon! Im still driving around on the west coast and kinda got a job here and I still have my patched together empeg - although I am desperately missing buttons. Somehow in traveling I lost a few, I hope I can buy some from someone still! I now installed a samsung tablet into my dash and have it connected with Bluetooth torque, etc. Its amazing! but i still have my empeg below it rocking the tunes (rotary audio control keeps me from getting a ticket! sometimes u neeed to turn the music down and fast!)

here is what my setup looks like now - i gutted my climate controls (kinda wish I had defogger back!)

What I'd love to do is to be able to connect from the tablet to the empeg and transfer files (mp3's mostly) via the in car wifi hotspot i also embedded in the dash. The software on the tablet I have make driving and working while near the car awesome!




I wanna say thanks for all you guys who kept this alive this time and the team who created it. I mean even with the super tablet in, people still ask, hey where the heck did u get that head unit? Mine is still serving me mega well and the SSD and the empeg has not failed me in 125 degree heat, below zero, wet, dry, burning man, working like a dog in the field.

Oh yeah! About to head to the desert now blasting the mighty empeg!

mlord did some Ethernet adapters for the empeg cage which might be exactly what you need to get that connected up. If I have time later, I'll dig one out and get the measurements -- it's a block of wood, basically.

Yeah, just a precisely machined block of MDF, that installs with a single screw through an existing opening in the back of the dash mount. One then inserts a suitable length of cat5 cable through, crimps a fresh RJ45 connnector onto it, and then pulls it snug into the locating groove. Mates perfectly with the empeg every time.

For a single one-of construction, make a block to fit snugly into the area behind the empeg's ethernet jack, and drill an oversize hole for the ethernet cable to pass through. Insert the empeg, insert the cable from behind, and then fill the gaps with some hot-melt glue. Once it hardens, everything should remain exactly aligned. Easier to do with the car sled out of the dash, though.

For Wifi, just plug a Wifi travel router gizmo into the other end of the cable, and find +5V power for it somewhere.

Edit: I just now had a look around for one, but it seems even my "last one" is gone. Found the Home Dock jigs and a couple of unassembled docks, with their own version of the MDF ethernet block, but not the version to fit a car sled.

Cheers

Snap the tab off first

thanks! that is brilliant mlord!

that is awesome idea for the ethernet port. Then I can connect various was to the empeg from a android based TTY term or sync wirelessly from a laptop.