ODB-II hacking using an Android tablet

odb-II-hacking-eagle-grand-cherokee

What a strange message to read on the digital dashboard display of your car. This is proof that [Kristoffer Smith] was able to control the ODB-II bus on his Eagle Grand Cherokee. He's not just doing this for the heck of it. It stems from his goal of adding an Android tablet on the dashboard which has been a popular hack as of late. This left [Kristoffer] with steering wheel controls that did … [Read more...]

Jeep Wrangler gets pressurized water right out of the bumper

jeep-pressurized-water

[Ed] got pretty creative with a hack that adds a pressurized water tap to his Jeep Wrangler. The tap on the rear passenger bumper now lets him hose off the vehicle after mudding, rinse his SCUBA gear after a dive, and just generally comes in handy. If you want running water you've got to have a place to put it. This is actually what sparked the idea for the project. [Ed] noticed that the bumper … [Read more...]

Snowboard propulsion system motors you through the flats

snowboard-propulsion-system

One advantage that skiers have always had over snowboarders is the ability to move through flat sections with ease. [Matt Gardner] built this prototype to help even the playing field. When he would normally need to kick, hop, or remove the board and walk he can now engage his snowboard battery propulsion system. The rig works much like a paddle boat. The two wheels sticking out to either side … [Read more...]

Electric tricycle build log is like hacker crack

electric-tricycle-burns-rubber

This tiny little scratch-built electric tricycle is a insanely powerful. Some might think you don't need a crash helmet for testing a trike, but seeing the video after the break where [Ben Katz] is flying through a parking garage while slaloming between the support beams proves that this ride has some pep to it. Looking through the presentation post linked above is fun, but when we started … [Read more...]

MP3/USB/Aux hack hidden behind cassette facade

mp3-hiding-in-plain-sight

[Ivan] made something special with this car stereo hack. He altered the head unit to play MP3 files from USB and added an auxiliary line-in. But looking at it you'd never know. That's thanks to the work he did to create a false button hiding the audio jack, and a false cassette hiding the USB port and MP3 player display. Possibly the best part is that the radio itself still works like it always … [Read more...]

Making a 12V bulb work in a 6V socket

12v-led-in-6v-socket

This is something of a square peg in a round hole type of problem. [Kiel Lydestad] has been riding a vintage Moped around. You know, a motorcycle that can be pedaled like a bike. He of course wants to keep the thing looking stock, but also needs it to be fully functional. Enter this light bulb replacement project. His brake light needed a new bulb, and he managed to make this 12V LED bulb work in … [Read more...]

Tracking a car like it were a computer mouse

optical-mouse-sensor-tracks-vehicle-motion

This is [Paul Mandel's] Ground-truth velocity sensor. That's a fancy name for a device which tracks the movement of a vehicle by actually monitoring the ground its travelling over. This differs from simply measuring wheel rotation (which is how traditional odometers work) in that those systems are an indirect measurement of motion. For us the interesting part is the use of an ADNS-3080 single-chip … [Read more...]