OBD-II became the mandatory I/O diagnostic port on cars starting around 1996 in the US. Considering that the interface consists of a couple of I/O lines, serial/usb adapters have been ridiculously expensive for quite a while – especially newer USB versions. [Renan] sent in this PIC18F2450 OBD-II interface. The designer says he can provide boards for just over $6 and programmed PICs if there’s interest. The chip is a few dollars, and everything else is pretty cheap too. Need to work on your car? This thing will cost $15 or so. I think I just might have to burn out a board on my mill later.
Transportation Hacks1635 Articles
GVIF (Prius) Display Hacking
This is almost a lack of hack, but it bugs me. In 2006, Toyota changed the video interface on the Prius LCD display. The new system uses GVIF (Gigabit Video InterFace) rather than RGBs as before. So far success has been limited to some early commercial devices. Considering the number of guys that like to hack their cars, I’m hoping to see some diy solutions developed. The industry seems to be pushing GVIF in the same manner as HDMI for home theater – it even supports HDCP. Unfortunately, it seems that multiple displays are still the best option for now.
Build Your Own Car… From Scratch
Most of us settle for modding the latest car we’ve bought. [Steve Graber] took another approach and built his own car from scratch. [John] sent in this impressive project. The original was built around Toyota MR2 parts and the body was made from fiberglass after the design was hand made from a wooden support frame, foam and drywall mud that was sanded down to create the shape. After that, molds were made from the slug to allow the panels to be cast from fiberglass. [Steve] is actually offering the car up as a build-it-yourself kit. Personally, I’d like the see the price come down a bit – the 1,500lb street weight would make a sweet basis for an electric car.
Bonus: If you’d doing EVs, bots or R/C toys, you might like this comparison of the latest breed of Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries by [Ian Hooper].
A123 LiIon Battery Pseudo Extra
Every so often I have to slap myself in the head. I’m surprised that we haven’t covered these things by now. DeWalt’s been selling a LiIon 36 volt battery pack that’s full of the latest A123 cells. These are the same ones that were used in the Killacycle. (I think they’ve got a new batch of cells now).
A while back, [Jeff] sent in a circuit for using multiple packs, leaving the internal BMS in place. [The link is fixed now]
[Robert] sent in a scooter that’s been designed to run these same cells. The custom fabrication and machine work looks fantastic.
Digital Dashboard Gauges
[Justin N] sent in one of his projects. It’s a digital dashboard gauge for his Subaru. It’s built around an arduino board with a text LCD and standard automotive senders. He’s using it to monitor oil temp, turbo pressure, temperature, acceleration and provide a lap timing. The details are buried in this forum thread, but its worth a look if you’ve spent time geeking out on your car.
CCCamp 2007: Quad-copters
R/C quad-copters have been quite popular at CCCamp. Our friend, Dan Kaminsky shot this video of two different models in flight. The first is a 10K Euro commercial version, but the second one is a 500 Euro home built one. The commercial unit has a head mounted display so you can fly it from the onboard camera. There is a second video after the break that shows the maneuverability.
Wiimote Car Accelerometer
This one’s pretty simple, but anyone who’s ever spent time tweaking an engine will appreciate it. [Kevin]’s been using a wiimote to measure the acceleration of his car. He put together a script to dump the accelerometer output to a CSV file, then graphed it with Excel. He notes that the accelerometer output isn’t that precise, but it’s good enough to give you feedback on your mods.
