Racing Telemetry On A Cockpit View

July 30, 2013 by Brian Benchoff 10 Comments

ODB

[Martin] has a Lotus Elise and access to a track. Sounds like fun, huh? The only problem is that the dashcam videos he makes are a little bit boring. Sure, they show him flying around the track, but without some sort of data it’s really hard to improve his driving skills. After thinking about it for a while, [Martin] decided he could use his Raspberry Pi and camera module to record videos from the dashboard of his car, and overlay engine data such as RPM, throttle, and speed right on top of the video.

Capturing video is the easy part of this build – [Martin] just connected his Raspi camera module and used the standard raspivid capture utility. Overlaying data on this captured video was a bit harder, though.

[Martin] had previously written about using the Raspi to read OBD-II data into his Raspi. Combine this with a Python script to write subtitles for his movies, and he’s off to the races, with a video and data replay of every move on the track.

The resulting movie and subtitle files can be reencoded to an HD movie. Reencoding a 13 minute HD video took 9 hours on the Raspi. We’d suggest doing this with a more powerful compy, but at least [Martin] has a great solution to fix his slightly uninformative track videos.

Raspberry Pi Replaces A Volvo Nav System

June 17, 2013 by Mike Szczys 24 Comments

[Reinis] has a Volvo S80. One of the dashboard features it includes is a 6.5″ LCD screen which periscopes up to use as a navigation system. The problem is that Volvo stopped making maps for it around five years ago and there are no maps at all for Latvia where he lives. So it’s worthless… to you’re average driver. But [Reinis] is fixing it on his own by replacing the system with a Raspberry Pi.

That link leads to his project overview page. But he’s already posted follow-ups on hardware design and initial testing. He’s basing the design around a Raspberry Pi board, but that doesn’t have all the hardware it needs to communicate with the car’s systems. For this he designed his own shield that uses an ATmega328 along with a CAN controller and CAN transceiver. The latter two chips patch into the CAN bus on the car’s On Board Diagnostic system. We didn’t see much about the wiring, but the overview post mentions that the screen takes RGB or Composite inputs so he must be running a composite video cable from the trunk to the dashboard.

OBD-II TrckrX: Data Logging In A BMW E36 M3

April 25, 2012 by Caleb Kraft 14 Comments

[Bruce Land] sent in this cool final project for ECE 4760 at Cornell University. Dubbed TrckrX, it is an OBD-II tracking and data logging system built into a BMW E36 M3. The car in question is being used in some auotocross competitions. The driver wanted instant access to some data as well as a log of everything for later analysis. The unit gives a real time display of vehicle speed, coolant temp, and RPM. G-force and timestamps are stored on the SD card.

We think this is a very cool idea, and could be quite useful in some instances. The real time display of speed and RPM seem a bit peculiar as the car’s speedometer and tachometer are more appropriately placed for real time information. However, we completely understand that this was a class project and this person may not have wanted to replace their dash cluster with a new readout.

Follow-up: Hacking OnStar

March 16, 2010 by James Munns 22 Comments

Reader [regulatre] has provided us with his furthering of hacking the OnStar system in GM cars. Previously, we wrote about some initial attempts to gain access to the system that OnStar uses to monitor and control cars called GMLAN. [regulatre] has managed to create an adapter between the GMLAN connector and a standard OBD2 plug, which should allow a number of standard readers to be able to retrieve data.

This method details using a bluetooth OBD2 reader, and passing the data onto a linux machine. It looks as though the writer of this method is looking to integrate OnStar reading and writing into an Android App which currently is an OBD monitor.

We love seeing follow-ups like this, because it puts everyone one step closer to full control of closed devices. As always, let us know if you take any of this in a new direction.

Keep Tabs On Your Car Without OBD-II

March 16, 2010 by Jakob Griffith 37 Comments

[Steve] let us know about his MultiDisplay car monitoring system. Unlike traditional systems that rely on interfacing with the OBD-II protocol and existing car computer, the MultiDisplay uses an Arduino and custom shield with a combination of sensors; including temperatures, pressures, throttle, Boost, and etc. The data collected can then be displayed on a 20×4 LCD or streamed to a PC with visualization and event recording.

It’s nice to see half a years worth of work finally be complete and presented in such a clean and professional manner, keep up the good work [Steve]

OBD-II Automotive Data Logging

May 12, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 26 Comments

obd2

[Avi Aisenberg] sent us his final project for ece 4760. His team built and OBD-II data interface. Even though OBD-II is an industry standard, each manufacturer has implemented it differently. This is where this project shines. They have built it to be capable of talking to any of them. Not only that, but it has a nice backlit LCD screen for diagnosing issues without having to go back to your computer and downloading the data. If you really don’t need all the bells and whistles, you can make one for roughly $15. They even have an OBD-II app for the iPhone.

IPhone OBD-II App

September 27, 2008 by Jason Rollette 61 Comments

Rev by DevToaster is an application for the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows real-time monitoring of vehicle ECU data from the OBD-II port. Rev interfaces with a WiFi OBD-II dongle.

If your check engine light is on or flashing, REV is able to check the engine code, list all of the engine codes stored in the vehicle, and reset the stored codes or check engine light.

Rev is able to monitor real-time; vehicle speed, RPM, fuel consumption, engine coolant temp, fuel pressure, calculated engine load, throttle position, intake manifold pressure, air intake temp, timing advance, mass air flow, fuel level, barometric pressure, EVAP system vapor pressure, and fuel trim.

A brief video of REV in action is after the break.

Continue reading “IPhone OBD-II App” →