::: Warning...purists may not like this idea :::

Riding around in a friend's Tesla-S this weekend got me thinking. (Dangerous...for sure.)

It dawned on me last night that if I'm doing a Subaru conversion with the stock ECU, that I'll have an ODB2 port that I can interface with. So a fully digital dashboard is not only probable...it's highly possible.

I probably have a dozen iPads and Android tablets in a drawer at work that I'm not using. Why not make them the gauges and entertainment? Now I realize that screen glare in a 914 will be an issue...especially with the top down, but this could be pretty damn cool.

Here are a few screen-shots that I found from different apps.

DashCommand looks like it'd be pretty cool installed in the center cluster. On a 7" Android tablet, it would mount in nicely.

JDash looks like it'd need a proper computer running Linux to boot up and run it. I could do that with a RaspberryPi and have something set up real quickly. Heck...a couple of different rPi boxes and you'd be in business for a lot of different things. (dashcams, rear-view, etc.)


So am I crazy, or could this be cool?

Screen glare could be taken care of with a decent screen protector.

Yeah, I'm also thinking that the tablet in the instrument cluster area would be at an angle that would likely have less glare.

As a cluster, I'd need to think through how to interface with it as a touchscreen though. So I'm now thinking more and more about that piece being a computer screen that I could have a keyboard/mouse available to be plugged in if necessary.

Use a shadow dash using megasquirt. It operates with bluetooth.

http://tunerstudio.com/index.php/shadowdashmsmenu

Bob

Android....

More available apps and easier to get what you want if you want custom apps.

Please details what you do and how...
Its on my list.

There are "car computers" out there that are basically ruggedized cases with everything rubber mounted and SSD drives.
If you go that route, the screen can be anything.

Bentley just put a 17 inch screen in the latest car...

rich

Here's the Tesla-S dash that got me thinking. I don't know that I'd go to THIS extreme, but it was cool as hell.

I am doing this with MSDroid and an old Galaxy Tab 7. It works really well and I can even tune the FI from it or my phone. Also keeps a log and GPS track too.

Cant find a decent way to mount it yet though...

It'll be interesting to find out whether the Pi's 700 MHz processor will deliver decent refresh rates for the tach. Certainly a test is in the future so let us know. I've almost decided to run a telescope (and some 914 systems) with the BeagleBone instead. It's 1GHz processor might have better I/O resolution.

https://www.adafruit.com/category/75

Frankly (if it was fast enough, which it isn't) I'd use an Arduino or some other microcontroller rather than a microcomputer like the Pi) . It's capable of higher I/O pin voltages and less sensitive to voltage fluctuations, and there are a butt load of acceleration/temperature/vibration/light-intensity devices for input. As well you can control a lot of different motors, servos, and... well lot's of stuff with simpler C++ instructions. Of course you can always use the Pi as a front-end into an Arduino, distribute your processing tasks, and build a little "hybrid vigor" into your system.

I like the fact that there is a GPS module that can be used (with either LINUX board) at the same time. I use GPS (via the Garmin) for my speedo/odometer rather than have a speedo gear and cable in the car. I decided that on the street, accurate speed readings were the bomb, and I'm fine with the slight lag it takes to display during acceleration and deceleration when I'm not looking at that display anyway. There is one disadvantage to it that doesn't apply to your project, and that's too much centralization.

Note: I'd like to try an Android solution as well, but it runs like a dog on the Pi.

What I want to avoid in my machine, even though it would be a cool thing, is to digitize the entire car. I like the modularity of multiple systems so my basic modification rules (with few exceptions) are as follows. All of the rules below have to follow the original question, which is

- Does it work better than what's there already?

1. If it applies, will it make the car safer?
2. If it applies, will it make the car faster?
3. Is it simple?
4. Will a mod be easy to install/maintain/replace around the existing systems?
5. Will it be fun?

With the Pi or BeagleBone (or any other single-board solution) you could run either a console cable and a micro-keyboard with a laptop for config operations. Or, if you're really wanting to complicate the project, do it with WiFi.

Sorry, I wandered a bit from the topic, but thought it might be better that way.

Let us know how it turns out... but don't forget to drive the heck out of the car while you're at it.

This is just a project I'm thinking of for the "winter" list while I'm doing the engine conversion. I'm not married to any particular OS right now, so the idea of a digital dash is all I'm considering right now.

Seems cool but you might run out of gas. I've never seen one of those dashes with a gas gauge...

There are a few vendors that sell Bluetooth systems for all the sensors.
I have been thinking about this for a while.

http://www.ot-2.com/

No gauges on the dash till you dock the Phone...droid or Iphone.

Nice and clean without the screen locked in place.

I have seen them with extra optional ports for other sensors...
So you could in theory hook up speedo, and gas gauge etc...

Rich

I thought the same thing.

If I rig the Subaru sensor in the 914, I should be able to wire it in as well. There's a LOT of data that you can pull from the ECU. Maybe I'll just work with JDash and make my own up. I can have the guys in my UI department whip up some thing cool. No different than the "dashboards" we build for our client's websites. I'm sure one of them would love to geek out on something like this.

I'll see though. I can always have a few stock analog gauges on the dash somewhere.

It's all voltage at the end of the day, so get a hardware interface, flip it into software, then do whatever you want with those variables.

Rich

Torque app is pretty popular and I hear it constantly on my forums. If you had a modern engine and wiring harness this would probably be pretty cool.

That's pretty much what I'm thinking. There are a number of things I can do once I have a real-time data feed.


I found EngineLink last night. Could be pretty cool if it works.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/engine-link...d591557194?mt=8

Simple...but limited. I have a few older iPads that it may work well on. I'll load it up on an old iPhone later today after my hardware arrives. I ordered a few from Amazon to try out. They're only $20...so it's a cheap experiment. I'm also going to buy DashCommand and see how that one goes. I have a lot more flexibility on Android (and spare tablets) but the iPad interfaces look so much nicer.

http://914electric.wordpress.com/

Scroll way down to see what he did.

let me know if you find an interface that will do the following.

Accept as input
speed sensor (hall sensor)
EGT sensors (up to 8)
CHT sensors (up to 8)
Tach sensor
And most likely 4-5 more that I cannot recall off the top of my head.

All this would be input
I want output as wireless so either wifi, NFC, or Bluetooth.

rich

cool project. I had several vettes with the heads up display and they were awesome. something to think about.