NOTE: I have an updated video for faster boot times and latest Pi4 hardware here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SVn9uYfEQrA.html And, to answer the Frequently asked questions: How does it connect to the ecu? - Via USB connection from the Megasquirt MS3 ECU direct to the RasPi. Why didn't you use XYZ off the shelf product? - Because I like to tinker, and I can customise this how I like. What about OBD2? - Sorry, I have never tried... I am sure you can find info online though!
Great video! I have a question, I am going to work on a project to swap out the factory radio into raspberry pi radio, How do i do this? is there a workaround to do this? I have been thinking about it for some time. I have 2017 kia sorento. How do i make everything work such as gps with raspberry pi?
Hey Jason, Certainly, I am sure you could do that. I built this dash for my race car so i don't really have experience with radio or sat nav style features, but some googling will surely find you other solutions out there. Perhaps the OpenAuto software would work for you... look that up.
Interesting project. The touchscreen interface may also make the Raspberry Pi 3 useful for home automation, security systems, irrigation controllers and other such projects.
If you were confident you could probably install the minimal version of raspbian providing only the command line and install your display server (X11 for example), and have the application launch directly on the display server on your user's login, without a full desktop environment. You could also write a little script so that when you got home the pi uploads data to server via your WiFi if you were to crontab it.
Definitely possible crumpet. Anyone who is familiar with the linux based OS's could make this do some very clever stuff. I'm not quite at that level... yet :-P
Oh boy. The video about Pi and dash board and not a word about how it is actually connected inside the car. also. How do u power Pi in the car? Battery or cigarette lighter plug?
My race car doesn't have a cigarette lighter, I just run a 12v to 5v converter with a USB outlet, and power the pi via a standard USB cable. Really not that complex.
Always love your content and the things you've done to your NB. I plan on doing time attack on my 350z and the Pi setup peaked my interests. I plan to use the setup once I get accustomed to driving my car to the limit in its stock form. As a means of data logging or gauge reading. Keep up the good work Beavis
There is a 12v to 5v dc converter that runs behind a fused power source. that runs the USB into the Pi. Fairly straight forward, just need high output 5v source as the Pi is a hungry fella.
Can this be done to any regular car? Nissan Versa 2010 for example? Or does it have to be a racecar? Thank you!! Awesome what those little things can do.
Hey it doesn't have to be a race car but this dash is in a track car that uses a Megasquirt MS3 ECU. So all my sensors, speed, temps etc go direct to the ECU. Then the ECU has a USB connection direct to the Pi to feed the data for the dash software. If you wanted to use a different aftermarket ECU or OBD2, perhaps consider trying: OpenAuto or: OneGauge, theonegauge.com.
I bought two raspberry pc units, one by accident. I've never worked with this brand before (embarrassed). Instead of returning one, can I use an old laptop screen? Is the ribbon cable the same? I also have battery dead ipads x4. This is for my children to learn about computing and coding. They will primary be doing the work.
You possibly could use the laptop screen if you get lucky and are clever with electronics. But it wont be straight forward for the average user... I wouldn't attempt it personally. Maybe try use the hdmi port and connect to a normal PC screen instead?
Ribbon cable is the same from a 7 in touch screen. I got a metal case, very spy movie-ish. I'm melting milk jugs for the screen surround. Ipad cable is different though. I have no idea how to recycle those yet. One Pi, I put in a laptop fan which lights up. No one was using it! We are having loads of fun with them.
I plan to use the setup once I get accustomed to driving my car to the limit in its stock form. As a means of data logging or gauge reading. Keep up the good work Beavis 1 BEAVIS Motorsport
I would to build one for my Honda I run kpro/ hondata... in theory is it possible to just download That software instead of tuner studio and run it that way ? Thanks for the video
Hi Chris, If you are aware of some software that works with the Honda ECU, that'd be great, unfortunately TunerStudio is specific to the Megasquirt family ECU. Also note I have an updated version, still using TunerStudio, that you may be interested in here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SVn9uYfEQrA.html Good Luck
How does this connect to your car? Once you physically install it, how does it communicate with the car? Is it hard wired? Is there a wireless interface into the ECU?
The Megasquirt MS3 is connected via a USB cable direct to the standard USB-A input on the pi. Perhaps see this video for more information: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b7isnWqw13U.html
The raspberry pi can be easily powered via USB cable. So any reliable and high output USB adapter for the car is fine. You want something that's 2A+ and at least 5v (the pi likes 5.1v or so).
How quick is the boot time? Did you build something to properly shut down the raspberry pi instead of just a hard power cut? When you go to change tuning in the megasquirt, do you have to unplug the usb from the dash and tune with your laptop, or do you find it efficient enough to change the tune through the raspberry pi? I am in the process of building a turbo 24v swapped e30, and I am loving this idea for the dash.
I've never actually timed it, but maybe 30 to 60 seconds to boot up. I have a power off button installed which i press before shutting off the car. When the car is on the dyno the dash is disconnected. The PI is not really for tuning.
You can also hook up and a SATA drive to the Raspberry Pi B. There's so many innovations that are going to be worth doing with single board computers and it is amazing. I've recently got the desktop raspbian to work and it looks great.
@@Bbeavis There is information on how to hookup a sata port for a Raspberry Pi and it isn't real expensive. If you go to amazon.com and type SATA driver for Raspberry Pi or even Raspberry Pi 2 would work. Wanted to wishes you a happy holiday and happy new year.
I have been looking on the RS web site, and for the PI3 there are a couple of different choices with different processors,. which model would you recommend? or for about the same I could upgrade to the PI4, with the options available now what would you recommend? also could there be a way to make the outer case somewhat water resistant... and still use the touch screen, this will be on a boat....
From what I've seen, it's a good idea to get the new Pi4. Haven't used one myself, but it's more powerful so seems a no brainer, for a few extra dollars it seems worth getting the top spec unit. Good luck with water resistance, you'll have to search that yourself as I have no experience there.
@@Bbeavis thanks for the info, i have a couple of ideas to recess it in a dash and seal the edges, so allegedly water if and when should only hit the screen. we will find out if it works or not. now I will see how long it takes to ship with all the headaches we have had so far this year...
As I understand the MS3X board is just a plug in affair, no soldering required. I don't have one myself though. Then configure TunerStudio to use the new outputs.
@@Bbeavis How about a video just setting up the MS3-Pro? I intend on buying one but want to see the difficulty level of getting one installed correctly. (I'll be installing on a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire)
Thank you for this!!!!! This will be my 1st Pi build, subscribed! Now I just gotta find a 10-12" screen that will run in portrait with touch. (Nudges in right direction from readers welcome)
Great tutorial! I've got an issue. The .sh file does not execute. After opening the file and clicking "execute" nothing happens. Running Pi 3 Model B. Any suggestions are appreciated.
@@Bbeavis okay copy that! thank you for the reply...would these have to be Pi specific cameras or can i just buy some (thinking cheap back up cams on amazon) and connect them to the board?
What about the power issue? For example, I have it hooked up to a 12v to 5v converter thing attached to my car so when I turn off my car so it will turn off the PI as well. Now the issue with that is that when I turn off my car it does not turn off the pi normally, think of it as unplugging the pi from the wall. So basically to turn off the pi properly I need to keep my car on and touch the bottom left of the screen, touch the turn power off and wait till the pi turns off correctly and then shut off the car. Its very annoying. If I shut off my car and not turn off the pi from the button on the bottom left I could risk corrupting the sd card or something because basically its unplugging it. Do you turn off your pc by unplugging it from the wall? Because I dont
I got the same kit and built it exactly the same but my screen isn’t turning on. Lights are flashing and when I connect it to a monitor it works perfectly. Did I just get a bad screen?
A quick searcg suggests hondata software does not have a linux OS based option. You might have to do some googling and see if someone has made something for your specific ecu.
All sounds really cool - thinking of doing this for my Microsquirt-equipped '73 VW Super Beetle, probably with a somewhat smaller screen - will have to investigate what would fit into my dashboard best. Already have the Raspberry Pi 3, my uncle gave me that for Christmas to do something cool with - I think this qualifies! A few questions: How do you interface it to the ECU? That was never addressed in this video. I have the cable with RS 232 connector and USB adapter, do I plug that into the Raspberry's USB port? How do I get TunerStudio to automatically connect to it? I always have trouble getting TunerStudio to connect to the ECU when using my laptop, is there a way to resolve that? How is it powered and turned on/off? These use a 5V input, I'd assume tear apart a car phone charger, solder the inputs to the car's electric system and outputs to the Raspberry's input? Would I connect it to the key input so that it's powered when ignition is on, will the Raspberry boot automatically that way? Would it be possible to program in a dimmer or night mode? I'd think it would make sense to wire an analogue input to the dash lights so that when I turn on the dash lights (and headlights) it gets a lot dimmer. Is there a way to change the aesthetic of the gauges, maybe colors? Even if it's a digital display, I'd think there might be ways of making it match my old-looking wood-grain interior a little better than the modern bright colors. Likewise, if I use a smaller screen I might want it to use vertical bars instead of round gauges, so I can put more information on a small screen. What about using the pro version of TunerStudio that can re-tune my ECU as I drive, could that run on this? Thanks for the great idea, I'll have to start messing with it soon!
Hi Quill, Thanks for watching. This is directly connected via USB from the PI to the ECU, it has no issues detecting it immediately. I just have a 12v to 5v USB adapter to power the pi with a micro usb cable, it's connected as soon as the car is turned on and the pi boots up once it receives power. I haven't tried to wire up a dimmer, but I assume you can. You'll need to find out if the pi can control the screen brightness. You can completely customize the gauges on the screen, do a google for custom tuner studio gauges to give you some inspiration. Yes you can run pro tunerstudio and use the autotune feature. Cheers
Thanks for the reply! Sounds like I'll be able to do everything I'd want to with it, a very capable device, without too much difficulty. Will have to have my cousin and uncle, who are very capable programmers and quite eager to help me with this project (Uncle gave it to me with being involved in mind I'm sure), they could probably help me figure most of that out. Looked up custom tuner studio gauges, saw some pretty cool setups, looks very customizable. Nothing with the retro look I'd be looking for, but I'll figure something out.
I'm using TunerStudio as that is the best software to work with Megasquirt, you'll need to find software to work with your specific application/ECU that runs on the raspian OS.
I must have missed it as well out of the two interface. As many videos do they give you all this information but they seem to always leave out something critical or make it look so easy that anybody can do it and you invest the money in the equipment and the time and boom you run into problems and takes forever to get an answer. I'd like to add this to my car but I don't know if it's worth the frustration. Also it appears that the software that he's using is not free at least by the vendors web page
Hi Matthew, This guide is specifically on the build of the Pi with the touchscreen. You will notice in the video description I have a seperate video on setup in the car, here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b7isnWqw13U.html It is a Megasquirt ECU with a USB to serial cable connecting between the Pi and the ECU. Thanks!
@@tomwilliam5118 Hi Tom, I'm sorry if my video is not to your satisfaction. There is a free version of Tuner Studio that would work fine in this instance. However if you are familiar with the Megasquirt ECU then you'll likely be already aware of TunerStudio licence offerings.
@@Bbeavis it's not that it's not to my liking me I'm always interested in new ideas as long as is all the facts are there I guess I am detail type of a person. Does the pi interface with the OBD2 port thru blue tooth of wifi. I'm not familiar with the software.
Very cool mate, would love to run something like this but with data logging as well. Can you set limits for temps and pressures and have alarms activated when those limits are exceeded? Any way of incorporating shift lights?
Yes all of that can be done with the interface between the dash and the ECU. I have some of said features setup now, and I'm working on improving things like logging to make them more efficient and easy to extract for review.
Oh sweet sorry to be a bit of a douche and thanks for the reply. I have been thinking about getting a pi and just looking into some of the possibilities of what I can do with it. Thanks again
The Megasquirt MS3 ecu has an inbuilt USB to serial interface the connects to the PI via a USB port on the ECU. You can see the actual install into the car here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b7isnWqw13U.html
The PI has GPIO pins that you can program for things like that. thepihut.com/blogs/raspberry-pi-tutorials/27968772-turning-on-an-led-with-your-raspberry-pis-gpio-pins
Very nice video. I just have a quick question. I am a complete noob but would like to put a digital dash in a vintage motorcycle that uses analog inputs (Tach, speedometer/odometer, temperature mainly). I'm sure there's some coding that would need to be done for such a setup but is there specific controller that you can recommend for what I'm trying to accomplish?
Hey Turbo, you can probably achieve what you want with a raspberry pi or arduino... it's even a little beyond my knowledge - but I'm sure it can be done! Sounds like you might have a bit of homework to do!
hi i would like to know the best way to have several rasberry pi and control them from home and be able to display my content from my computer to my rasberry pi
@@Bbeavis I like the Raspberry Pi, but so far I haven't purchased a kit to use my creative imagination. But soon I will have a small DIY project and I will probably use it. This will be a function of storing data backup on the PC's NvMe.
@@stevenmedici1468 Correct. The software used is specific to the Megasquirt MS3 ecu. I have more detail on the car installation and connectivity here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b7isnWqw13U.html
For me, Shadow Dash is limited in functionality compared to the full TunerStudio suite, I also find the PI performs faster than the tablet. But it depends on your particular setup and what you want out of it. I can also easily write scripts and setup the PI to run exactly how i want it.
And remember.. don't reach through your steering wheel while driving to fiddle with a touch screen. Now install voice interface - the trigger word can be "conveyance".
Hi Ralf, The Megasquirt MS3 ecu has a USB to serial interface the connects to the PI via a USB port. You can see more detail here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b7isnWqw13U.html
@@dylanharding5720 if uses tft duisplay needed because display eat more current, if uses hdmi and monitor no need because monitor have own wall power.many have problem raspi just because not understand tft display eat lot more current need biggest power.
Love the build. I am looking into doing something like this to my RX8 project, but I am wondering if I can run the Tuner Studio dash with a factory ECU or does it need to be running a Megasquirt system. I have searched online and can't find any info. Do you know if that is possible? Cheers
To automate steering, you'll need a steer-by-wire car, which aren't very common. However, I do believe you'll be able to implement cruise control and other systems.
Hi, the ecu has a usb header, to which i connected a usb A female connector. Then the pi connect directly to the Megasuirt ecu via a usb-A to usb-A cable.
