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My Winter Project

26K views 134 replies 51 participants last post by  Hoffa65 
#1 ·
We're in for a long winter up here so I've gotten busy with my winter project. I thought some of you might be interested. I wanted to have a better/more complete instrument display and this is what I've come up with. It's got all the standard features as well as a few sweet additions. (e.g. wireless connection to the bike, A-GPS, totally configurable display, etc.) Here are the specs so far... But I'm adding more as the winter goes on. My VROD is stored for the winter so the data I'm using is from a NightTrain. (This will work on all Harleys with the JPW1850 interface)

Wireless, Portable, Full Color, Touch Screen, Integrated GPS

Instrument Display

Speed
RPMs - Digital Readout to 16K
Graphical Readout
Gear
Shift Light
Coolant Temp
Fuel Gauge
Average Fuel Economy
Distance Until Empty
Trip Odometer
Million Mile Odometer
Turn Signals
Indicator Lights
Security
Low Fuel
Low Battery
Check Engine
Check Oil
Check Coolant Temp
Countdown to Service
Heading (Graphical)
Altitude
Ambient Temp

Configuration Display

Display Units (US, Metric, UK)
Display Items Visible
Display Item Colours
Redline RPM
Coolant Temp Min/Max
Shift Light
Shift Point
Shift Light Type
Fuel Capacity
Pulley Teeth
Speed Calibration
Fuel Calibration


Drag Display

Full Tree Display
Race Options
1/8 Mile
1/4 Mile
0-60 mph
0-100 mph
Custom Distance (mi)
Custom Speed (mph)
Race Results
RPM, Speed, Distance and Time for each shift point
RPM, Speed, Distance and Time at Finish
Time-stamped Save of Results


Logging Display

Store vehicle data
RPMs
Speed
Odometer
Fuel Consumption
Gear
Coolant Temperature
Warning Indicator States
Turn Signal State
Security System State

Store GPS data
Latitude, Longitude, Speed, Heading, Altitude

I've attached some pics...
1) a minimal display
2) addition of numerical RPM
3) addition of the other sensor displays
4) switch to metric, color change for speed display, gear as shift light
5) My internet table running the app (A nokia n810 - but I should be able to port this to Android and/or IPhone as well - it's on the list)

Let me know what you think. If anyone's interested I'll post more pics or info.

-B
 

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#3 ·
Wow!
 
#7 ·
Will it fit in the stock cluster location.
 
#9 ·
WOW!

That is an amazing project you've got going ...

If you can get it to work on the platforms you mentioned, you'll make a fortune! That is one of the best mods I have seen yet
 
#16 ·
Yeah, clock, secondary trip, ambient temp, are available but not on the display. I was running out of real estate. However, I built it all to be completely configurable. So you would be able to pick and choose what sensors/data you want to have visible.

As for the RPM Meter you can set the Redline to whatever you like. (It's another config option.) That way you can peg the meter at 3K if you like it that way. ;)

-B
 
#13 ·
I agree with the rest: Wow!

More info and more Pics would be great.
 
#14 ·
Thanks for all the kind words. You're never sure what you've got until you hear it from others. I kind of work in a vacuum up here. No v-rodders around and these winters are a real killer for us motorcycle enthusiasts.

tyson876: Will it fit in the stock cluster location?

It will be Ram mountable... The medium size Ram Aqua box provides a weather proof mounting box which is touch screen compatible. You can pretty much do what ever you want with the the stock gauge (keep it, remove it, whatever). Remember, the device is portable and most likely will be doing multiple duties (your phone, gps, web browsing, etc.). You could mount it permanently if you want but that wasn't my original design intent.

Tie_One_On R U thinking of selling these...?

Well, that's an interesting question... I was thinking of this as more of a DIY. When I get everything finished I'll post up complete instructions about how to build it yourself. I would probably charge some nominal cost for the software application mostly to recoup the cost of my time and maybe to purchase an upgrade to Nokia's new N900 :) Admittedly I did this as a fun project to keep me involved with the bike over the winter, but if I can make a couple of bucks to fund more bike mods or projects that would be totally cool.
That being said, if there was enough interest I would consider providing fully configured/ready to run systems as some cost. You would just have to supply your handheld device if you want it to run on something you already own.

As for other platforms...

TaxmanHog Droid!!!!!!!

o2man98 iPod Touch version please.

Strange as it sounds, I got my n810 on Thursday. I had never even seen one before. I wrote the entire application on a regular desktop PC. (That's right I have a huge honky PC and monitor out in my garage next to my bike. - not even a laptop for god's sake)
And I got the app running on the n810 in a day or so. I suspect it will be similar with android (I have their SDK). It might be a bit trickier with IPhone... but I'll take a look at that soon.
The current advantage to the n810 is that they are cheap. You can pick one up on ebay for ~ $200.


I've attached a few more pics to whet your appetite.

1) Display in regular tablet mode (i.e. windowed)
2) Configuration screen.
3) The Drag Display. (It's crude but it's coming along)
4) Drag Display after a simulated run.

More to come!

-B
 

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#21 ·
The easiest way it to see if you have a data bus connector (usually a 3 or 4 pin deutch connector) on your bike. On my dx it's where the maxifuse is located. Any Harley that has the data bus connector uses the JPW1850 protocol.

I get the feed via a wireless bluetooth connection. I use an off-the-shelf VPW protocol to rs232 converter which simply plugs directly into the bikes data bus connector (three wires - 12V, Data, Gnd). The actual device itself has NO wires.

-B
 
#25 ·
I looked at the dt download, unfortunately the files are in a binary format specifically for a Palm, so it won't be useful to me. The best thing for me is simply the raw data stream that comes off the bus. If someone can run a bike through it's paces and log all that data, that would be the ticket. I planned to do all of this kind of testing once the snow melted around here but if anyone has a setup to do it I would appreciated any data you can gather. All you would need is one of the protocol to rs232 converters, a laptop (or smaller) computer with a serial port and a terminal program that lets you save a session. Drive around a bunch with the laptop or netbook or whatever strapped to your bike and voila! Email me the file and I will be able to analyze the stream for any new sensor data coming from the ecm and incorporate into my data acquisition/processing/display system.

-B
 
#36 ·
I used my Master Tune interface (SAE J-1850 VPW) and gathered this data parked in the garage. So far I just hooked up and started the bike. Let me know if this data works and I'll get more while riding.

Rick.
 

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#38 ·
Dude, that just might work. It looks like you have the wrong baud rate though. Are you familiar with HyperTerm? If so, play around with the baud rate until the data you're seeing in the window looks like regular numbers and letters. (It should be pairs of hex digits like 40 10 88 01 00) Even if it's not in nice pairs like that, it should be human readable #'s If it's not then one of two things is going on. They're streaming binary data to their application (which is fine, I can handle that) or they modified the raw format and put it into some other form which would be harder to deal with. I'm going to look at this with a binary viewer and I'll let you know what I find. If you can do the baud rate changes that would be awesome.

-B
 
#40 ·
I used the settings recommended by Master Tunes site (9600,8,None,1) Now that I know it should be more readable, I'll keep trying other settings this evening.
 
#42 ·
Hmmm. If that's what the manual says that's most likely the correct settings. I looked at the data you sent with a binary viewer and while it doesn't look like the standard 1850 protocol it does look like reasonable data (i.e. not garbage). I suspect that these aftermarket tuners massage the data into yet another proprietary format.

Still might be worth giving the other rates a try, but at this point I'm doubtful that it will provide anything useful.

-B
 
#45 ·
Man O Man, Da chit you folks come up with is cool. Confusing stuff, But very interested. What would be the cost basically from A-Z to build one? I hope us non tech savvy Dudes can decipher your later diy write up. Nice work.
 
#48 ·
Here's the break down of what I'm into this for give or take a couple of bucks...

All in Canadian $'s
Bluetooth scantool $160.00
Deutsch Connecter $16.00
Nokia n810 $165.00 (ebay)
Ram AquaBox $40.00
Ram Mount $0.00 (got one for free :) )
Misc wire/connectors/etc. $10.00
Total $381.

(I suspect the scantool could be found for less on ebay.)

The cool thing about this setup is that the display doesn't stay with the bike. When I'm not riding it's my mobile device, (email, web browsing, skype, etc) If/when I upgrade to the n900 it will also be my phone.

-B
 
#49 ·
Holy shit my brain is on fire! All I got to say is...........WHOA!
 
#53 ·
I'm amazed at all the positive feedback. This was originally intended as just a cool new toy for my bike and something to keep me from going into the garage to sit on the bike wishing for spring. :)

I'll be putting together a how-to at some point with all the details. The hardware setup is completely straight-forward (i.e. pretty much off-the-shelf). The software is where all the complexity lies. I'm working now on making that pretty much turn-key as well.

-B
 
#58 ·
As I understand it your architecture is a BT stream of raw data to your device. The application does protocol decoding and displays various sensor data from the stream. Would you be able to direct the stream elsewhere also, to e.g. a server?
 
#80 ·
Holy Schniekes Batman.

I am just catching up with this thread and my pants are all poopy already. I'm with lou on an Android version, I'd be totally in for one. I am thinking that working out utilizing the android car mount (or perhaps a new (waterproof?!) mount using a different magnet combo to auto-launch the application...) would be just TITS :boobs: The possibilities are endless on this platform.

What a great idea. I will also offer to help in any way that I can (at the very least I can read hex and am pretty damn good with a terminal emulator). Just say the word.
 
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