Tablet as M.F.D to monitor temp and pressures

[Billyboy369]

Hey guys, i have a 1999 R34 GTV I have been thinking of wiring a tablet in and making a mount for up the top of the dash like the GTR ones and was just wondering what steps would I need to take to get it functioning properly,
 

I want to replace my three current gauges and just have the tablet displaying all the temps and pressures, would I need to program the tablet in some way or is there an app for it and how would I wire it in so that it actually reads and displays the correct temps 
 

thanks in advance

[Murray_Calavera]

This might be relevant to your interests... 

https://www.powertunedigital.com/

Not sure if you could do something better for the money. 

[Billyboy369]

9 minutes ago, Murray_Calavera said:

This might be relevant to your interests... 

https://www.powertunedigital.com/

Not sure if you could do something better for the money. 

I’ve thought about something like this but want something that just displays my gauges (water and oil temps & pressure etc etc)

[GTSBoy]

You're gunna need a USB ADC if you want to connect real world gauges to a tablet. And that would require the USB port to be running as OTG, which can make it hard to charge the tablet, so you're going to need a tablet with a separate power port.

The way you've asked your question leads me to think that it is too big a project.

[Ben C34]

Next problem using a tablet is how do you plan for it to turn on and off on its own.

Using arduino solves the off and on and has many 0-5 v inputs, just need to cook your brain to get it to display nicely on a tft display. (making it display is easy, making it look good is hard)

[DatsunBanana]

Nissan Datascan software has some of what you want but won't show pressures. It'll give you most other sensors though and has some useful diagnostic features. I sometimes use it on a cheap 8" Windows 10 tablet with a bluetooth dongle in the consult connector and charge off a USB cigarette lighter adapter. I just velcro it to a removable block of wood that slips tightly into the slot/tray below my single din stereo. No fancy on/off control though. There's also a lite android version of NDS which should work nicely with a double din android head unit instead of customising the dashboard.

[BK]

7 hours ago, Murray_Calavera said:

This might be relevant to your interests... 

https://www.powertunedigital.com/

Not sure if you could do something better for the money. 

Definitely won't. That is absolutely the way to go, as you can program it to display what ever you want. It'll be heaps better than using a tablet ! Pretty cheap too, my Haltech 52mm CAN gauge cost more than this street dash.

[robbo_rb180]

8 hours ago, Murray_Calavera said:

This might be relevant to your interests... 

https://www.powertunedigital.com/

Not sure if you could do something better for the money. 

I've got on e in the race car connected to a link G4+. Very user friendly but they have ben raising their prices lately. Have a look at realdash app https://realdash.net/index.php as can use a Doudle Din stereo running on android to display what you need. I'll be using this soon on another project.

 

[GTSBoy]

I think it is unclear whether any of these options presented above (Realdash, PTD's dash) are able to handle arbitrary analogue inputs (like oil pressure). I was under the impression that they were mostly aimed at ECU data over the diagnostic interface, with limited other inputs (speed, etc). If the ECU don't know about it - the dash can't.

[Ben C34]

22 minutes ago, GTSBoy said:

I think it is unclear whether any of these options presented above (Realdash, PTD's dash) are able to handle arbitrary analogue inputs (like oil pressure). I was under the impression that they were mostly aimed at ECU data over the diagnostic interface, with limited other inputs (speed, etc). If the ECU don't know about it - the dash can't.

Correct

I emailed them in august and that was the response. If that gets updated to allow 5v inputs direct to it it will be great.

[robbo_rb180]

this may be helpful as well.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/tunerstudiodashboards/

another option is go buy a raspberry Pi and test board and start fiddling with that . I am sure someone out there has done it and can help or go buy a Link r34 pnp, add sensors and go that way.

[GTSBoy]

It's a bit of a hassle having to DIY.

The Pi option is nice because it is easy to drive a proper screen from it - even a touchscreen. But then you have a Linux (or maybe Android) environment in which you have to cobble together your DAQ and presentation yourself. That's a project for people who can program or people who know how to leverage other people's programming and have no fear of bolting software elements together.

An Arduino would be arguably 11ty times easier to grab the analogue signals and do some simple processing. But the presentation side could be a right pain. Big colour LCD screens are not so simple to do with Arduinos.

Maybe the compromise is a little from column A and a little from column B. Use an Arduino to grab the data and present it via I2C or some other (likely more interconnect friendly) protocol to a Pi or a tablet. Still have to cobble together the presentation side unless you can impose on one of the dash crowds to come to the party.

[Ben C34]

This guy knows how to do it!

 

[Billyboy369]

3 hours ago, Ben C34 said:

This guy knows how to do it!

 

See the thing is I like my stock dash and just want one set up just like the GTR M.F.D where it displays useful information and can keep track of peak values, I could use the stereo idea but would need a way to get it to work with iPhone (I have both Apple car play and android auto though) would it be easier to install one from a GTR,  but would want a way to change the GTR symbol to a GTV one or even just R34 (im against any GTR badge in anything other then a Genuine GTR 

[Ben C34]

1 hour ago, Billyboy369 said:

See the thing is I like my stock dash and just want one set up just like the GTR M.F.D where it displays useful information and can keep track of peak values, I could use the stereo idea but would need a way to get it to work with iPhone (I have both Apple car play and android auto though) would it be easier to install one from a GTR,  but would want a way to change the GTR symbol to a GTV one or even just R34 (im against any GTR badge in anything other then a Genuine GTR 

In that case I can say it is 1000000 percent not going to happen for you.

[Murray_Calavera]

How much are you prepared to spend? You could buy an aftermarket ecu and grab a dash, a Haltech ic7 would work perfectly. A couple of the stock displays show values only, check out the YouTube video around 3:20 to see what I mean

 

[Billyboy369]

5 hours ago, Murray_Calavera said:

How much are you prepared to spend? You could buy an aftermarket ecu and grab a dash, a Haltech ic7 would work perfectly. A couple of the stock displays show values only, check out the YouTube video around 3:20 to see what I mean

 

I'm definitely going to have a look at this set up so far is closest to what I want, if it stops the dash working ill just have to deal with it

[Murray_Calavera]

What do you mean if it stops the dash working? It wont affect your stock dash at all. 

 

[GTSBoy]

It's also pushing $5k to put the ECU and the display into the car! Nothing like a $200 tablet.

[Murray_Calavera]

Yeah I know, things have escalated quickly lol. 

I just figured this option was worth mentioning when he said he wanted a setup similar to the R34 GTR unit, so I thought he was looking for a really neat and clean setup.