iPad gauge cluster

[PranK]

So, I'll be first to admit my gauges in the BMW are a little lacklustre. I have no oil pressure and I have no water temp. 

Usually at the track I have these on my phone during sessions but it's small and I struggle as it is without squinting at my phone. 

I'm wondering if anybody has mounted an iPad on the steering column as a makeshift digital dash? Is this a thing?

My tuning app will let me configure some gauges and make a dashboard and I was thinking this could be a better option than trying to make stuff out on my phone. 

 

[Murray_Calavera]

First thought is to use a ram mount (to hold the ipad) + windscreen suction mount. The arms on the ram mount can be as long as you like, should be able to position the ipad pretty well with that setup. 

[PranK]

Yeah nice idea, you mean to suction it to the gauges? I hadn't thought of that.

[MBS206]

Depending on what communications the iPad/Phone uses to get data from the car (say OBD2) you will likely find it might be a bit slow, and miss little blips of sudden things, like a sudden oil pressure drop.

However, if the BMW purely has CANBus data expressed on the port, and you're app is listening to the data natively, then the only other issue will be Bluetooth latency, which if you don't have too many things open, won't be terrible.

[Duncan]

I use Android head unit (stagea) or standard screen input (v37) for this.

shitty pics but you get the idea. 

Does the car have a factory screen, and if not is the head unit DIN or even better double DIN? Then you can add something like an ATOTO and have gauges/lap tracking on the track (Link to RealDash for the Stagea, Ecutek App for the v37), and all the other good stuff (music, satnav etc) on the road

[Murray_Calavera]

6 hours ago, PranK said:

Yeah nice idea, you mean to suction it to the gauges? I hadn't thought of that.

Something like this - 

You can buy the arms in different lengths too. The suction cup goes to the windscreen. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Murray_Calavera

[TurboTapin]

I also second realdash. I have it on my head unit as a secondary cluster talking canbus with my ecu. Works great. 

[PranK]

So, my main limitation here is that the car does not have an oil pressure sensor by default, just a switch. As part of my tune I bought an oil pressure sensor upgrade so I now have access to oil pressure levels and logging rather than just the boolean behaviour of the switch but this means I need to use the tuning app to display this value. So, this rules out using any other app on the iPad. The app will also flash when pressure drops which is a nice feature.

I have replaced the centre screen with an Android one, which is awesome for Android Auto, but I think it might be too far away and out of my line of sight. I might add some gauges to it this weekend and just see. I guess if its just temp and oil pressure I can make them massive! 🤣