RPi Car - Central Console Project

[gtg93]

Hi all,

 

Finally decided it was time to start a proper project on the RPi, After all, I've had it about 2 years and still not done anything worthwhile on it:

 

My idea is to remove my car stereo, replacing it with a Touch Screen controlled RPi.

 

In my head, I'm thinking FM/DAB radio over the internet with a 3G dongle; GPS receiver for SATNAV; Car read-out dongle, so I can see all the info on screen like plugging my car into a computer at the garage; WiFi Dongle, to connect to my home broadband whilst parked in the drive to avoid map updates over 3G; obviously it'll have the ability to play music / videos (when stationary of course); I'm going to wire in a Mini Keyboard/Touchpad combi and fix this onto the door of the glove compartment, for ease of configuring should I ever need it. All this and anything else I think would be a good idea as I go along.

 

I'm also contemplating having my (soon to be old) S2 built into the plastics between the cup holders and gear stick to be used as a bit of a remote control for the volume etc, so even if the music player window isn't open, I can still skip tracks etc quickly and safely.

 

 

That's the overall plan, but to start off with I need a half decent touchscreen - can anyone recommend one? I was holding out for the official HMDIPi, but it appears that it isn't a touch screen. I'm looking for something between 5' and 7'.

 

Another question I'm hoping someone on here has an idea about - I was hoping to get it powered the same as a car stereo - I want it to be wired into the always on, so I can use it when I cut the engine, but want it to start the shutdown sequence after x seconds if I don't manually stop it when the engine is cut. Any clues or ideas would be great.

 

Am I expecting too much in terms of power? I was thinking possibly even using 2 Pis to boost specs in a similar way to this (:: University of Southampton)

 

I've had a look about the web and people have done similar things, but not to this extent, or the info is a bit sketchy on the points I've highlighted above.

 

Any thoughts, pointer or links to people doing similar things are appreciated!

[hardtailstar]

I saw this when I was looking at it for my car

 

Raspberry Pi car computer | Flamelily I.T

[3s-gtech]

I have had car PCs in the past, were Windows powered but most of the same things apply. You want something that is totally controllable (easily) through the touchscreen - any distraction to driving is a big no. Perhaps look at having a Griffin PowerMate installed close to hand.

 

Remote? Griffin Beacon review | PC Pro

 

For screens:

 

LinITX.com - Displays

HDMI

 

You'll struggle more with the LinITX screens as they don't seem to sell HDMI ones yet, and VGA is a waste of time with a RPi.

[gtg93]

 

For screens:

 

LinITX.com - Displays

HDMI

 

You'll struggle more with the LinITX screens as they don't seem to sell HDMI ones yet, and VGA is a waste of time with a RPi.

 

Woah - I wasn't expect that cost for a screen... Better increase my budget!

[LosOjos]

Not sure the Pi will have the power to do everything you want and run a GUI... I'd be tempted to have one Pi dealing with all the background work (monitoring, GPS etc.) and serving that data to a second Pi running the GUI/touchscreen, otherwise things could get a bit laggy...

 

Martin O'Hanlon does all sorts of hardware hacks, he did a nice dash cam hack a couple of years ago, might be worth looking at his blog: : Raspberry Pi

 

His dash cam project: : Raspberry Pi Car Cam overlaid with OBD data

[pcstru]

I'd be pretty confident you could drive something like this using the GPIO pins from the Pi - but you would have to cut code yourself. If you have wireless - a cheap android tablet could be hacked to act as an X-Server for the Pi to output to. I doubt either of these would do video but you would just use the tablet for that directly. Cheaper than the MiniITX offerings but more work required by you.

 

To get an auto shut off, you just need to tap into a line that is keyed on and use a capacitor and resistor as a cheap and cheerful timer probably a transistor and an opto-isolator to be safe. The output is read by a GPIO pin. After you shut off the ignition the voltage will drop and the transistor will switch off the isolator so the pin will read it as 0 instead of 1. A deamon on the Pi can look at that and shutdown when required. The choice of resistor/cap will vary the time.

[LosOjos]

I wonder if it might be a better idea to buy a cheap Android tablet to use as the front end? Have an R-Pi churning all your data and serving it up via WiFi to a custom app on the tablet. You can get a decent enough Android tablet for under £100 now. Suppose it depends how you are at coding or how much you're willing to learn - but I guess you must be up for a challenge judging by your plans for this

[LeMarchand]

I wonder if it might be a better idea to buy a cheap Android tablet to use as the front end?

 

Or the whole thing? Doesn't use up a "spare" Pi though!

[gtg93]

His dash cam project: : Raspberry Pi Car Cam overlaid with OBD data

This makes me want dash cam and reverse cameras adding to the list!

 

I'd be pretty confident you could drive something like this

I've been looking at a couple similar ones on ebay that claim to work with the Pi - I'm more worried about the quality of these, as I'd read reviews of some that were saying the orientation is terrible and that it's almost impossible to get it to orientate correctly. I couldn't understand why that was the case though... I guess it's worth the gamble for the price, last time I looked they were going for double the prices they currently are which put me off slightly.

 

To get an auto shut off

Thanks a trip to Maplins or CPC may be on the cards.

 

 

I wonder if it might be a better idea to buy a cheap Android tablet to use as the front end?

Or the whole thing? Doesn't use up a "spare" Pi though!

I've considered this, but feel as though it's cheating, considering everything I want to do is possible from the Android tablet out of the box (apart from the vehicle diags, but that's a dongle and an app).

 

...or how much you're willing to learn... ...guess you must be up for a challenge judging by your plans for this

Definitely up for the challenge, and willing to learn - that's my main point for doing it to be honest.

Edited September 16, 2014 by gtg93

[CHR1S]

Carputers – some ideas to get you started | Raspberry Pi

 

Building a carputer

 

Helpfull slideshow -

Edited September 16, 2014 by CHR1S

[pcstru]

I've been looking at a couple similar ones on ebay that claim to work with the Pi - I'm more worried about the quality of these, as I'd read reviews of some that were saying the orientation is terrible and that it's almost impossible to get it to orientate correctly. I couldn't understand why that was the case though... I guess it's worth the gamble for the price, last time I looked they were going for double the prices they currently are which put me off slightly.

Mmm, sounds odd. Dynamic 'Orientation' is all down to software and gyro's. I'd have thought you would want a fixed mounting - it's either going to work or not.

 

There are some small displays around. This is out of stock but there should be similar available. There are some 7in touch screens for around £50 advertised for use with Arduino (sheild is extra). Again you should be able to get these to work with GPIO but they will take more work and are more for control applications than watching video.

 

I'd suggest starting simple - perhaps just control for audio and then integrate other functions in. As you learn, you will get a better idea of how things can be made to work and what might not be worthwhile.

[gtg93]

Mmm, sounds odd. Dynamic 'Orientation' is all down to software and gyro's. I'd have thought you would want a fixed mounting - it's either going to work or not.

This is what I thought - but not being something I've ever played with, I wasn't certain.

 

There are some small displays around. This is out of stock but there should be similar available. There are some 7in touch screens for around £50 advertised for use with Arduino (sheild is extra). Again you should be able to get these to work with GPIO but they will take more work and are more for control applications than watching video.

 

I'd suggest starting simple - perhaps just control for audio and then integrate other functions in. As you learn, you will get a better idea of how things can be made to work and what might not be worthwhile.

 

Thanks - My main aim at the minute is to get it running with a touchscreen - this way it can be used as a touch screen audio player in the car and I can work up from that. (Not that it'll go in the car until it's working in the house first)

 

In terms of playing video, I probably never will use it for that, at the end of the day if I'm not driving in the car, I'm waiting for someone and music is more than enough for what will robably be a couple of minutes tops - the ability to play video was more because it can, than because I want it.

Edited September 16, 2014 by gtg93