Project Idea (vehicle interface -monitoring system)

Projects General Guidance
1

Hi, First post but not new. Id like to throw this out and see what you guys think is do-able.

I already own a Uno but dont think it will surfice. Im not sure if its possible with Arduino...maybe Raspbery Pi?

The end result will be a touch screen set up with a snazy UI cool icons etc. What I want to include is....

---------------Monitor--------------
Tyre pressure monitor
Door open monitor
Various engine systems monitoring
Tank level indicators (its a Motorhome "RV")
More items that I cant think of right now.
---------------Control--------------
operate Door locks
operate lights
operate Air Conditioning (rear of vehicle not engine driven AC)
More items to be added but just to give an idea.

Now I know I can go 2 ways either through OBD2 or wire direct to everything. 1st problem is the RV used to be a Royal Mail truck its made in Itialy so the electroncs are dodgy to say the least... Id rather wire up directly (via relays) to each part of the system because it being made by IVECO TRUCKS its not easy to interface with the OBD2 as its based on a truck system and you cant just plug in a ebay reader and expect it to work... IT WONT! it has a 32pin round connector and just the adaptor to standard connector is about £60.

---------------Equipment--------------
Arduino (......?)
TFT LCD Touch screen 7" (plus a way to hook it up)
Relays
Anything else? Im writing this quite late my mind is a little blank!

There are more things I could hook up but one project with in the main project at a time. So what do you think will work? any idea of what system I should use? Coding it will be a learning curve but one i will take with a pinch of patience!

2

Snazzy cool icons, eh?
Monochrome letters not good enough for ya?

Everything except the shiny colourful screen is doable. The screen might be a bit of a challenge, especially considering your last sentence.
However, why don't you list everything you want to hook up and see how much pins it would take. It will get you started.

3

Shpaget:
Snazzy cool icons, eh?
Monochrome letters not good enough for ya?

Everything except the shiny colourful screen is doable. The screen might be a bit of a challenge, especially considering your last sentence.
However, why don't you list everything you want to hook up and see how much pins it would take. It will get you started.

Monochrome is a bit 90's haha, Dont worrie about my last sentence Ill get there in the end always do....

To control things I was thinking everything can share a common ground, as I would use a simple relay on or off. most relays work with 200mA.

Windows (left x 1 right x 1)
Door locks(all open/all closed)
Rear AC unit
Heated mirrors
Cab lights
Rear cabin emergency lights

Total of 7 things to switch on/off

To monitor....
Tyres if possible
Engine water tempriture
Engine oil pressure
Fuel filter warning
Diesel tank level
Drinking water tank level
Possibly propain tank level

total of 7 systems to watch with a total of 14 all together. Obviously if some cant be done they cant be done (yet) For the screen Cant I use somthing like raspberry pi thats hooked up to arduino to get the data from then use a UI in the pi to display and send commands back to the Arduino?

4

Some thoughts

Tyres if possible - needs wireless sender units or the implementation of a central inflation system
Engine water temperature - should be easy if you have access to the wire from the sender unit
Engine oil pressure - see Engine water temperature
Fuel filter warning - ?, if you mean it's getting clogged up you'll need pressure sensors on each side I think.
Diesel tank level - see Engine water temperature
Drinking water tank level - there are many ways to di this
Possibly propain tank level - difficult, the only way I can think of is to weight the tank as measuring the high pressure side of any regulator would be frowned upon I think

Door locks(all open/all closed) - you MUST have provision for manual override
Heated mirrors - move somewhere they aren't required.

Rob

5

Tyres may be tricky due to unknown 3rd party equipment.
The fuel filter has a built in water sensor so should be open/closed circuit
The drivers door has no power lock inside for some reason so im not worried about being locked out at the moment plus I have a alarm which will unlock. I may even bypass the locking CPU and just create my own with the alarm fob as the main lock/unlock.

Heated mirrors will be needed as the north of england is often frozen. I normally remote start the van before I leave the house to warm the engine but if te arduino could sense its below 0c then it could turn on the morrors for a short while then shut them off.

Maybe im going beyond the scope of an arduino here? But Id definetly want a cool user interface.

6

so im not worried about being locked out

I'm more worried about being locked in :slight_smile:

Maybe im going beyond the scope of an arduino here? But Id definetly want a cool user interface.

No the Arduino will do just fine as long as you offload a lot of the "cool user interface" to a module that does the primitive drawing for you, such as the 4D Systems LCD/OLED serial displays.

Rob

7

I was searching for something for my RV and I stumbled on this page. I thought I'd share my project with you.

Everything you're trying to do is doable... Including the snazzy screen.

I have a 1983 American General DJ5L Postal Truck I've built an iPad Control system for using Arduino parts.

The above diagram represents the parts I used and the system components I'm controlling. I have 32 relays in the vehicle. As of now only about 16 are being used. I decided to rewire the vehicle to gain individual control of each component. I wanted to be able to create flash patterns and interesting "scenes" for my vehicle.

Above you can see the prototype. There are 4-8 channel SainSmart relay boards, an Arduino Mega, Ethernet Shield, a USB power supply and lots of wires.

For now, I have a 2000w power inverter (Just something I had) powering a wifi router, the Mega and the relays. I intend to power the system via the vehicles battery and a small solar charger to maintain charge eventually.

Another view of the system components shows the Mega and Eithernet Shield.

The above image is a screenshot of the interface.

This link shows the system in action as it is now.

In the video, you can see how I'm able to control individual components of the vehicle. This gives me the ability to create all kinds of flash patterns and scenes. Towards the end, you can see how I was able to make my blinkers work together with my traffic light bar. The possibilities are really quite endless.

You can see in this image I tow my DJ5L behind my home. When I upgrade the power system I anticipate accessing the DJ5Ls lighting system wirelessly so I don't have to attach tow lights to the vehicle while it's in tow.

Were I to install a GSM chip and pay out the $ for a monthly connection, I could control the vehicles system from anywhere. I'm far too poor for that nonsense.

At the moment I'm living in the mountains with very slow internet, next week I'll post all the resources I used to make this system. (When I say resources, I mean links to source code and information I used freely available on-line. This has been months in the making and I am not available to provide any type of regular help and support to those trying to do the same.)

8

cantrellsmedia:
I was searching for something for my RV and I stumbled on this page. I thought I'd share my project with you.

Everything you're trying to do is doable... Including the snazzy screen.

I have a 1983 American General DJ5L Postal Truck I've built an iPad Control system for using Arduino parts.

The above diagram represents the parts I used and the system components I'm controlling. I have 32 relays in the vehicle. As of now only about 16 are being used. I decided to rewire the vehicle to gain individual control of each component. I wanted to be able to create flash patterns and interesting "scenes" for my vehicle.

Above you can see the prototype. There are 4-8 channel SainSmart relay boards, an Arduino Mega, Ethernet Shield, a USB power supply and lots of wires.

For now, I have a 2000w power inverter (Just something I had) powering a wifi router, the Mega and the relays. I intend to power the system via the vehicles battery and a small solar charger to maintain charge eventually.

Another view of the system components shows the Mega and Eithernet Shield.

The above image is a screenshot of the interface.

This link shows the system in action as it is now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO22nO1lWf4

In the video, you can see how I'm able to control individual components of the vehicle. This gives me the ability to create all kinds of flash patterns and scenes. Towards the end, you can see how I was able to make my blinkers work together with my traffic light bar. The possibilities are really quite endless.

You can see in this image I tow my DJ5L behind my home. When I upgrade the power system I anticipate accessing the DJ5Ls lighting system wirelessly so I don't have to attach tow lights to the vehicle while it's in tow.

Were I to install a GSM chip and pay out the $ for a monthly connection, I could control the vehicles system from anywhere. I'm far too poor for that nonsense.

At the moment I'm living in the mountains with very slow internet, next week I'll post all the resources I used to make this system. (When I say resources, I mean links to source code and information I used freely available on-line. This has been months in the making and I am not available to provide any type of regular help and support to those trying to do the same.)

Unfortunately all of your images are blocked... :frowning:
would love to see the info you promised. maybe attach it as a RAR or ZIP with images etc in it.
Thanks Heaps
Haydn

9

I was arrested and incarcerated for 20 days in Georgetown, Texas for the possession of one tablespoon of canibus about 8 or 9 months ago.

I've since had to sell that Jeep and am in the process of rebuilding my business. I haven't had the time to work on it.

I'll try to post the source to it in a few weeks/months... It just depends on when I can get money coming back in for the essentials.
As it stands now, the code is very unorganized and all over the place, I wouldn't feel confident trying to share it until I can clean it up.

It's pretty basic though. I used webduino to communicate with an Arduino Mega which controlled 32 relays. I use flash (I don't want hear about how flash has been deprecated, use your own development platform of your choice, I'm just most familiar with flash) and I simply use sendToURL to turn things on and off.

I was waiting for the new Spark.io device to come out when I originally started this project. The spark currently requires internet to operate so that device has been shelved until the cloud source code has been released.

I plan on automating my RV soonish, I'll be happy to post all about that.

10

Sorry to hear about your problems.
Would still love to see your new stuff when you get some time.
Thanks
Haydn