To answer the Frequently asked questions: How does it connect to the ecu? - Via USB connection from the Megasquirt MS3 ECU direct to the RasPi. Why didn't you use XYZ off the shelf product? - Because I like to tinker, and I can customise this how I like. What about OBD2, or some other aftermarket ECU? - Sorry, I have never tried this for anything other than the Megasquirt family of ECUs... You can check out a product called 'OpenAuto': bluewavestudio.io/shop/openauto-pro-car-head-unit-solution/ Or if you have a different aftermarket ECU, or OEM ECU with OBD2, or even a carby car, consider trying this software instead: OneGauge, theonegauge.com Or, I am sure you can find other info online though for software options that might work for your car!
@@Tarun_Kausthub Hi Tarun, sorry to say that is quite a different solution to what I presented here, a bit too far outside of my realm - you are effectively starting from scratch from a software perspective.
Years ago, building my first turbo miata, I found your channel and you had the exact videos I needed at the time! Today I'm here because I bought a 7" and 10" touch screen to build a pi dash for this season and low and behold the perfect video pops up aging from you! Thanks you for the forever great content 🤘
This is really awesome. You might think about modifying your shutdown script to take advantage of a relay instead. Connect the relay to your 12v + and - so it detects when the car is on. When you turn the car off it would then close the relay invoking the clean shut down sequence.
I have considered it, and definitely that would make sense for some people/cars, but for my purposes i like the simplicity and control i have with the current setup.
With a race car, you won’t want to wait 30 or 40 seconds every time you’ve switched off the ignition. My Fiat ignition switch goes from zero to start no problem. But just switch on but don’t start and you have to switch it off & on to start the engine. A Pi dash would need its own switch. Or maybe a relay connection with the door locking.
Got mine up and running last night! Just wanna say thanks for making this video. My oem dashboard just shorted out and almost caught fire due to a design flaw in BMW's Rxd diagnostic bus wire. I had a 7 inch screen and a pi 4 laying around for another project so setting this up was the perfect solution. I downloaded some of your dashboard designs too, great work!
Dude, this is amazing! I have looked into this many times before and always turned away because the results looked unpolished, but this is clear, concise and polished. Thank you so much for sharing!
love the idea, simple enough, and looks useful for those of us needing a new dashboard where either a new one is too expensive or in my case nonexistent for my project. Thanks for the set-up idea!!
Might have to give this a go to update my current dash. I mounted mine in the center console and also removed the stock climate controls. Since it's a street car I have a tuner studio dash on it but also wrote a python app to control an Arduino that runs some relays and servos to have touch screen control of my climate control. Not fully implemented in the car yet but prototype is currently working.
Wild idea brought to light. Theres just not enough new automotive video tutorials on the web anymore. Sort of tempted to do this on my Audi mk1 TT centre console.
Thank you Steve. I think I tend to agree. My view is there are a lot of automotive vids on youtube, but they are more about doing crazy builds or making click bait, as opposed to more traditional info/how-to type videos.
Stumbled on this video a few weeks ago, and today ordered the parts to build my own. Aftermarket digital dashes are all really small and would look weird in my stock gauge cluster (excluding the fact they're $1000+). I bought two screens to run independently and line up with my 1978 Hilux stock dash bezel. Never messed with a Raspberry Pi so I'm looking forward to this! I'll have an EMU Black talking to it, hopefully I can get the Tuner Studio to play nice but if not I'll just run the EMU Black tuning software and configure a dash inside of that to display. Thanks for all the info, I'll be watching this video a few more times!
A nice bundled answer - I’ve had similar luck using ASL’s solutions with my AIM and standalone data loggers in RR cars. You’ve got a great build, thumbs up x100.
Big thanks! Just did this successfully. One quick tip is right click the etcher app on the desktop and run etcher as administrator first. I had to do it that way or it etcher would give an error trying to upload the OS from file. I’m on windows 10 btw
This is impressive. I've been thinking of doing something like this to supplement my vehicle's existing dash. Add gauges for things that currently only have dummy lights, or nothing (like the turbo).
@@Bbeavis He doesn't realize you need an aftermarket ecu to make it work yet. LOL You probably should have let everyone know in the beginning that you can't do this project with an OBDII stock ecu. Or at least these instructions won't help you with that project. I am sure there is a way to take a Pi and pickup the neccesary pids for the gauges from the OBDII it's just not in this video.
This was LEGIT! I LOVE it when people have thought out and kind of practiced what they are going to say. I can NOT stand videos full of blah blah blah. Saved and Bookmarked for sure.
If your RPi doesn't write any state to flash memory during runtime, you could set it to mount the disk in read-only mode. This should allow you to skip the power down button, as I believe data corruption is the only concern not to unplug it directly. To apply patches, you would need to remove the read-only filesystem flag when needed.
Awesome work! I created a very similar dash, the only difference is that I designed a safe-shut down circuit that utilizes the ignition signal and a little bit of hardware logic to automatically boot and shut down with the car keys. The initial prototype was just kluged together on a breadboard but I turned it into a PCB but have yet to get it made. Hopefully one day...
Nice work Cyrus, thanks for sharing your setup. For me, I have a hard battery kill switch, theres no ignition key in my track car, so that wasn't really going to work for my setup.
@@blaneandgame9 automotive electronics (battery/alternator) are inherently noisy and contain a lot of transient voltage spikes. That said, sensitive electronics like RPi’s need protection from these voltage transients to avoid eventual death from the shock treatment they will certainly receive. Additionally, memory for computer systems like RPi’s can be corrupted when not safely shutdown (eg: yanking the power plug without pressing “shutdown” in the system menu). My circuitry provides three main features: 1. Protection against high voltage spikes, 2. Turn on with ignition on, 3. Safe shut down of the RPi when the ignition is turned off. Meaning the control circuitry has hardware logic working in conjunction with a Python script in the RPi to shutdown the RPi safely despite ignition telling the circuit to turn off… I hope that helps highlight for you the problems I encountered and the methods I took to address those problems.
This is awesome. I'm goofing off with getting a speeduino ready for a car and saw this and was like this is definitely an alternative from using Dash MS on a tablet.
This is awesome and has definitely encouraged me to try to build a pi dash. Although Ill be using an ecu masters standalone instead of the ms3 but I believe it should still work via their extension port
Not sure if you're still responding to comments on this video but I am super interested in making some type of retrowave/vfd type of display for my bike. I assume when you know how to it isn't that hard but would be interesting to see with the old 80's font types and VFD blue/green/orange/red colours.
This particular software probably wont be suitable for a bike. But the visuals I use in the dashboard are all just designed in photoshop, so anyone could do it - if you want a particular aesthetic, it should be possible.
This' very good. I had no idea there were guys out there taking raspberry pi / car combo setups seriously .. I've been using an Android headhunt to get all my data and it's been "not so good". RPM lags behind actual RPM, temps are okay, but vacuum pressures are sketchy, and voltages are a little hit or miss.. Bookmarked all the way :). Thanks much, I've got my winter project defined now :).
Thank you. I initially ran an Android tablet and found the feature-set and responsiveness to be inferior to this solution.... but maybe with a more modern tablet, and the newer Apps on the market it would be worth a revisit now.
Very nicely done video! I've been making my own diy VW Digifiz inspired software for a dashboard in my classic pre-obd car. Good fun! Thanks for your perspective.
Hello Gavin, did you find any doc or info how to wire RPI to stock ECU? I'm currently thinking about how to make it in my 93 honda delsol. I can't find any sources how to do this without standalone ecu
I looked at Dash options and saw several solutions but, needed something I could make a custom dash with. In particular I wanted something like retro Smiths instruments and options were limited. I looked at Pi Dash but was uncertain on what it could and couldn’t do. Noting how powerful a little Pi is, I considered starting from scratch but, that’s a little beyond me. Your solution looks good but I’d want to use it with a non-MS ECU via CAN. I’ll look into you solution a little deeper. Nice clear presentation by the way!
Clearly no one reads comments before posting a comment…ugghh. Sorry you have to keep answering the same question over and over again. “NO IT DOESNT WORK ON YOUR MAMAS STOCK PCM COOTER MOBILE!!”😂
Thanks mate! I am just glad lots of people are discovering these solutions are out there, yes a lot of people ask the same thing, but its an opportunity to give them more info in a new video for the different people and their different needs.
@@Bbeavis is it possible to us the gpio pins to run a VSS to tuner studio? I don't have a spare io on my microsquirt and want to get my car road legal with this set up. TIA
This is really cool. I want to build this for my Overlander. I'm going to watch more of your videos because I want to find out how you connecting the pi to the can lines. Thanks so much!
Love it, can’t wait to create some scripts to make it like a newer car, preferably to make it only turn on when receiving power on ignition and shutting down after turnt the key over
Damm, i would have never thought of this. this is also usable for all the speeduino guys out there. Ad you can have a keyboard/mouse combo with you and change things when needed
The Raspberry pi5 looks like it would immensely speed up the boot up procedure. I am gonna use this guide with the pi5 since boot times are much lower now!
Pretty darn cool. Didn't know about the dash board project but had thought that a pi or the like would be a great way to present info. Fantastic basic tutorial there! Thanks!
Nice setup. Going to have to update my OS. Only thing I did different was instead of the shut down button I used an on-screen shutdown button through TS
Great video... actually covering the software installation not just the physical installation.... for your power requirements there is a couple power supplies that would remove the two switches (main power and momentary switch). One is called the M2-ATX and the other is the M4-ATX both of which are ignition controlled power supplies that are designed to turn on/off PC motherboards much like a standard car amplifier. They can be set to turn off the system while leaving enough time for the operating system to save details and boot up the operating system like OEM systems with the key.
18 sec Desktop 34 sec Dashboard It is really nice! And I appreciate your presentation. Now I know - it is possible. Looks good and gives possibility for creative design.
@@Bbeavis Cheaper overall maybe, but price to performance and reliability never. My normal Pi starts faster than his Dietpie and for the price, somehere in the comments he assumed 20$ for the SD-Card, I just ordered an 256GB SSD for 17€. Then add a cheap USB3 to SATA cable/case for 5€(AliEspress or from 8€ on Amazon) or less. Hmm after checking AliEpress now, such USB-SATA cables start at less than 50 Cent. So for a similar price you can get ~10x the read speeds. An if size matters for you you can still remove the case of the SATA SSD and reduce the size even further, they are usually less than half of the 2,5" cases size.
@@StefanHajdu Indeed I agree there are many options. For my needs, the 30sec boot up time is absolutely no issue for me. Some others who want a more instant-on setup may want to follow your method for even quicker performance.
For anyone looking to use this for more of a daily driver application, where you might not want to use switches and buttons to turn it on and off, connect the raspberry pi to constant 12v (through 5v adapter). Connect the gpio to switched 12v(acc), and modify the script so when power is lost on the pin, the pi shits down. Power the screen off of switched power, so the dash "turns off" as soon as you turn off the car, and shutdown happens in the background. And lastly, use a rising edge trigger to turn on the car when switched power is restored. The only real downside is that you probably couldn't turn the car on right after turning it off, instead having to wait for shutdown to finish.
This is great! Can you show us how you assembled the raspberry pi electrical in the last bit of the video and put links where to buy the parts or what they look like? Truly love this build!
The circuit is rather basic, as follows: crcit.net/c/76405c09cb11400ab9f697d3f3d343a0 Parts required: - Raspberry Pi 3+ / 4 / 5 - Toggle switch - 12v to 5v DC converter - Optional: 5v or 12v fan to suit Pi, to your preference - Various cables/wires/solder etc.
@@BbeavisThank you for the diagram! I have one more question (I apologize as I’ve never worked with Raspberry Pis before). I am looking for the 12vto5v step down, but I’m unsure how to find one that will connect to the GPIO pins. Is that something I can buy premade or do I have to create those connections myself? If I do have to make them, is there a name for those types of connections?
@@exsimedia73 You will find some good examples of the 12v to 5v DC converter via this link: www.amazon.com/s?k=12V+to+5V+3A+Step-Down+Waterproof+Miniature+DC-DC+Converter+Power+Supply+Module&ref=nb_sb_noss Then, you will need to solder the wires, or use "dupont connector leads".
That's one sweet dashboard - I tried building a similar dashboard for my Volvo XC90 but the bloody cars electronics were too sensitive... the slightest unexpected power draw from a line pulled up error message after error message.
looking awsome. just getting into cars myself. Just one comment: maybe keep the power input for the fan away from the pi. just using it for signals makes them live longer ;)
Good luck! Since you have a different aftermarket ECU, perhaps either the OpenAuto software, or OneGauge theonegauge.com, may work for you. Hope that helps, thanks very much for watching.
Awesome guide. Thanks for this. Have been back and forth on doing one of these for years. I am assuming you're using a megasquirt for the data connection to tuner studio? I'm going to have to look into if there is connection with other ECUs possible . The screen looks pretty nice and bright. I'd definitely have to get boot times down a bit and have it automatically turn on and off with ignition. But this has definitely renewed my interest. Great stuff
Thank you, yes indeed this is using the TunerStudio software, specific to the Megsquirt ECUs. This car runs an MS3 which connects to the Pi via USB cable. I agree on loading times, I'm constantly trying to improve them.
Thanks for the detailed video , i was actually thinking of building one for my daily driver but it has a stock ecu so i don't know from where to pull the parameters from.
Hey Suyash, So sorry, that is something I glossed over, if you wanted to use OBD2, perhaps the OpenAuto software would work for you... or consider trying this software instead: OneGauge, theonegauge.com. Hope that helps, thanks very much for watching.
Hey Hamza, I'm running this dash in a track car with an aftermarket ECU, it uses a Megasquirt MS3 ECU. So all my sensors, speed, temps etc go direct to the ECU. Then the ECU has a USB connection direct to the Pi to feed the data for the dash software and they communicate using the ECU's proprietary serial protocol.
This is really cool. I wish I could include something like this for my 88 trans-am, but I deleted all the ECU/wiring/ and EFI. Still a very cool option for those that are building a racecar on the cheap.
you could use a JZ-801 timer module to keep the Raspberry Pi alive for some time (not the screen), so if you start the car again on the following minutes, you don't have to wait the boot up
A good idea for a road car perhaps, but won't work for me with this track car where I have a battery idolator switch that kills all power from the battery.
Excellent video mate, definitely something I would love to have in my Ford Escort MK2, few more things to tick off the list then will probably start picking your brain with questions 🤘👌
@@Bbeavis yeah it's a beast lol well hopefully 🤔 got to get through the Dyno session with the new engine then hopefully scaring the hills wildlife with the screaming Weber symphony 🤘. My grandfather bought it new in 76 restored in his honour 👍 keen to see if I can incorporate the same style of dash set up in the old girl like yours
If I didnt already have Fueltech I would absolutely go this route if I had purchased Haltech or Link. This takes a bit of time but it saves so so much money!
Thank you, 100% this isn't a plug-n-play off the shelf dashboard, but it is generally far cheaper. One perhaps needs to have a tinkerer mindset to build and maintain something like this.
@@Bbeavis Anyone serious or even semi serious would really understand the value of something like this. If anything it could be a nice update for 20+ degraded analog oem gauge cluster
@@uknterror508 problem is usually the boot time, I planned to build one to replace my failed speedometer but never found something that could boot fast enough. Instead I use a microcontroler with a very crude display, but it's not really appealing nor big enough. The µc boot almost instantly but doesn't have the power to drive anything other than a very small screen with a 3fps refresh rate. There might be a workaround, by driving it with the door switch instead of the ignition key, so once I'm ready to start the car the Rpi would have already started.
To answer the Frequently asked questions:
How does it connect to the ecu? - Via USB connection from the Megasquirt MS3 ECU direct to the RasPi.
Why didn't you use XYZ off the shelf product? - Because I like to tinker, and I can customise this how I like.
What about OBD2, or some other aftermarket ECU? - Sorry, I have never tried this for anything other than the Megasquirt family of ECUs... You can check out a product called 'OpenAuto': bluewavestudio.io/shop/openauto-pro-car-head-unit-solution/
Or if you have a different aftermarket ECU, or OEM ECU with OBD2, or even a carby car, consider trying this software instead: OneGauge, theonegauge.com
Or, I am sure you can find other info online though for software options that might work for your car!
I want to use this for my Bike, which doesn't have a ECU. Can you help me with a possible solution?
@@Tarun_Kausthub Hi Tarun, sorry to say that is quite a different solution to what I presented here, a bit too far outside of my realm - you are effectively starting from scratch from a software perspective.
@@Bbeavis Ok, Thank you for the reply!
Hi, reckon this can work with a haltech ecu?
For a different ECU you may need to try the OpenAuto software or instead: OneGauge.
Crazy to see how people figure all this out and build it themselfes. Gets me very motivated
Thank you.
Years ago, building my first turbo miata, I found your channel and you had the exact videos I needed at the time! Today I'm here because I bought a 7" and 10" touch screen to build a pi dash for this season and low and behold the perfect video pops up aging from you! Thanks you for the forever great content 🤘
Awesome! Thank you for the kind words of appreciation Jaren, glad I could help - again!
First?
Am I the only one impressed that he’s still using Netscape? great job on the video by the way. 😅
I swear Netscape Navigator peaked in the mid 90's.... what a time to be alive.
I wish it was still around
Lol
Not "still using", check the URL just "about" while 'clicked' 🤭
He couldnt escape from it
This is really awesome. You might think about modifying your shutdown script to take advantage of a relay instead. Connect the relay to your 12v + and - so it detects when the car is on. When you turn the car off it would then close the relay invoking the clean shut down sequence.
I have considered it, and definitely that would make sense for some people/cars, but for my purposes i like the simplicity and control i have with the current setup.
With a race car, you won’t want to wait 30 or 40 seconds every time you’ve switched off the ignition.
My Fiat ignition switch goes from zero to start no problem. But just switch on but don’t start and you have to switch it off & on to start the engine. A Pi dash would need its own switch. Or maybe a relay connection with the door locking.
basicly acts like a sense pin (looking fo acc. min.) for key turn i take it?
Got mine up and running last night! Just wanna say thanks for making this video. My oem dashboard just shorted out and almost caught fire due to a design flaw in BMW's Rxd diagnostic bus wire. I had a 7 inch screen and a pi 4 laying around for another project so setting this up was the perfect solution. I downloaded some of your dashboard designs too, great work!
Great to hear!
Dude, this is amazing! I have looked into this many times before and always turned away because the results looked unpolished, but this is clear, concise and polished. Thank you so much for sharing!
Glad I could help!
Hands down for your build! Everything you do has a purpose and you give us all that Info for free, you are absolutely killing it!
Thank you Felix, you are too kind.
Netscape? Hot damn, using that in its self is an impressive flex.
I can't let go of the 90's.
I had to google that on Alta Vista
This is a great guide, I will be using this info to remake the dashboard on my megasquirted 280Z
Good luck!
love the idea, simple enough, and looks useful for those of us needing a new dashboard where either a new one is too expensive or in my case nonexistent for my project. Thanks for the set-up idea!!
Glad you like it Rich!
Might have to give this a go to update my current dash. I mounted mine in the center console and also removed the stock climate controls. Since it's a street car I have a tuner studio dash on it but also wrote a python app to control an Arduino that runs some relays and servos to have touch screen control of my climate control. Not fully implemented in the car yet but prototype is currently working.
Nice work mate, sounds like you have it all under control already, but maybe theres a few options offered here that you can get some benefit from.
I've wanted to do this for years but was unclear on a few things. You cleared up so much, thank you for a great video!
Glad it was helpful!
Wild idea brought to light.
Theres just not enough new automotive video tutorials on the web anymore.
Sort of tempted to do this on my Audi mk1 TT centre console.
Thank you Steve. I think I tend to agree. My view is there are a lot of automotive vids on youtube, but they are more about doing crazy builds or making click bait, as opposed to more traditional info/how-to type videos.
Stumbled on this video a few weeks ago, and today ordered the parts to build my own. Aftermarket digital dashes are all really small and would look weird in my stock gauge cluster (excluding the fact they're $1000+). I bought two screens to run independently and line up with my 1978 Hilux stock dash bezel. Never messed with a Raspberry Pi so I'm looking forward to this! I'll have an EMU Black talking to it, hopefully I can get the Tuner Studio to play nice but if not I'll just run the EMU Black tuning software and configure a dash inside of that to display. Thanks for all the info, I'll be watching this video a few more times!
Great, thanks for your interest, hope your build goes well.
I’m researching making a pie based dash for my ski boat and this is great help to show how the basics work
Thanks, good luck with your build Jack!
A nice bundled answer - I’ve had similar luck using ASL’s solutions with my AIM and standalone data loggers in RR cars. You’ve got a great build, thumbs up x100.
Thanks very much Eric.
THIS BRO! I was literally thinking of a way to make something like this yesterday lol. Hell yeah man thats sick, im 100% doing this!
Thanks mate, hope it goes well :-)
Big thanks! Just did this successfully. One quick tip is right click the etcher app on the desktop and run etcher as administrator first. I had to do it that way or it etcher would give an error trying to upload the OS from file. I’m on windows 10 btw
Glad it was useful! And good tip. :-)
This is impressive. I've been thinking of doing something like this to supplement my vehicle's existing dash. Add gauges for things that currently only have dummy lights, or nothing (like the turbo).
Thank you Black Dragon.
😊😊😊😊
Of all the car videos i've watched over the years, this one is by far the one I've waited for! AMAZING
Wow, thanks very much, may I ask what did you find so valuable about it?
@@Bbeavis He doesn't realize you need an aftermarket ecu to make it work yet. LOL You probably should have let everyone know in the beginning that you can't do this project with an OBDII stock ecu. Or at least these instructions won't help you with that project.
I am sure there is a way to take a Pi and pickup the neccesary pids for the gauges from the OBDII it's just not in this video.
Amazing Raspberry Pi project. It's awesome, the amount of things you can do with that tiny board.👍
Thank you! Cheers!
This was LEGIT!
I LOVE it when people have thought out and kind of practiced what they are going to say.
I can NOT stand videos full of blah blah blah.
Saved and Bookmarked for sure.
Thanks mate, appreciate that a lot.
Underrated PC nostalgia FTW.
That 90's school library PC experience.
If your RPi doesn't write any state to flash memory during runtime, you could set it to mount the disk in read-only mode. This should allow you to skip the power down button, as I believe data corruption is the only concern not to unplug it directly. To apply patches, you would need to remove the read-only filesystem flag when needed.
This is a good point, thanks for sharing.
Awesome work! I created a very similar dash, the only difference is that I designed a safe-shut down circuit that utilizes the ignition signal and a little bit of hardware logic to automatically boot and shut down with the car keys. The initial prototype was just kluged together on a breadboard but I turned it into a PCB but have yet to get it made. Hopefully one day...
Nice work Cyrus, thanks for sharing your setup. For me, I have a hard battery kill switch, theres no ignition key in my track car, so that wasn't really going to work for my setup.
@@Bbeavis ah yes of course, because racecar. I love it! I’m definitely going to check out dietpi now though. Thanks again for the amazing content.
Could you elaborate a little more on this? I'd like to be able to use this setup on mine as well.
@@blaneandgame9 automotive electronics (battery/alternator) are inherently noisy and contain a lot of transient voltage spikes. That said, sensitive electronics like RPi’s need protection from these voltage transients to avoid eventual death from the shock treatment they will certainly receive. Additionally, memory for computer systems like RPi’s can be corrupted when not safely shutdown (eg: yanking the power plug without pressing “shutdown” in the system menu).
My circuitry provides three main features: 1. Protection against high voltage spikes, 2. Turn on with ignition on, 3. Safe shut down of the RPi when the ignition is turned off. Meaning the control circuitry has hardware logic working in conjunction with a Python script in the RPi to shutdown the RPi safely despite ignition telling the circuit to turn off…
I hope that helps highlight for you the problems I encountered and the methods I took to address those problems.
@@cyrusleggI've used OSH Park to have small batch PCBs made for my own car projects. Very affordable and fairly fast turnaround.
This is awesome. I'm goofing off with getting a speeduino ready for a car and saw this and was like this is definitely an alternative from using Dash MS on a tablet.
Awesome, good luck! I found the android ShadowDash app to be a little less usable than the Pi based solution.
I would definitely run this in my car. So glad you did. Now if we could just get that sequential.. 😂
Still on the wishlist :-)
This is one of the coolest things I've seen all year
Thanks mate you are too kind.
This is awesome and has definitely encouraged me to try to build a pi dash. Although Ill be using an ecu masters standalone instead of the ms3 but I believe it should still work via their extension port
Great David, good luck I hope your build goes well.
did you get it to work with your ecu master?
You are a legend man great tutorial and I hope to see many more like this in the future its time for tech guys into cars to start more DIY videos!
I appreciate that!
Not sure if you're still responding to comments on this video but I am super interested in making some type of retrowave/vfd type of display for my bike. I assume when you know how to it isn't that hard but would be interesting to see with the old 80's font types and VFD blue/green/orange/red colours.
This particular software probably wont be suitable for a bike. But the visuals I use in the dashboard are all just designed in photoshop, so anyone could do it - if you want a particular aesthetic, it should be possible.
I love VFDs! Some day, when I finally have some disposable $$$, I will be adding a VFD or at least an OLED made to look like a VFD to a car.
As well as a HUD.
This' very good. I had no idea there were guys out there taking raspberry pi / car combo setups seriously .. I've been using an Android headhunt to get all my data and it's been "not so good". RPM lags behind actual RPM, temps are okay, but vacuum pressures are sketchy, and voltages are a little hit or miss.. Bookmarked all the way :). Thanks much, I've got my winter project defined now :).
Thank you. I initially ran an Android tablet and found the feature-set and responsiveness to be inferior to this solution.... but maybe with a more modern tablet, and the newer Apps on the market it would be worth a revisit now.
Very nicely done video! I've been making my own diy VW Digifiz inspired software for a dashboard in my classic pre-obd car. Good fun! Thanks for your perspective.
Sounds great! Thanks Gavin.
Hello Gavin, did you find any doc or info how to wire RPI to stock ECU?
I'm currently thinking about how to make it in my 93 honda delsol. I can't find any sources how to do this without standalone ecu
how you do it
I looked at Dash options and saw several solutions but, needed something I could make a custom dash with. In particular I wanted something like retro Smiths instruments and options were limited. I looked at Pi Dash but was uncertain on what it could and couldn’t do. Noting how powerful a little Pi is, I considered starting from scratch but, that’s a little beyond me. Your solution looks good but I’d want to use it with a non-MS ECU via CAN. I’ll look into you solution a little deeper. Nice clear presentation by the way!
Thanks woznaldo, there is some CAN based dash software out there for the Pi, that may work for your needs.... You'll need to get a little inventive.
Clearly no one reads comments before posting a comment…ugghh. Sorry you have to keep answering the same question over and over again. “NO IT DOESNT WORK ON YOUR MAMAS STOCK PCM COOTER MOBILE!!”😂
Thanks mate!
I am just glad lots of people are discovering these solutions are out there, yes a lot of people ask the same thing, but its an opportunity to give them more info in a new video for the different people and their different needs.
@@Bbeavis is it possible to us the gpio pins to run a VSS to tuner studio? I don't have a spare io on my microsquirt and want to get my car road legal with this set up. TIA
This is really cool. I want to build this for my Overlander. I'm going to watch more of your videos because I want to find out how you connecting the pi to the can lines. Thanks so much!
Have fun!
I love how the clock on the dash is outputting something (gforces?) as well. Nice project mate.
Thanks :-) Assuming you mean the blue digital gauge, which is AFR.
Man that's something I've always wanted to do. Now it is within reach. Thank you for sharing
Glad to hear the video could help you.
this is pretty badass and might end up making one, would wire mine to ignition for power on and off. thanks for the starting point
Thanks. There's some clever add-on circuits people have made to auto power on/off their pi with car power if you want a more automated power solution.
Love it, can’t wait to create some scripts to make it like a newer car, preferably to make it only turn on when receiving power on ignition and shutting down after turnt the key over
Thank you. Yes you can definitly make the boot and and sleep/shutdown process more streamlined if you wanted to.
This was extremely useful! Thank you so much for taking the time to make this video and the dashboard models!
You're very welcome!
Thats pretty. Awesome job, now i just have to figure out how to port and mount this concept to my Harley.
Hah Harley isn't a use case I had envisioned but no reason why you cant give it a go!
Great stuff mate! Inspired me to build a digital dashboard for my motorhome, currently converting from a coach bus.
Go for it!
This goes hard as nails bro can't wait to put this in my car whenever i buy a car
Thanks very much.
Ngl i would 100% buy this setup from ya. Im terrible with tiny wires. So i can see me messing this up so quickly if i were to do this on my own
It's all achievable for pretty much anyone, the video takes you through it all... you can do it!
@Bbeavis def gonna be trying my hand at it soon 😁
Thank you for the step by step guide, I need to figure out a way to use it with my factory ecu but I guess I gotta keep searching youtube for that one
Good luck!
Thank you for such a in depth vid! figuring out how to connect via OBD 2 atm
Glad it was helpful! That's my next project to share here, how to connect via OBD2
Thanks bro, this is the video I've been looking for! Testing in a lancer DD then either replacing or monitoring a built honda
No problem 👍
Thank you for this video! I have been planning on doing something like this for my motorcycle, but wasn't aware of these dash projects.
Sure thing!
Damm, i would have never thought of this. this is also usable for all the speeduino guys out there. Ad you can have a keyboard/mouse combo with you and change things when needed
Exactly! Lots of possibilities. Thanks Gasper.
The Raspberry pi5 looks like it would immensely speed up the boot up procedure. I am gonna use this guide with the pi5 since boot times are much lower now!
I have recently purchased a Pi5 myself, hope to find time to update and test it out... will be great to see how it compares in performance.
Awesome video, you helped me confirm what made me doubt a little on my project which was if using volt converters on the dash was a good idea
Glad I could help, thanks!
Very cool mate, love to put this in my beach buggy
That sounds like a fun project!
Im glad you've done this, I was going to ask after watching your recent video, the dash looks amazing.
Will watch it later after work.
No worries!
Pretty darn cool. Didn't know about the dash board project but had thought that a pi or the like would be a great way to present info. Fantastic basic tutorial there! Thanks!
Happy to share with everyone, thanks for watching!
Nice setup. Going to have to update my OS. Only thing I did different was instead of the shut down button I used an on-screen shutdown button through TS
Good idea, well done.
Great video... actually covering the software installation not just the physical installation.... for your power requirements there is a couple power supplies that would remove the two switches (main power and momentary switch). One is called the M2-ATX and the other is the M4-ATX both of which are ignition controlled power supplies that are designed to turn on/off PC motherboards much like a standard car amplifier. They can be set to turn off the system while leaving enough time for the operating system to save details and boot up the operating system like OEM systems with the key.
Thanks good details to give options for people out there who want an auto-shutdown solution.
18 sec Desktop
34 sec Dashboard
It is really nice!
And I appreciate your presentation. Now I know - it is possible. Looks good and gives possibility for creative design.
Glad you like it!
@@Bbeavis why not use a cheap SSD? It should be much faster
@@xxxxshxxxx SD card is way cheaper for me, and an SSD is much more bulky physically.
@@Bbeavis Cheaper overall maybe, but price to performance and reliability never. My normal Pi starts faster than his Dietpie and for the price, somehere in the comments he assumed 20$ for the SD-Card, I just ordered an 256GB SSD for 17€. Then add a cheap USB3 to SATA cable/case for 5€(AliEspress or from 8€ on Amazon) or less. Hmm after checking AliEpress now, such USB-SATA cables start at less than 50 Cent. So for a similar price you can get ~10x the read speeds. An if size matters for you you can still remove the case of the SATA SSD and reduce the size even further, they are usually less than half of the 2,5" cases size.
@@StefanHajdu Indeed I agree there are many options. For my needs, the 30sec boot up time is absolutely no issue for me. Some others who want a more instant-on setup may want to follow your method for even quicker performance.
Dude, ur a legend! Been wanting to do this since discovering your original dash vid from a few years ago! Just need to buy that screen. Thank you!
Glad I could help!
For anyone looking to use this for more of a daily driver application, where you might not want to use switches and buttons to turn it on and off, connect the raspberry pi to constant 12v (through 5v adapter). Connect the gpio to switched 12v(acc), and modify the script so when power is lost on the pin, the pi shits down. Power the screen off of switched power, so the dash "turns off" as soon as you turn off the car, and shutdown happens in the background. And lastly, use a rising edge trigger to turn on the car when switched power is restored. The only real downside is that you probably couldn't turn the car on right after turning it off, instead having to wait for shutdown to finish.
Thanks for sharing your suggestion with everyone, appreciate it.
could try this on my experiment
This is great! Can you show us how you assembled the raspberry pi electrical in the last bit of the video and put links where to buy the parts or what they look like? Truly love this build!
The circuit is rather basic, as follows: crcit.net/c/76405c09cb11400ab9f697d3f3d343a0
Parts required:
- Raspberry Pi 3+ / 4 / 5
- Toggle switch
- 12v to 5v DC converter
- Optional: 5v or 12v fan to suit Pi, to your preference
- Various cables/wires/solder etc.
@@BbeavisThank you for the diagram! I have one more question (I apologize as I’ve never worked with Raspberry Pis before). I am looking for the 12vto5v step down, but I’m unsure how to find one that will connect to the GPIO pins. Is that something I can buy premade or do I have to create those connections myself? If I do have to make them, is there a name for those types of connections?
@@exsimedia73 You will find some good examples of the 12v to 5v DC converter via this link: www.amazon.com/s?k=12V+to+5V+3A+Step-Down+Waterproof+Miniature+DC-DC+Converter+Power+Supply+Module&ref=nb_sb_noss
Then, you will need to solder the wires, or use "dupont connector leads".
Brilliant. Will be adding this to our BMW race car build
Good luck with your build :-)
Very cool. Always wondered what was involved in setting up a raspberry pi
It's a "tinker" type of project, but eventually the end product is pretty valuable.
Loved the detailed, step by step instructions.
Hopefully I will soon have a project to build in with, since I already have the Pi lol.
Thanks, good luck with your projects :-)
Love it man plan on doing this for my 96 tdi Passat
NIce :-)
Very cool setup and nicely laid out how to. Gives me an idea for an aux screen in my car for when on track. Thanks!!!
Glad it was helpful!
That's one sweet dashboard - I tried building a similar dashboard for my Volvo XC90 but the bloody cars electronics were too sensitive... the slightest unexpected power draw from a line pulled up error message after error message.
Wow, interesting to hear, good on you for trying at the very least! More modern cars are definitely getting complex.
Ohhh this will be a perfect project for my engineering degree!
Thanks Chris, good luck with your degree :-)
This is great, I've been wanting to work on a custom dash for some time.
Go for it!
Awesome video will definetly try it out on an upcoming cross kart project
Good luck!
Just finished the installation. I think this will be usefull! Thanks a lot.
Glad it was helpful!
Aah cool. Glad you're liking the PiDash image.
Thanks for putting in the effort to create your version of DIetPi, appreciate it.
@@Bbeavis no prob. Moving on to designing an instant on dash.
looking awsome. just getting into cars myself.
Just one comment: maybe keep the power input for the fan away from the pi. just using it for signals makes them live longer ;)
Cool idea, thanks for the advice, I'll re-wire it direct from the cars power source.
I'm planning to microsquirt my ultralight and this would be sick if I can figure out how to convert the speed signal to airspeed.
Cool video, thanks!
Cool idea :-D
Mate. Unreal video. Thanks for the info. Cheers
Thanks mate! Glad you enjoyed it.
DUDE that's so amazing, I can't believe it.
Thanks :-)
Really nicely done. Thank you for the links and the video. I might be giving this a shot soon.
Appreciate the kind words.
What a great content, thanks!, really liked bottom index, very organized!. Useful.
Thanks very much, glad you liked it! :-)
I run a Haltech on my MX5 and want to try this hopefully i can figure out a way to run the Haltech application instead! Ty for the tips!!
Good luck! Since you have a different aftermarket ECU, perhaps either the OpenAuto software, or OneGauge theonegauge.com, may work for you.
Hope that helps, thanks very much for watching.
This is awesome, got my sub. This coinsides with a long term project of mine, but I'll be attempting to read via Canbus.
Good luck, keen to hear how you go with a CAN based solution.
This is exactly the video i was looking for. thank you so much!
You're welcome!
very good information and i will start to do for my JEEP XJ
Best of luck!
Thank you for the video. Really great delivery. Keep up the good work
Much appreciated!
Awesome work. I have a foxbody that'll be using this type display pretty soon. Keep up the good work.
Cool, thanks Rodney.
Awesome guide. Thanks for this. Have been back and forth on doing one of these for years. I am assuming you're using a megasquirt for the data connection to tuner studio? I'm going to have to look into if there is connection with other ECUs possible .
The screen looks pretty nice and bright. I'd definitely have to get boot times down a bit and have it automatically turn on and off with ignition. But this has definitely renewed my interest. Great stuff
Thank you, yes indeed this is using the TunerStudio software, specific to the Megsquirt ECUs. This car runs an MS3 which connects to the Pi via USB cable. I agree on loading times, I'm constantly trying to improve them.
Thanks for the detailed video , i was actually thinking of building one for my daily driver but it has a stock ecu so i don't know from where to pull the parameters from.
Hey Suyash,
So sorry, that is something I glossed over, if you wanted to use OBD2, perhaps the OpenAuto software would work for you... or consider trying this software instead: OneGauge, theonegauge.com.
Hope that helps, thanks very much for watching.
@@Bbeavis Thanks for the info this will surely help.
how does it read the car data like speed etc? is it connected to the obd2?
Hey Hamza, I'm running this dash in a track car with an aftermarket ECU, it uses a Megasquirt MS3 ECU. So all my sensors, speed, temps etc go direct to the ECU. Then the ECU has a USB connection direct to the Pi to feed the data for the dash software and they communicate using the ECU's proprietary serial protocol.
Really is an ultimate guide. Thank you for the detailed breakdown.
No problem!
This is really cool. I wish I could include something like this for my 88 trans-am, but I deleted all the ECU/wiring/ and EFI. Still a very cool option for those that are building a racecar on the cheap.
Thanks Game Tinkerer :-)
excellent guide - great video... thank you!!!! Will share results when I finally get to build one 👌
Sweet, thanks Andy.
Awesome project, will go nicely with a Speeduino Ecu
I think so too!
you could use a JZ-801 timer module to keep the Raspberry Pi alive for some time (not the screen), so if you start the car again on the following minutes, you don't have to wait the boot up
A good idea for a road car perhaps, but won't work for me with this track car where I have a battery idolator switch that kills all power from the battery.
Excellent video mate, definitely something I would love to have in my Ford Escort MK2, few more things to tick off the list then will probably start picking your brain with questions 🤘👌
I'm just jealous of your Escort to be honest, such a cool car.
@@Bbeavis yeah it's a beast lol well hopefully 🤔 got to get through the Dyno session with the new engine then hopefully scaring the hills wildlife with the screaming Weber symphony 🤘.
My grandfather bought it new in 76 restored in his honour 👍 keen to see if I can incorporate the same style of dash set up in the old girl like yours
If I didnt already have Fueltech I would absolutely go this route if I had purchased Haltech or Link. This takes a bit of time but it saves so so much money!
Thank you, 100% this isn't a plug-n-play off the shelf dashboard, but it is generally far cheaper. One perhaps needs to have a tinkerer mindset to build and maintain something like this.
@@Bbeavis Anyone serious or even semi serious would really understand the value of something like this. If anything it could be a nice update for 20+ degraded analog oem gauge cluster
@@uknterror508 problem is usually the boot time, I planned to build one to replace my failed speedometer but never found something that could boot fast enough.
Instead I use a microcontroler with a very crude display, but it's not really appealing nor big enough. The µc boot almost instantly but doesn't have the power to drive anything other than a very small screen with a 3fps refresh rate.
There might be a workaround, by driving it with the door switch instead of the ignition key, so once I'm ready to start the car the Rpi would have already started.
Awesome! Got a build coming up and will definitely use this for it. Nice job man!
Awesome! Thank you!
So going to do that! Thanks for the idea!!
Hope you like it!
Thank you for the detailed setup.
My pleasure, thanks for watching!
Great tutorial/project. Thank you for sharing !!!
Thanks for watching!
Very cool!! I might end up using this in a future project! 👏👏
Hope it helps, good luck!