Advice needed! Integrate aftermarket features into OEM+ style control system
 

Hey everyone, I need advice on an electrical project. If you are interested in helping, please read carefully as there is a lot of info and ideas, so just bear with me.

Background: I'm a big fan of the OEM+ look and feel. Everything from OEM Brembos, valved exhaust for stock level noise or racecar noise, and harnesses with electronic inertial reels so I can comfortably daily in them, to the 10 inch subs hidden inside custom enclosures in the walls were the crappy 3inch speakers were. It tickles my fancy to have a car with cool additional features while retaining a near-OEM look and feel.

Issue: I have an electrically controlled exhaust, electrically controlled HVT dynamic dampening suspension, electrically controlled harness inertial reels, electrically controlled nitrous system, etc.. And I like a clean car interior without random switches and buttons stuck randomly around the console like eyesores.

https://www.drivespark.com/img/2015/...p9lAThREP2.jpg

Mission: I would like one clean, elegant way to control all of these things and possibly more in the future.

Ideas: Android headunit with Input/output functions? Make an GUI app to interface with the electronics? Maybe?

ECU Connect app? It already allows some cars to add custom inputs/outputs. But for the FRS there is only one hijack-able physical output which is the CPC solenoid valve. So the best you can do is to be able to control only one output without an aftermarket ECU.

https://www.delicioustuning.com/site...sition=elastic

Workshop 12 was working on an amazing project called Brainiac that would integrate climate control, radio, even things like TPMS and air ride control. And that probably wouldve working swimmingly. Unfortunately they shut the project down.

https://workshoptwelve.files.wordpre...ize.jpg?w=1920

Any advice or ideas are welcome. Help me Ft86club forum, you're my only hope.

Been researching this for a while. You're going to have to learn some Arduino hacking. Then go either:

CANBus Triple
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...cking-platform
https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects...-h264_high.mp4
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj0AsuT4f8g"]CANBus Triple rolling windows down over Bluetooth LE - YouTube[/ame]

or

Macchina 2
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...g-control-of-y
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxYcsptzg_E"]Simple Car hacking with Macchina M2 - YouTube[/ame]

I'm sure there are many other methods these days, with 100 hackerboards available. Still either of these platforms will get you there. With a learning curve of course.

Thanks for the response, Daemano. The info you provided is interesting, but it doesn't quite help me here. The videos describe the process of reverse engineering the CAN bus to control OEM features using a computer or prototyping board. But doesn't seem to do anything with adding features from aftermarket peripherals.


What I'm looking for example: is a way to take something like my electronic exhaust, and open and close the valve using a system that looks OEM, like a stereo head unit. Just anything cleaner than just a toggle switch drilled into my dash somewhere.

I think Daemano has you pointed in the right direction. Get into an Arduino, it has a boat load of inputs and outputs and can be programmed however you want. They have a ton of aftermarket support as far as addons.

I think your end result would probably be a combo of an android head unit with a custom app that interfaces with the arduino.

Agreed.

Yes, Arduino/Raspberry Pi is most likely what you're looking for. I'm going the toggle switch route for my custom electronics (simply because I love toggle switches and I'm a jet fighter fanboy), but you could easily splice wires to make it so that certain things turn on/off with other OEM buttons on the dash. You could probably even find an app to control the arduino or rpi. I know a few already exist for monitoring outputs from the OBDII port.

Subscribing to your thread to watch your progress.

I would use a rasberry Pi V3. They have more processing power than the arduino and they can be connected to an LCD screen which can be programmed for those specfic functions.

https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi...rc=raspberrypi

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13733

I have experience with both Arduino and Raspi, and that seems to be the direction I'll be headed in. I am an aircraft electrical technician, so I don't need my car to remind me of work, haha. I don't know about the OEM buttons part, I'm not savvy with the CanBus system and am not willing to risk the ECU for this little project.


This is definitely an option, and not the first time I'd have a Raspi in my car. But I'm trying to steer away from having another screen in the car. I had an OFT, and my smartphone with Torque. And I'm looking to clean it all up. An android head unit with the ECUTek Connect app would be amazing if I can get Inputs/outputs out of the head unit. But I don't have experience with aftermarket HUs.


Unless I designed and build my own head unit using an Arduino, like Brainiac, but that would be incredibly labor intensive.

Depending on the maker of the android HU, you can just install apps on them just like a tablet or phone, and interact with peripherals the same, generally over Bluetooth or the likes.


If you have a pioneer HU, many of them have their AppRadio supported, which when paired with appradio unchained lets you basically control an android peripheral device as an input screen on the HU. The Chinese android units are more open, and some makers will even give you access to adb and stuff if you email them, or so I have been lead to believe from xda. that said they (Chinese android unit) are cheaper quality than something like a pioneer unit, however they (pioneer unit) are (much) more expensive, and more locked down. the newer pioneer units do run on android as well, but none of your traditional android features are exposed, and they utilize a boot procedure called Warp, which will fail if you modify the OS in the wrong ways.


I do think for your use case, an android unit is probably the most direct and functional solution, however a pioneer with app radio might look more OEM+ than just straight up android Head unit.


I am currently running a pioneer myself, however have considered going to an android. one cool thing you can do with them is install viper, which allows you to use an impulse response to eq your music. with this in theory you can measure your speakers, and create a custom impulse, and then use that for your car.

Tbh with you, integrating products that were not designed to be integrated with other products is going to be a challenge.

If you only need switch controls, simple relays can work with that. For products that have their own controller like the dampers, you would either replace their servos and controller with your own or you hack the controller pcb board.

When you do get those interfaces ready for integration, then you'd have to deal with networking all of them. I suggest canbus. Then, you also need a centralized way to control them, say Android head unit. You'd need to interface canbus to head unit, probably canbus to Bluetooth. Then finally, you need an app to control this custom Bluetooth interface.

I suggest start with the most complex one, integrating the dampers.

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