Data Logger Recommendation

[Alan]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

It was painful to sync data to video in the past for me too. The trick I learned back when my data was from OBD is listening to the engine sound while watching the rpm data channel. It was still time-consuming, but I was getting good results. (those HLT people are just lazy!!!111)

Since I started logging CAN data, which includes a data channel for the steering angle, it became very easy to sync video to the data perfectly. I first approximately sync audio vs video my checking the map, and then I only need to find one place in the data log where I do some quick steering correction (e.g. counter-steering). The whole process takes less than a minute for me now. You can gauge the quality of results in the examples I shared above.



Totally agree, this is why IMO mobile apps such as RaceChrono are superior to PC/Mac software for most people — they make the process of analyzing data between sessions much easier.



I'm sure a lot of people can relate to that experience!
That's why Garmin Catalyst is so popular, despite being a $1000 product with no OBD connector.

Sorry for the delayed response. Not here that much.

Next version of Garmin Catalyst should have the accelerometer etc. in the camera. USB cable to the tablet in the paddock. Too much data to observe and assimilate on track. With that setup, nothing other than the small camera to mount in cabin (like the SmartyCam non-GP). Maybe just a small display like Apex Pro or Solo II.

Re: HLT, the issues I've seen aren't manual sync issues, they are GPS/data transfer issues. Like speed going from 90 to 55 in a split second.

For video synching, I used to have the AIM dash visible in my GoPro frame and I would sync based on MPH on the big straight.

Originally Posted by jflogerzi

Maybe if we get another Stimmy check I will pony up the $$$

Discovery Parts sells a nice kit with a combo mount, AIM Solo II and a Smarty Cam. Like $1800. Everything you need.

[3k1n]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

Have you tried RaceChrono with an external GPS?
I use RaceChrono with XGPS160 and it's fairly accurate, I've heard Qstarz BL-818GT works even better if you can find one.

If you also buy an OBDLink MX+ you can log throttle, brake pedal, engine rpm and speed.
Gear you can typically tell by looking at rpm and speed, and the steering wheel is easy to tell if you have an onboard video.
The refresh rate is about 10 Hz and not super stable, but that's a great starting point.

The app also has an experimental CAN-bus reading through OBDLink devices. It has some bugs, but the author is working on it.

If you want to save some money and are open to learn something new as you DIY things, check out my DYI CAN bus reader project.
It was laughably cheap, and is specifically designed for RaceChrono, and works awesome.

I did have some of the "forgot to turn on" things when I was just starting to use RaceChrono, but I quickly got used to it.
My current voodoo dance includes starting the GPS, helmet camera and sound recorder a few minutes before the start of each session/run. In fact I believe RaceChrono can turn on the camera remotely, but I was lazy to set it up The external sound recorder with a mic on the rear bumper is IMO a must for good quality audio if you drive with side windows down.
Looks like if you skip the external audio thing completely in the beginning you should get away with just "don't forget to turn on the GPS before each session".

Honestly, the battery in my GoPro has caused me more headache than all the other things combined...

Here's an example of what kind of onboards I can now create:

What kind of mic are you running with this set up? How do you route the wire and mount the mic? Got any pictures for reference?

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by 3k1n

What kind of mic are you running with this set up? How do you route the wire and mount the mic? Got any pictures for reference?

Sony ECMCS3 ($20) taped to the middle of the rear bumper,
wire goes into the trunk, then into an audio extension cable
which then goes through the seam around the back seat,
and connects into a Sony ICD-PX440 (was $60, there are newer models available now)
that I put in the pocket on the back of the passenger seat.

After a bit of testing, I concluded that even a cheap Sony recorder captures sound
way better than a GoPro with the same mic plugged in.

To synchronize the sound and the video, I record a clap on both the video and the sound recorder
(before the mic is plugged in), and then match them in iMovie when I come home.
It may seem complicated at first, but once you figure out the workflow it won't take
you much extra time, and the results speak for themselves.

Funny thing is, when I first tried that "use clap as a reference to align sound and video",
I found that my clap-sync external audio is better synced to the video than the files straight out from the GoPro.
Apparently there's some A/V sync bug in GoPro's

[jflogerzi]

This is my current setup. Audio portion is new and hope its passable quality,

RaceChrono(Using CAN Bus) Pro App(support the DEV)
OBDLink LX OBD2 Bluetooth
QSTAR 818XT GPS Bluetooth
Campark Xtreme I+ UHD 4K 2021(cheap) 2.5mm Mic input is key and Wireless remote
2.5mm to 3.5mm Adapter for Fuji Film camera's to support 3.5mm Mic
16ft 3.5mm Single Head Lavalier Lapel Microphone Omnidirectional Condenser Mic

[abyssFT86]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

Have you tried RaceChrono with an external GPS?
I use RaceChrono with XGPS160 and it's fairly accurate, I've heard Qstarz BL-818GT works even better if you can find one.

If you also buy an OBDLink MX+ you can log throttle, brake pedal, engine rpm and speed.
Gear you can typically tell by looking at rpm and speed, and the steering wheel is easy to tell if you have an onboard video.
The refresh rate is about 10 Hz and not super stable, but that's a great starting point.

The app also has an experimental CAN-bus reading through OBDLink devices. It has some bugs, but the author is working on it.

If you want to save some money and are open to learn something new as you DIY things, check out my DYI CAN bus reader project.
It was laughably cheap, and is specifically designed for RaceChrono, and works awesome.

I did have some of the "forgot to turn on" things when I was just starting to use RaceChrono, but I quickly got used to it.
My current voodoo dance includes starting the GPS, helmet camera and sound recorder a few minutes before the start of each session/run. In fact I believe RaceChrono can turn on the camera remotely, but I was lazy to set it up The external sound recorder with a mic on the rear bumper is IMO a must for good quality audio if you drive with side windows down.
Looks like if you skip the external audio thing completely in the beginning you should get away with just "don't forget to turn on the GPS before each session".

Honestly, the battery in my GoPro has caused me more headache than all the other things combined...

Here's an example of what kind of onboards I can now create:

@timurrrr a few questions on your setup:

• Is it possible to get video of the inputs (Brake/throttle) this smooth using the OBD II reading on the OBDLink MX+? I set mine up with the brake PID you listed on the racechrono form: OBD-II header: 0x7B0, PID: 0x2141, Equation: min(100, 1.1 * max(A-10, 0)), But see that it is quite slow. Wondering if I need to switch to experimental CAN to get that smoother.
• Does RaceChrono somehow read the video off of your GoPro to do the final render? Was unclear how you rendered out the final result, I see that RaceChrono does rendering in-app rather than on desktop which I like but curious how it works with external camera.

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by abyssFT86

@timurrrr a few questions on your setup:

• Is it possible to get video of the inputs (Brake/throttle) this smooth using the OBD II reading on the OBDLink MX+? I set mine up with the brake PID you listed on the racechrono form: OBD-II header: 0x7B0, PID: 0x2141, Equation: min(100, 1.1 * max(A-10, 0)), But see that it is quite slow. Wondering if I need to switch to experimental CAN to get that smoother.
• Does RaceChrono somehow read the video off of your GoPro to do the final render? Was unclear how you rendered out the final result, I see that RaceChrono does rendering in-app rather than on desktop which I like but curious how it works with external camera.

Did you turn on the experimental feature and use the can-bus vs obo2 setting?

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[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by abyssFT86

@timurrrr a few questions on your setup:

• Is it possible to get video of the inputs (Brake/throttle) this smooth using the OBD II reading on the OBDLink MX+? I set mine up with the brake PID you listed on the racechrono form: OBD-II header: 0x7B0, PID: 0x2141, Equation: min(100, 1.1 * max(A-10, 0)), But see that it is quite slow. Wondering if I need to switch to experimental CAN to get that smoother.
• Does RaceChrono somehow read the video off of your GoPro to do the final render? Was unclear how you rendered out the final result, I see that RaceChrono does rendering in-app rather than on desktop which I like but curious how it works with external camera.

Import the video and data into racerender

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by abyssFT86

Is it possible to get video of the inputs (Brake/throttle) this smooth using the OBD II reading on the OBDLink MX+? I set mine up with the brake PID you listed on the racechrono form: OBD-II header: 0x7B0, PID: 0x2141, Equation: min(100, 1.1 * max(A-10, 0)), But see that it is quite slow. Wondering if I need to switch to experimental CAN to get that smoother.

If you have an adapter that supports the CAN mode, definitely use the CAN mode.
The OBD-II protocol doesn't allow you to query data nearly as frequently as
what is already available on the CAN bus for passive listening.

Originally Posted by abyssFT86

Does RaceChrono somehow read the video off of your GoPro to do the final render? Was unclear how you rendered out the final result, I see that RaceChrono does rendering in-app rather than on desktop which I like but curious how it works with external camera.

I just pull the video from the camera to my laptop, and then put it on the phone.
As I use an external sound recorder, I need to swap the audio track in the video,
so I need to have the video on the laptop at some point anyways.
I also do some brightness/contrast correction as needed.
It is a bit of a voodoo dance to go through the whole thing, but once I did
it twice, it became easy.

I believe RaceChrono supports pulling the video from some GoPro's automatically,
but I never tried it. You may want to check the RaceChrono tutorials.

[Compelica]

@timurrrr I've got a few questions on the Racechrono logger if you happen to know the answers.

I'm seeing that the experimental CAN channels are based on the PID format. I'm assuming these are standardized PIDs for the GT86/BRZ, similar like OBD2 where it is known you can request A and it returns the vehicle speed and is also consistent across the models/years/calibrations?

The Tactrix 'method' of logging seems to be somewhat similar to the CAN method, from what I understand how it differs is that it reads memory addresses directly, but these addresses change from every calibration (you can't use an A01G address set on a K00G for example).

An example snippet for A01G is below:

paramname = IAM
paramid = 0xFFF8119C
isfloat = 1

paramname = MAF_V
paramid = 0xFFF842AC
databits = 16
scalingrpn = x,0.000076293945,*

My intention is to see if I could somehow reuse these addresses and log them into Racechrono and add on to what you currently have.

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by Compelica

My intention is to see if I could somehow reuse these addresses and log them into Racechrono and add on to what you currently have.

I'm pretty sure it's not going to work this way. You may want to ask on racechrono.com/forum if you want a more educated answer from the RC developer.

Why not just use the CAN PIDs with OBDLink MX+?

[timurrrr]

Originally Posted by Compelica

I'm seeing that the experimental CAN channels are based on the PID format. I'm assuming these are standardized PIDs for the GT86/BRZ, similar like OBD2 where it is known you can request A and it returns the vehicle speed and is also consistent across the models/years/calibrations?

Generally speaking, yes.
The might be minor differences in low level PIDs between model years / trims (e.g. I know that automatic and manual NC Miatas have transmission-specific PIDs), but the most important PIDs should be the same.

[Compelica]

Originally Posted by timurrrr

I'm pretty sure it's not going to work this way. You may want to ask on racechrono.com/forum if you want a more educated answer from the RC developer.

Why not just use the CAN PIDs with OBDLink MX+?

I was hoping I could import the log items in the Tactrix logger together as part of the OBDLink MX+ CAN PIDs.

Also this is slightly off-topic but RC is the only Android app that can utilize CAN PIDs at the moment?

[jflogerzi]

Originally Posted by Compelica

I was hoping I could import the log items in the Tactrix logger together as part of the OBDLink MX+ CAN PIDs.



Also this is slightly off-topic but RC is the only Android app that can utilize CAN PIDs at the moment?

Yes I believe this is the case outside a expensive solutions that maybe have an Android app

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