Wouldn't it be great to have a WIRELESS system for transfering enginebay data to dashboard instrumentation. I'm told this technology is available for masthead/cockpit data transfer on yachts. At present I have cables from the engine bay to the dashboard for - 1. oil pressure 2. oil temperature 3. two wires from the ammeter shunt Seems crazy to have all these long cable runs - are there any DIY/commercial wireless solutions?
Lots of data logging/telemetry equipment available. But not sure how you could view the data in real time. I'm guessing you could rig it up to some sort of wifi router, and view the results on an iPad or similar, mounted on the dash. But that's all way above my head and sounds expensive.
Actually the invention we need is CAN-bus. A twisted pair of wires with everything connected to it. Just like all the other fridges on the road today (white, full of plastic, open door and the light comes on) And then you could stun the AA man by telling him to plug in his OBD2 tool and it would read out your sensors. Look at things like PLXdevices - they use a daisychain of sensors and a single cable from the back of the bus... but although they document lots of different sensors and displays, they dont make many types of them and they are expensive.
Okay until another old VW rattles slowly by radiating RF interference completely corrupting the transmitted data. If it were desperately important due to space/distance considerations I think I'd go for converting the various data strings from analogue to digital and streaming them through a single fibre optic cable to the front. Realisticaly it would be an expensive proposition compared with simply runnng a multicore and sticking with analogue devices. Remote Wireless data transfer does work of course, I use it myself for wind strength, direction etc etc. however the sampling rate is quite low which means that transitional RF interference doesn't really register.
Hardly worth the effort of cost on a standard camper for a handful of sensor wires, Do like the interference thing, imagine at busfest trying to start your van and three others in the next field fire up! Can-bus would be the way but only if your running a modern engine (like some have done) but then you might as well run the modern engines wiring ecu's etc which has had millions thrown at it in development. But like mikedjames said, it'll just become another fridge.
There's an awful lot of grounded metal in the way in a van. I'd stick with a few lengths of copper wire
Feasibility study for this problem................... high for reletavely little outlay, just needs a little knowlege. Consider the worlds cheapest computer, the Raspberry Pi added together with a bluetooth dongle, total cost.....£35 Knowlege............now that costs, sorry. ;D Seriously though, food for thought re the Raspeberry, owt's possible as they say I am sure that with a little research on the Pi's forum would turn something up or at least a bit about programming , yes, you will need sensors etc but again they are available already (check out the scrap yards) you will just need to interface them (again Pi website) There you go, I have given you the idea, now go build it ;D ;D ;D
Raspberry Pi is an excellent base for this kind of thing, its cheap and it can drive displays at the dashboard end. And wired ethernet is transformer coupled which works well in cars. One thing to bear in mind is the amazing electromagnetic environment in the engine bay of the car. Disconnect battery with engine running + 100volts from alternator. Ignition fault 1000 volts Ignition lead leakage 10000 volts. Destruction of a Raspberry Pi .. about 3 volts in the wrong place. You will need lots of protection components on your sensor wiring.
Not so much amazing as b***y hostile ) So one would have to start off on the basis of a totaly screened and isolated floating independent power source....all input devices electricaly isolated...no common negative rail or ground loops.... How many thousands are in the budget for this job?
Im fitting a full hight bulhead in my cab and a matter trasporter so i dont have to leave the van to get into the rear if its raining
Now then, just food for thought, do modern cars not have computers of some description fitted to them, I get the point about over-voltage but if the manufacturers can sort the problems at a cost of millions then surely we (vw fans) can do it for a fiver! 8)
As an avionics tech by trade i learnt one thing very quickly Electronics are great but they will go wrong at the worst possible moment they could go wrong Give me rods and levers everyday of the week at least it gives me somthing to hit when it doesent work
I'll second that ^^^ why do we need all these things to be wireless not suing some things should not be upgraded in these busses , just don't see the point of the wireless stuff other than not haveing cables under the bus .
