Jump to content

Car PC build **updated**


nrenz123

Recommended Posts

Nath, IIRC there are only a couple of screws holding the OBD port to the dash. Just unscrew them and fit the whole lot behind the dash. Should be workable from the area I remember there is under there. You wont be able to have the ODB connector in the usual place, it will stick out far too much

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 68
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Basically i'll be able to get disgnostic information like water temp, intake temp, timing advance, gear efficiency plus the usual mpg and fault codes. there is a LOT of information available.

 

Whoa! Sounds amazing! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically i'll be able to get disgnostic information like water temp, intake temp, timing advance, gear efficiency plus the usual mpg and fault codes. there is a LOT of information available.

Just wait til you hook it up just to find Nissan dont support half the codes you hoped :headhurt: You can definately get IAT, timing advance, speed, RPM and coolant temp. Dont remember ever seeing gear efficiency or MPG. Very handy for fault codes though :thumbs:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

First time i've looked at this thread, and im seriously impressed. :thumbs: I've never seen ODBII scanner's before or looked into what they do...

 

I take it they're relatively cheap? Googled ELM327 as per your picture, and found the following:

 

http://bestofferbuy.com/ELM327-USB-Vehi ... aign=gbase

 

So if i bought that, and say, plugged it into my laptop in the car, and had the dashcommand software you have, that i could see all that cool @*!# (to put it technically :lol: )? If so then im getting one!!! :teeth:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty much mate yes lol.

 

The OBD device is pretty simple to install its just the software than can be a pain!

 

The software i use is by palmer performance engineering. the first one is dashcommand which is just a basic visual output of settings, Scanxl is a more powerfull program and to be honest i dont know what all of the settings do lol...yet.

 

Nath.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty much mate yes lol.

 

The OBD device is pretty simple to install its just the software than can be a pain!

 

The software i use is by palmer performance engineering. the first one is dashcommand which is just a basic visual output of settings, Scanxl is a more powerfull program and to be honest i dont know what all of the settings do lol...yet.

 

Nath.

 

Well thats awesome...!

 

Im a computer programmer so hopefully the software wont be a problem... :D

 

Is all of it 'freely' available or have you paid for any of it?

 

...and sorry to be a pain, but do you have a link to the elm327 deally that you bought, or is the one i posted up suitable etc? As i said, im 100% new to the concept of them...!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ELM-327-CAR-CODE- ... 45f20c024f

 

Is the one i have bought, i havent tested it yet as im back in wales and its waiting for me back at camp.

 

Palmer performance allow you to download "trial" versions, which apart from a pop up window work perfectly for me! :)

 

The scan XL allows you to do a "dyno" run but im not sure how accurite it is though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice one, thanks mate.

 

I've just been googling it and i could get a wifi odb2 which links up to my iphone which would suit me better... but they look like they start at about £150... :thumbdown:

 

When do you think you'll be back home trying yours out? Im not sure i can wait - i want to buy one and find out :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ScanXL/Dashcommand wont do MPG in the Zed as it doesnt give it the required OBD read outs - least not in my Zed. I think it needs some kind of fuel usage reading which the Zed doesnt support. I've been running DashCommand for about a year now, so they might have updated it but I was under the impression it wasnt supported by the Zeds OBD rather than the software not working right :shrug:

 

Heres the dash I have been using on it - and yes its on demo mod, not a live readout! :lol:

 

dash_command.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Would you guys use a dedicated screen for this? or have it as the carpc screen saver? I think it would be a bit footery/tedious playing my tunes and poking it back to dashcommand, id probably crash into a lamppost with all that screen poking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

ScanXL/Dashcommand wont do MPG in the Zed as it doesnt give it the required OBD read outs - least not in my Zed. I think it needs some kind of fuel usage reading which the Zed doesnt support. I've been running DashCommand for about a year now, so they might have updated it but I was under the impression it wasnt supported by the Zeds OBD rather than the software not working right :shrug:

 

Heres the dash I have been using on it - and yes its on demo mod, not a live readout! :lol:

 

dash_command.jpg

 

Cheers Chris. Are they the only outputs available, or are there others? I think i read one of your posts last night while researching that there are about 69 outputs?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats not all it can do, no, but its probably the most useful. I cant remember off the top of my head how many it supports, but I did post it up so it seems like you found them. Remember the more things you have it reading, the slower each will be to respond. The car can only update at quite a slow refresh, so each time you add a new measure for it to poll, they all get slower. I found 6 measures to be an ok trade off between amount of info and speed of refresh - and that was with setting some of them to slow refresh too (like coolant temp).

 

Hope that makes sense, it was just a brain dump :blush:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the system is its case now, i decided to go for something a little larger than first planned mainly for cooling. I bought a Compucase 8k07 which comes with a power supply. i wont be using thispower supply in the car but it is usefull at the moment for keeping things tidy, i will be replacing it with the M2 ATX sutomotive power supply listed earlier in this thread.

 

8k07.jpg

 

That is the case, it fits nicely in the glovebox with the front of it pointing toward the passenger seat with plenty of room left over.

 

I know i may ger some :shrug::scare: over this but i will be mounting the case into the glovebox using velcro. A lot of people on the car pc forums use this and they said it is the best way of securing the computer while ensuring it can be removed easily. I will be mounting the case on some foar them velcro the foam into the glove box.

 

I have also been spending the last few days stripping back windows of unwanted services and overclocking the processor. Overclocking basically is making the chip run faster than it was intended to from the factory (for the non geek types:P). I was very happy with what i managed to get out of the system. As standard the is a dual core and runs at 1.6ghz but i have got it working at 2.15ghz without any problems so i am very happy. It has made a noticable difference in the boot time and also the general running of the machine so all is good :yahoo::thumbs:

 

IMAG0097.jpg

IMAG0098.jpg

 

The windows experience rating thing there isnt much use really, but before i started fiddling i was getting a cpu score of about 3.2 now it is up to 3.8.

 

I'm not going to be able to do much now untill i get back to work and setup the OBD2 scanner. but then it will be till next month to buy the power and monitor.

 

I may start routing the cables into the car we shall see.

 

Nath.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Good work bud. PM'd you the link to the dash file.

 

Only thing I'd watch are the core temps as you've OC'd it. 1.6 Dual core should run everything easily at stock speed.

 

Velcro is also fine, I have mine secured in the letterbox cubby between the rear speakers with velcro. If you get the chunky stuff, its really strong, stronger that the glue on the back to stick it down :lol: Careful you dont use too much as it seriously is stronger than the glue on the back!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wouldnt imagine it would die, most (if not all) throttle back on overheating these days, its just more the fact it will add more heat to the surrounding components which wont be as good with dealing with it and might kill them earlier

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...