MiniDash b0.6 - It's not dead yet!

[ShelGame]

Here's a little teaser. Just need to do a bit more testing, and add back in the hi-res button and logo graphics and I'll put it up here for anyone to test...

[bakes]

Cool whats needed to run it beside the palm pilot and software?

[turbovanman²]

Very cool,

[ShelGame]

Cool whats needed to run it beside the palm pilot and software?

Palm with OS 3.5.3 or later (Palm IIIxe is my test model - you can get them for like $25 on eBay), this software, and a line-level-converter (TTL to RS232). At one point I had it working with every SMEC cal I have a copy of, and I think (IIRC) that Bucar had tested it OK with the LM. I haven't changed any of the serial code since then, but you never know. So I want to re-test the communications and make sure I didn't break some other piece of code when I converted this to a text-based interface. I also want to see how fast it is now...

[mcsvt]

I'll have to give it a try again, I could never get my cable working.

[turbo84voyager]

Great work! This will be a great tool! I am going to pick up a newer PALM, let me know if you need any help.

[inmyshadow]

man its about time.

I actually bought a Palm Treo 650 cellphone so I could run minidash at the end of 2007. I hate cellphones, my last one being from 96. I figured if I was going have a good excuse to carry a phone around, might as well have as much function as possible.

Shortly afterwards, your minidash software expired. Then you moved. Then pondered doing something with a laptop instead.




I was ready to give up current palm treo 650 phone that I bought specifically for minidash.

I figured if I was going to lug a cell phone around, the new G1 was looking like a good phone for me.

[ShelGame]

Yeah, sorry about that. I hadn't given up on it. It just went to the back burner - for much longer than I intended. At first, I thought I could fix the graphics and get them to run fast enough. I probably still could, but I think it's better to just have the thing working and out there. Text is good enough, right?

Anyway, the plan is to release it as you see it. But, eventually, I'd like to make the 6 channels displayed on the lower right be user selectable. That way it will be a more generic datalogger.

Also, if anyone goes to buy a Palm for use with MiniDash, just make sure it has a serial port. Some of the newer ones only have USB (and even then they only work as a slave device). It MUST have a serial port available to be able to communicate with the ECU.

[turbo84voyager]

Does anyone know where to get a OS download for PALM? I have a Vx with OS 3.3

[ShelGame]

You should be able to get 3.5.3 from Palm. It was free last time I looked...

You can get OS4.0 from eBay pretty easily.

EDIT: maybe try this link - I acn't see if the DL is there, since download sites are blocked at work

http://www.tucows.com/preview/34244

[turbo84voyager]

Where did you get your line-level-converter (TTL to RS232)? Anything specific I should look for when getting one?

[TommyT]

Awesome Rob! I was just asking about minidash in another post. I thought it would be the most convient way to datalog and very cheap since you don't have to lug a laptop around. I can't wait to try this out!

[ShelGame]

Where did you get your line-level-converter (TTL to RS232)? Anything specific I should look for when getting one?

The difficult part is, most are designed to be powered by the TTL side (@5v). Which would be OK for an LM, because you can just wire it into the board/box. I think there's even instructions for doing it somewhere.

But, for a SMEC/SBEC, you don't have a 5V source handy at the SCI connector. There is a 5v source in the harness (sensor power feed). So, you could add a 5v wire to power the converter.

You can make a simple power supply using diodes to drop the 12v already available at the SCI down to 5v. I put those instructions in the manual for MiniDash. The link is to the 'old' manual. It works basically the same, I just ditched the graphics and went to a text interface.

If anyone wants, MiniScan should still be working OK. It uses the same serial code. So, if you want to build an interface and test it with something, miniscan would be a good thing to do it with. MiniScan is just a basic code scanner.

[ShelGame]

I ran my latest MiniDash build this afternoon with some success. It was communicating with the car and getting data. Though, my channels were obvioulsy off (might've been my fault), and I kept geting a 'type mismatch' error. So, I need to work on my databases a little and I think it'll be ready to release for general consumption.

[Captain Chaos]

Rob I have a question and it may sound silly, I used a Snap-On scanner I borrowed from a tech and it was great as it had an OBD-I cable and it would let me see what all the sensors were doing? Problem is it was about $1500, screw that. Is that something that can be done with the Palm Pilot? I was actually able to see that the IAC driver wasn't letting the IAC bring the RPM's down where I nedded it. I had bought another computer to send to you so I threw it in and the idle came down to the 7-800 rpm range the tech said it was supposed to be at. My car is an SBEC car.

[ShelGame]

Theoretically, I could run the sensor watch test (and the switch test, actuator test, etc.) from the Palm. But, it's not built into this program...

[Aries_Turbo]

i dont remember if the LM communicated properly. i think it communicated but some of the values were goofy.

Brian

[Mario]

http://cgi.ebay.com/RS232-to-3-3-5v-...3286.m20.l1116

Will this work?

[ShelGame]

http://cgi.ebay.com/RS232-to-3-3-5v-...3286.m20.l1116

Will this work?

In theory, yes. But, it needs 5v power from the SMEC. The SCI connector only has 12V. So, you'll have to tap into the the 5v sensor wire (probably at the SMEC) and run it to the adapter.

[Mario]

So which one do you recommend?