# Android tablet carputer



## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

I'm thinking I'd like to use an Android tablet as a carputer. Is anyone else doing this? I'd like to hear what you are doing.

Specifically, I want at a minimum of two things:

1) use the Torque App and OBDII bluetooth interface to my Elithion Pro BMS to display data from the BMS (this will give me power, SOC, warnings, etc.)

2) GPS navigation

To serve as a radio or mp3 player might be of possible interest, but not a priority.

Furthermore, the tablet needs to be powered by the car -- I want to mount it permanently and not have to remove it to charge.

From what I read, android tablets don't have "real" GPS, but that's OK because I already own an external USB-based GPS antenna. So I understand that with an OTG cable I can connect this to the tablet. But then the problem I see is that most tablets get their power through their micro USB so then I lose the ability for USB host mode. I understand there are some Y-splitters to allow charging and USB host mode, but that this isn't compatible with all android tablets.

I did find this tablet, Dragon Touch Y88X Plus, which has a separate DC input jack. Also, the Acer Iconia A100 appears to have a separate DC input.

I'd like the tablet to wake and sleep automatically when the key is turned on and off, respectively. I understand there are apps that let you do things like this. Another thing not clear to me is whether I need a tablet that has a button on the face (like the Samsung). I'm not going to have access to the edge-mounted buttons since I'm going to mount the tablet.

Anyway, am I the only one with these aspirations?


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## Vanquizor (Nov 17, 2009)

Torque, OBD, Radio, GPS, Backup camera....

http://www.carjoying.com/us-warehou...uto-system-head-unit-1024-600-resolution.html


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

Wow, very cool! It's a little more than I was thinking I wanted to spend, since I already own the GPS antenna, and was thinking I could get a tablet for $50, but it sure looks clean. I may go ahead and buy this, just to save myself the time and tinkering. (Sometimes, I love to spend the time tinkering; other times, like now, I just want the result.)

Anyway, do you actually use this? Just wondering how it is in real-life, how well it works with custom Torque displays. Also, it isn't clear if the unit sleeps and wakes automatically when you turn the car off and on, since the videos showed people turning it on and waiting 20+ seconds.

Thanks for this link!


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

Vanquizor said:


> Torque, OBD, Radio, GPS, Backup camera....
> 
> http://www.carjoying.com/us-warehou...uto-system-head-unit-1024-600-resolution.html


Don't buy that if you want normal bluetooth pairing compatibility. It will only work with their OBDII adapter, and no other bluetooth serial devices such as the one that comes with CleanPowerAuto's EV Display. Cant speak for the Elithion but I wouldn't count on it.

It does take about 20 seconds to "boot" when it's off, but if you don't mind the parasitic draw I believe you can have it stay "on" all the time, which it comes out of in a second or so. I have mine set to stay on for 5 minutes after the ignition is turned on, that way if I run into a store or make a quick stop the unit is still on when I turn the car back on. (sometimes it's flakey and it doesn't come out of this mode properly all the time)

In general it's not the most stable implementation of android, actually I'd call many of the apps and interface flakey. Most of the time it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I had a samsung tablet in previously and while it did work perfectly with Torque and my bluetooth adapter it was a pain to keep charged. It would get too warm in the car in the summer and refuse to charge, it would get too cold in the winter and refuse to charge. There are other issues using a tablet as well, but in general it was hard to keep charged unless to fully turn it off, an android device in sleep mode won't last more than 24-48 hours.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

Well that's a bummer; I was just starting to get over the price tag in my head. So as I was responding to your post, I received two new emails in response to questions I posted about this item on Amazon.

Regarding the bluetooth OBDII they said "it should work", see reply here

and regarding the power, they said it switches on/off automatically, see reply here.

As for your Samsung charging experience, I was wondering about that myself. That was why I was leaning towards the Dragon Touch -- not only is it only $50 but with the DC power adapter I was thinking (hoping) that it would just run off that and not matter if it was actually charging. Alternatively, I thought I could open it up, remove the battery, and supply it with the proper voltage directly.


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

After looking closer it might work, since the BMS is actually communicating via CAN to a generic bluetooth adapter, the EV Display uses serial (I think) and has it's own bluetooth adapter.
If you buy the head unit just buy the OBDII adapter that they sell and you might be okay.

My issue is that they didn't implement the standard bluetooth pairing system/protocol so even though I can pair the EV Display adapter to every other tablet/phone I have, it simply won't pair with the head unit.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

I already own the BAFX Products 34t5 bluetooth OBDII scan tool for android devices, http://amzn.com/b005nlqahs but if it doesn't work with the carjoy then I'm not out too much ($23) and maybe can resell it.

I'm mostly concerned with your comments on the stability. For this price I don't want something flakey. Flakey is what I'd expect from a $30 used tablet that I hack together myself.

I used to have a carputer based on a FitPC2 running windows and RideRunner. It looked good, but the whole notion was kludgey, since you had to wait for windows to come out of hibernation and so on. It also wasn't exactly stable, and I was happier having no display than a flakey display.

As for apps on the carjoy, I would only be running GPS, Torque, and perhaps the radio. Think those are stable? Anything else I don't care about.


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## jeffcoat (Apr 16, 2012)

I use a Nexus 7 tablet (1st generation) that communicates using the Torque app with bluetooth. This tablet does have built-in GPS that works well, as the car does not have a functioning speedometer.


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## Baratong (Nov 29, 2012)

On my car, I wanted an Android based display as well. I looked at a number of ways to accomplish this but discounted the tablet early on as too fragile for the car environment especially with temperature extremes.

I looked at using a touch-screen LCD and mating it up with a small android based 'computer' like this: http://wiki.radxa.com/Home . I had that running, tested for a while then decided to just go with a pre-made Android 'stereo'/media center and ended up with this: Link to Android media System


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## rwaudio (May 22, 2008)

The radio app has been stable, but I haven't used it much. I can't remember exactly but it might not "multitask" like the music app. Meaning that if you switch to torque no more radio, don't take my word on that but might be worth the question to the manufacturer.

The music app has not been stable.
I can't say anything about torque, without the adapter it won't even run.
GPS is decent
Sound quality is "good enough"
The built in amp is lacking, but an EV is pretty quiet so I haven't had issues there.
There's an optional rear view camera and other useful features.

I guess now that I think about it more the music app has been the most unstable, and could be the cause of other issues, I guess I should find myself a new music app.

One positive I can say about the device is that it remembers the last app you were in when it shuts down and opens that up again automatically.


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## jwiger (Oct 18, 2014)

If you're wanting to install a tablet take a look at Project Hypersilver:

http://www.mustangandfords.com/proj...-mustang-gt-project-hypersilver-sound-system/






Also, check this out:
https://www.android.com/auto/

I'm planning on a tablet in my dash as well. It's supposed to work with my InfinityBox 12volt wiring system. If I do it, it will be portrait mounted where my heater controls used to be (I think that's better for navigation anyway).

The kicker BT receiver is an interesting device, with it, you essentially have a bluetooth adapter to any type of car audio amplifier. So essentially you can pair it with any phone/tablet/laptop that has bt and audio.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

jeffcoat said:


> I use a Nexus 7 tablet (1st generation) that communicates using the Torque app with bluetooth. This tablet does have built-in GPS that works well, as the car does not have a functioning speedometer.


How did you deal with mounting and charging?


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

rwaudio said:


> The radio app has been stable,
> 
> The music app has not been stable.
> I can't say anything about torque, without the adapter it won't even run.
> ...


Well this all sounds pretty reasonable. I think I'll sleep on it, and maybe purchase it tomorrow. $250 at Amazon. I don't care about the music app. At most, maybe the radio app, though I was thinking of outfitting a normal stereo in the car. Actually, I've been kind of hoping to find a period 8 track stereo for it, but would settle for a period looking am/fm cassette.


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## mons2b (Nov 17, 2015)

halestorm said:


> I'm thinking I'd like to use an Android tablet as a carputer. Is anyone else doing this? I'd like to hear what you are doing.
> 
> Specifically, I want at a minimum of two things:
> 
> ...


Carjoy seems nice but too expensive. What about Aliexpress? You can get single din with a cool fold out screen thats all androided up with GPS, DVD, bluetooth etc and etc. Example below. This is the sort I hope to put in my e36 project.

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/7-Ca...50&btsid=f3291948-8d2f-411f-801f-ccee95f695aa


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

mons2b said:


> Carjoy seems nice but too expensive. What about Aliexpress? You can get single din with a cool fold out screen thats all androided up with GPS, DVD, bluetooth etc and etc. Example below. This is the sort I hope to put in my e36 project.
> 
> http://www.aliexpress.com/item/7-Ca...50&btsid=f3291948-8d2f-411f-801f-ccee95f695aa


That one costs more than Carjoy's, which is only $248 + $6.99 shipping, and it ships from New York instead of from China. Carjoy doesn't fold nor have DVD though, so perhaps those might be a factor for someone. I'm going to give Carjoy a try. I'll report back after I receive it.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

I really enjoy having a tablet for my main instrument cluster. The Torque app makes a lot of sense where the tablet goes on and off with the key, and the number of gauges is fantastic.










I have a separate screen for charging mode, gauges that I like to look at from my night stand at night as the car charges.










I use this set up in all of my EV conversions, so I can use the same tablet in any of them, but I prefer to just leave a tablet in each car so that it has the correct number of batteries displayed.

Here is a shot of the tablet dock during construction. All the idiot lights for my blinkers, high beam, etc are invisible when not in use, but the shine through a tinted plexiglass surface when they are being lit up.










.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

evmetro said:


> I really enjoy having a tablet for my main instrument cluster. The Torque app makes a lot of sense where the tablet goes on and off with the key, and the number of gauges is fantastic.


I see Samsung; which tablet model is that? And how does it get GPS speed? I didn't think tablets had real GPS receivers.

How do you make it go on & off with the key?

What do you do to power the tablet while you are driving?

Are you using an Elithion?


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

halestorm said:


> I see Samsung; which tablet model is that? And how does it get GPS speed? I didn't think tablets had real GPS receivers.
> 
> How do you make it go on & off with the key?
> 
> ...


I can't remember the model of tablet, but I have a half dozen tablets for my various conversions, and they all work great with the gps. Here is a link to the build thread that covers how the tablet was installed and how it functions: 

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/tevie2-metro-87744.html

The torque pro app comes set up already with a feature that allows the tablet to come on and go off with the key. You can turn that feature on and off in the app settings. I like to bring my tablet in the house sometimes when I am charging, but all I do is close and re open the app and it allows me to view all of my data even though it is not in the instrument cluster dock. When I am underway, I have 12 volts from my auxiliary battery and dc dc system that comes on with the key. I have an Orion bms, a bluetooth transmitter, and I also have a wifi transmitter for when I run my ipad.

The Curtis 1238 and 1239 controllers and the Orion are set up to talk with each other right out of the box, so I can view all of the motor and controller data at the same time that I view the battery data. 

The instrument cluster is a very safe location for all of the instrumentation, and it is also remarkably convenient if you are using gps navigation to drive to an unfamiliar location. Our eyes are used to going back and forth from a speedometer to the road, so having the map right there is far safer than having a device laying on the passenger seat or center console. It is not recommended to Skype or FaceTime while driving, but if you do, having the tablet right there and hands free as the laws dictate in regards to using a device.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

The torque pro app is set up so you can merge all of your EV pids into the same file as all of your ICE pids, so i use the same tablet in my gasoline metros. Swipe the screen down once, and it switches from EV to gasoline, and there are all of my o2 sensors, vacuum gauges, fuel trim, etc. Here is the build thread to my very first conversion, and you can see the same type of tablet instrumentation. It was awhile back and my very first conversion, so that build might look a little more "caveman". The tablet was back when 3G was new to the world, but it still works great!

http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/metro-80287.html









[/QUOTE]

.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

Ok, I bought the Joying JY-UQ124, RK3188 Android car stereo navigation computer. Overall I'm relatively pleased with it. I wish it had cost about half of what it did. I sprung for the high resolution model, so instead of $248 it was $273. Then, at the seller's recommendation I paid an extra $15 for the radio antenna booster, so I spent $279.

The unit looks professional. It has three physical buttons and a dial. The buttons are for Home, Back, and GPS. The dial is for volume (or push to mute). It included an external GPS antenna and a wiring harness. I suppose the harness was for some specific vehicle, but I just cut off the vehicle end of the connector and wired it in to my car.

The GPS button was configured to load Google maps, which is only useful on WiFi, I don't know why they would bother with it, since you are not going to use GPS navigation generally in WiFi range. It came with a number of apps on an included micro SD card, one of which was iGo, which seems to be a halfway decent turn-by-turn GPS navigation app.

The home screen has an area that is permanently devoted to weather, but the weather app doesn't work, even on WiFi, so that is a waste.

The radio is one notch above worthless. I get three FM stations and zero AM stations. This is in the city of Los Angeles. We're a pretty decent sized city, and I'm quite certain that we have more than 3 stations. Actually, to be fair, it picks up 5 stations, just not all at once. One part of my commute I lose two stations, but gain another, and once I heard another station which doesn't seem to come in anymore.

The antenna booster was a waste of money. The number of stations and signal quality on the stations I get appear unaffected whether or not the booster is used.

The unit comes on automatically when I turn on the key, and boots up, albeit slowly (20 sec) to the last screen it shut down. When the key is turned off it automatically shuts down. You can set it to sleep for a variable amount of time up to 2 hrs, such that if you turn it back on in that time it is instant on and you don't have to wait for it to boot.

It runs Torque Pro just fine, and this is what I wanted it for. So that is why I'm relatively pleased. I got a clean looking, easy installation with all of the automatic features I wanted, running Torque, and with GPS navigation.

I've been using the BAFX Products 34t5 Bluetooth OBDII Scan tool with it, and that usually works. Sometimes Torque doesn't see it and complains that the Bluetooth device is missing, but the Android OS sees it, so there's not much else to do. I've decided to replace that with a wired USB OBD2 tool, one from the list of supported tools by Torque themselves. I hope it will not only be more reliable but faster, as well.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

The OBDLlnk adapter seems to be the best as far as getting found by your device. It costs way more than the ELM27 that works just fine, but the gauges all pop up on screen very quickly and I never have to re start Torue with it. The ELM27 works fine and is super inexpensive, but sometimes I have to back out of Torque and restart it to get my gauges to establish the connection. Since I have a bunch of EVs running tablet instrumentation, I just picked up a bag of the ELM27's so that I always have one handy. I use my tablets and Ipads to diagnose ICE vehicles as well as using them for my primary instrumentation, so it is nice to have one handy when I need it. I have Bluetooth ones and Wifi ones so that I can use either. The Ipads only read Wifi, but the android reads either.

That would be pretty cool to have a deck that would run Torque as well. I would still run the instrumentation in the standard instrumentation location, but if I had a deck that would run Torque as well, I could put some less important gauges down there as well. If you run wifi instead of Bluetooth, you can have multi displays. I have been watching these decks for a little while now, but have not seen many reviews by people who display their EV data via Torque. Thanks very much for the review!


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## Caps18 (Jun 8, 2008)

halestorm said:


> How did you deal with mounting and charging?


I'm planning on using an iPad mini with iPort's wireless charging setup. It is nice because it will be able to be powered right off the switched 12V when the vehicle is turned on. They have installed this system on planes and automobiles before, so vibration and bumps shouldn't be a problem.

It isn't cheap by any means, but it is inductive charging with the Wallstation (no wires to connect) and I have a bluetooth receiver for audio (no wires).
http://www.iportproducts.com/all-products/am2-sleeve
http://www.iportproducts.com/all-products/launchport-wallstation

I can tether the iPad to my phone for GPS directions and on-line radio, and I have iTunes playlists loaded on the iPad with some steering wheel blue tooth controls or Siri to control it.

I will be able to easily remove it for security, or to use it at home.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

Here is a picture of the installation, and a screen shot. I have it configured so that when the key is turned on it goes to this Torque screen automatically. This is only how I presently have that display; it is evolving.

Elithion has a PID for energy, and Torque has an odometer (via GPS) so I would love love to have efficiency displayed, Wh/mi, for example. Certainly within the realm of possibility but would need input from the Torque developer.

I pointed out the faults in my previous post but I am pretty happy with the unit. It's not perfect, but overall the positives outweigh the negatives and they outweigh the time and effort I would have had to put in to a tablet to get as clean and efficient of an installation and operation.

The Bluetooth OBD tool I'm using was advertised as functional with Torque, and for the most part it is. I would say it works more than 90% of the time. Once in awhile it doesn't read, but cycling the power it comes back. Yesterday's mail brought a USB OBD2 tool, the one off the top of the list on Torque's own website of compatible devices. It doesn't work (android sees it but torque does not). But I realized that the version of Torque Pro that came installed on the carjoy is old. I'm going to uninstall and buy my own version and see if that works. My hope is that USB would be more reliable and have faster updates.

P.S. I also added pictures of the radio and of the home screen. For the latter I turned on the headlights so you can see how the buttons light up; also, when the lights are on the screen automatically dims (nice touch-- something I wouldn't have gotten in a hacked-together tablet). I never spend time on the home screen, it's only a transition to the radio, but you can see the useless weather icon. When the radio is on, this displays the station instead of the cloud.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

Another update: I uninstalled the version of Torque Pro that came with the carjoy and paid the $4.95 on the Google Play store for the latest version, and my wired USB OBD2 tool works now. I'll have to report back in a week or at least a few days on the reliability of USB over Bluetooth.

So, just know that if you buy the carjoy thinking you'll save $5 not having to also buy Torque Pro, that's true, but it's a few revisions out of date.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

Lol, Jack FM is my favorite station!


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

cool! (are you in Los Angeles too, or is there another JACK-FM?)

So, I don't have to wait a week for reliability; I can tell you now that the USB is less reliable than the Bluetooth. It worked great testing it in the garage last night; immediately came up every power cycle, etc. This morning it powered right up -- although, my Torque Theme was suddenly different this morning; that was slightly annoying. Drove my daughter to school, still working. Drove to work, still working. In the garage at work I changed my Theme back to what I wanted. Cycled the power to see if it would come up fresh -- the correct theme came up, but the OBD2 did not. Torque said it couldn't find a USB device. Then I saw it had two in its list. I picked the other one, and it came online. Googled around and found this:

https://youtu.be/WE_EgH4jHj8

so this is a bug. Great. So I cycled the power a few more times, to see if I would also get more USB devices like the guy on YouTube. Only, now I get no USB devices. Now, multiple power cycles and I have no USB OBD2 shown. Fantastic.

So, the wired USB was no better than the Bluetooth and the $4.95 purchase of Torque Pro over the version installed in the Carjoy was a waste. Tonight I'll reinstall the Bluetooth module, uninstall my purchased Torque Pro and try to re-install the version that came with Carjoy and go back to what I had. Better 90% reliable than nothing. Why can't something just work?

The Torque Forum seems to be filled with TONS of posts, all like me, lots of questions, no answers.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

Jack FM airs up here in Sacramento as well, and you can listen to it streaming from an Ipad or Android via Iheart radio. I have often contemplated just using a second tablet where the radio goes for the radio, and to display more gauges. That's why I am always checking out the various internet decks. Car amplifiers come with another turn on option besides the blue wire, many of them sense current in the rca inputs, so this makes a second tablet look interesting.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

evmetro said:


> The OBDLlnk adapter seems to be the best as far as getting found by your device.


OK, so the model I just bought is an OBDLink SX, but USB interface. I'm going to return it, as well as the BAFX OBDII scan tool, and buy the OBDLink non-USB. I see they have an MX and an LX model; any idea of the difference?

Also, they have a Bluetooth and a WiFi. WiFi would be cool because then I could monitor the system from a tablet in the house, as well as the onboard system, but I don't want this to turn in to a repeat of my USB fiasco. With my luck I'd be one of the 3%, https://www.scantool.net/forum/index.php?topic=12245.0

Guess I'll stick with Bluetooth. Still not sure which to get though, the $80 MX or the $50 LX. Thoughts?


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

I can't remember what model my obdlink is, but here is a pic. When I am using the obdlink, the tablet wakes up immediately to my gauges in Torque, no need to touch the screen for anything, no need to re power or re open the app, no icons to touch. Just seamless gauges that come on and go off with the key.










I installed an obd2 port so that I can run the ELM27, and I installed a 9 pin for the obdlink. The 9 pin is also how I access the Orion with my lap top, so I just unplug the obdlink and plug in the laptop to that port. It was very convenient that the obdlink and the laptop connection were both nine pin. I can run both the ELM27 and the obdlink at the same time, which allows me to view data on my Ipad and the engine link app at the same time that I can view data on my instrument cluster tablet with the Torque app.










.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

Cool, thanks for that. What you have appears to be an older OBDLink; hopefully the new ones still work as well! Where did you get the panel mount OBD2 connector?


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

halestorm said:


> Cool, thanks for that. What you have appears to be an older OBDLink; hopefully the new ones still work as well! Where did you get the panel mount OBD2 connector?


I picked up about ten of them at pick n pull off of older cars. I had to move the wires around a bit, since the older OBD2 wires were in different spots than with the newer CAN systems. The older OBD2 jacks have no wires in the terminals that you need for CAN, but you can just schoochy the wires over from the OBD2 spots. You can see the two rivits just above the ELM27, those hold the jack in place. I cut an obd2 jack shaped opening for the ELM27 so that the ugly jack does not show.


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

I purchased the ScanTool 427201 OBDLink LX Bluetooth. Maybe it's too early to report but it's been running in the car with Torque for a week now with no issues. Thankfully, the other two OBD adapters I'd tried were purchased through Amazon Prime so I was able to return them at no cost.


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## Vhclbldr (Feb 8, 2014)

halestorm said:


> I purchased the ScanTool 427201 OBDLink LX Bluetooth. Maybe it's too early to report but it's been running in the car with Torque for a week now with no issues. Thankfully, the other two OBD adapters I'd tried were purchased through Amazon Prime so I was able to return them at no cost.


Dave, any updates on the performance of the new OBD Link scan tool?

EVMetro, I love the pictures and quality of your builds. Would you be able to take the pic of your contactor/BMS/OBD link box and add labels for what each device is? 

I am at the stage where I am starting to think about instrumentation and the location for BMS, charger, Contactors, etc. I picked up a Galaxy7 on e-bay and downloaded Torque to start looking at the options for display.

I plan to use a GPS sender for a stock speedometer, run the RPM gauge off a sender on the motors, and then have all electrical info on the tablet mounted on a center console.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

Vhclbldr said:


> EVMetro, I love the pictures and quality of your builds. Would you be able to take the pic of your contactor/BMS/OBD link box and add labels for what each device is?
> 
> I am at the stage where I am starting to think about instrumentation and the location for BMS, charger, Contactors, etc. I picked up a Galaxy7 on e-bay and downloaded Torque to start looking at the options for display.
> 
> I plan to use a GPS sender for a stock speedometer, run the RPM gauge off a sender on the motors, and then have all electrical info on the tablet mounted on a center console.


I am not really good with adding graphics/ labels to pics, but I can elaborate on what all is there. The row of switches is a bank of on-off-on switches that configure the car how I like. I can reconfigure things with the flip of a switch, but I generally think of them as dipswitches that you set once and leave alone. One switch allows me to configure my wifi and bluetooth so that it only comes on with the ignition key, and some relay logic keeps it on during the charge cycle as well. I can move the switch to off to shut it down altogether, and the third switch position forces the bluetooth and wifi to stay on all the time. There is also a switch for my DC DC converter, one side makes it cycle on and off with the key, the other side forces it on, and the middle position keeps it off. There is a cooling system switch that controls the water pump the same way, which comes in handy when I want to bleed air out when I fill the system. There are switches for charge enable and discharge enable as well, so I can over ride the Orion if I want or need to. I can switch them from the Orion to over ride, or disable the circuits altogether. That box also contains my charging inlet isolation circuits, since I use parallel male inlets. I have AC to DC power supplies that operate when the car is plugged in (charging mode), and these are integrated into my relay logic. Those big contactors you see in that pic are my AC mains, so the Orion can disconnect the car from shore power if it sees something it doesn't like.


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## Vhclbldr (Feb 8, 2014)

evmetro said:


> I can't remember the model of tablet, but I have a half dozen tablets for my various conversions, and they all work great with the gps. Here is a link to the build thread that covers how the tablet was installed and how it functions:
> 
> http://www.diyelectriccar.com/forums/showthread.php/tevie2-metro-87744.html
> 
> ...


EV, can you help me with some system-related questions here?

I understand that the Torque app uses Bluetooth to connect, but what is it connecting to? Just the OBD sender? What is the OBD sender plugged into?
How does the Orion BMS send its data to Torque?
I am building my electrical system from scratch and it is pre 1970, so no OBD. I will have an RPM sender on the front of my warp9 motors and want to get temperature readings, as well. Using a Z2K controller, how would it communicate to Torque?


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

Vhclbldr said:


> EV, can you help me with some system-related questions here?
> 
> I understand that the Torque app uses Bluetooth to connect, but what is it connecting to? Just the OBD sender? What is the OBD sender plugged into?
> How does the Orion BMS send its data to Torque?
> I am building my electrical system from scratch and it is pre 1970, so no OBD. I will have an RPM sender on the front of my warp9 motors and want to get temperature readings, as well. Using a Z2K controller, how would it communicate to Torque?



The Orion has two canbus leads coming off of it, and you just wire in an obd2 connector to one of the leads. You can plug in an obd2 wifi or bluetooth transmitter into this jack, and it will transmit to your android or ipad. You have to add a bunch of custom PID's to the Torque app, but there is a list of them that you can copy from on the Orion site. There is no need for the car to have existing obd systems, and when I do my conversions, I gut all that stuff out. You build your own system, and the Orion is the ecm. If you are planning an Orion and wifi/bluetooth system, keep in mind that you will need to connect a laptop to it once in awhile, and that the laptop needs to plug in via a nine pin connecter on canbus lead #1. I use a bluetooth adapter that came with a nine pin connecter on it and an obd2 extension cord, so after discarding the extension cord, I can plug the adapter straight into the nine pin. My other canbus lead has the standard obd2 connecter wired into it so I can plug in the elm27 adapter that only plugs into an obd2 port. 

Here is a shot of how the one adapter has a nine pin instead of an obd2 port. When I connect my laptop, I just unplug this bluetooth adapter, and plug in my laptop.










I am not sure about the zilla controllers, but the Orion communicates with the HPEVS 1238/9 controllers right out of the box. The 1238/9 controllers have controller and motor temps, rpm, and they will derate your throttle to compensate for pack or individual battery sag.


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## Vhclbldr (Feb 8, 2014)

So, now I need to get an OBD port and a nine pin port to connect to the Orion BMS CANBUS wire and an OBD Bluetooth unit so that the Torque app can communicate to the BMS.

Three questions for the group:
- Does the Zilla Z2K communicate to the Orion?
- Does a Warp9 come with a temp sensor, and if not, where would one connect an external sensor to in order to read through Torque?
- Does anyone have a wiring diagram that uses Warp9 motor(s), Zilla controller, and Orion BMS components?


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## halestorm (Apr 28, 2009)

Vhclbldr said:


> Dave, any updates on the performance of the new OBD Link scan tool?


It mostly works but not 100%. My android car computer goes to sleep when the key is turned off. The sleep period is programmable (2 min, 15 min, etc.) up to a max of 2 hr only. It seems that when I come back in that time Torque doesn't always connect to the OBD scanner. After the sleep period the computer shuts down and has to boot up from scratch (this takes about a minute) and usually but not always it connects to the OBD tool. When it doesn't connect I have to quit Torque and restart it. It's just a few taps on the screen so it's not painful, just annoying. But, I guess I can say that 100% of the time I drive, I can get it to connect, I just may have to restart Torque a couple of times to do it. I can also say that I don't have to fiddle with the computer at all. This scan tool is always recognized by the computer. So from that perspective this has been the most reliable scanner.

Torque is $5; as with all things, you get what you pay for.


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## Vhclbldr (Feb 8, 2014)

evmetro said:


> The Orion has two canbus leads coming off of it, and you just wire in an obd2 connector to one of the leads. You can plug in an obd2 wifi or bluetooth transmitter into this jack, and it will transmit to your android or ipad. You have to add a bunch of custom PID's to the Torque app, but there is a list of them that you can copy from on the Orion site. There is no need for the car to have existing obd systems, and when I do my conversions, I gut all that stuff out. You build your own system, and the Orion is the ecm. If you are planning an Orion and wifi/bluetooth system, keep in mind that you will need to connect a laptop to it once in awhile, and that the laptop needs to plug in via a nine pin connecter on canbus lead #1. I use a bluetooth adapter that came with a nine pin connecter on it and an obd2 extension cord, so after discarding the extension cord, I can plug the adapter straight into the nine pin. My other canbus lead has the standard obd2 connecter wired into it so I can plug in the elm27 adapter that only plugs into an obd2 port.
> 
> Here is a shot of how the one adapter has a nine pin instead of an obd2 port. When I connect my laptop, I just unplug this bluetooth adapter, and plug in my laptop.
> 
> ...


In the photo above, what function does the OBD adapter (the one plugging into the 9-pin port) perform? I would think your ELM 327 (in the OBD port) is sufficient to monitor the Orion BMS.


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## evmetro (Apr 9, 2012)

Vhclbldr said:


> In the photo above, what function does the OBD adapter (the one plugging into the 9-pin port) perform? I would think your ELM 327 (in the OBD port) is sufficient to monitor the Orion BMS.



Sorry for the late response, I missed this. 

I like to run wifi and bluetooth, so I have them both. They can run simultaneously, or I can run with just one of them. The nine pin port is needed in order to connect my lap top, so that is one that I need no matter what. When I run my Ipad, I need to have wifi, but my droid tablets can use wifi as well as bluetooth.

Sometimes it is nice to be able to just leave my tablet docked in the dash when I get home, and then I can use my Ipad or phone to check out my charge from inside the house. It is nice to have bluetooth and wifi running at the same time...


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## Vhclbldr (Feb 8, 2014)

I would love to get a copy of your wiring schematic, EV Metro!


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## Stupidryan (Sep 6, 2016)

Vhlbldr... Dude! I have loved that indycycle for years! Such a killer car. 

Sorry for the hijack


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## Vhclbldr (Feb 8, 2014)

Evmetro, this looks like the Bluetooth unit you have: https://jet.com/product/detail/3e93...15&gclid=CNm_hsHWuM8CFRDWNwodtpwEMA&gclsrc=ds


Am I correct?


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