Anyone run one. The Lemons car received a engine swap to something much newer and OBD2. Rather than wiring a bunch of gauges I'm considering a Android tablet fastened to the dash with Torque running.
Tell me why this is a bad idea. Or a good one.
Any tricks to making it bullet proof?
Any apps that are better than Torque?
Something like this.
I did it for a while in one of my cars. Worked out nicely other than when it would randomly refresh the connection. I think that was my OBD bluetooth dongle thing though. Other than that I really liked it. The gauges seemed to update plenty fast to keep up with what was actually happening and the speed was pretty much dead on.
The only thing I couldn't get that I wanted was fuel level. Seems like a lot of cars don't run that through the ECU unless they're fairly new.
I say go for it. Its a cheap and easy way to get a working dash without having to mess with a bunch of wiring.
The main downsides I have read about are the glare/screen and connectivity issue to the "dongle". If you run one might want to try and get as much side shade as possible by tucking it in your dash.
I would be concerned, primarily, with the longevity of a tablet in a car with a focus on the heat of the environment. If you can set it up for a quick and easy dismount that should alleviate heat issues. Glare, as mentioned already, would probably be a problem depending in your mounting location. If you want to work towards something intended for car use, I would suggest either a PiDash (goggle search should get you there) or something similar. I am integrating a digidash (see my build thread for more info) but my frankenstang is MegaSquirted so I needed something a bit different.
I have used Torque Pro for a while and used it in my phone mounted in my dash the last time I drove my frankenstang to the track. I had no issues with the program, the refresh rate is more than sufficient and the sensor data is all there for your perusal. As for fuel, the simplest solution might be a standalone fuel gauge mounted somewhere in your line of sight.
Thanks for the input.
This lash up only has to last 24 hours, the duration of the race. Heat shouldn't be too much of an issue as the tablet won't be stored in the car, just installed for the event. Glare might be, but I can shade it as needed. It doesn't need to look pretty. Just work.
Toyman01 (Moderately Supportive Dude) said:Thanks for the input.
This lash up only has to last 24 hours, the duration of the race. Heat shouldn't be too much of an issue as the tablet won't be stored in the car, just installed for the event. Glare might be, but I can shade it as needed. It doesn't need to look pretty. Just work.
In that case, I would say make sure the power and ground is solid and fused, make sure it has some air, and maybe a polarized screen protector or shade and you're set. Spend a little time with Torque to get the gauges looking the way you want, size and type, and rock out.
TARP racing(Texas area Lemons)'s E36 has a full Torque dash. Looked nice. I talked with them about it and they were quite happy. They had a wired OBDII dongle, not bluetooth.
I have run a $100 samsung for 4 years in an ls swapped volvo. The car lived outside in chicagoland 24/7, and I never had any problems with it. The only issue for me was when the car sat, the battery in the tablet would die, and I would have to wait 5-10 minutes for it to charge to 5% so I was able to turn on the tablet. Refresh rate is fine, even for tach. Although I run a chippernut (www.chippernut.com) in pretty much all my cars for the important tach info. I found there to be no drawbacks, and many benefits. I ran a/f, and boost gauges in that car other than the tablet. I want to do it for our lemons car, but it will not be ob2 for the forseeable future.
I run an old (free) tablet in the race car for predictive times, engine data, and OBDii diagnostics. Despite how it looks in the photo, glare isn't an issue from my point of view but it's easy enough to build a simple shade.
You'll need to figure out a charger (cheap 12V to 5V mini USB converters work fine) and a safe way to mount it. Torque has been good for diagnostics but data via OBD was almost useless for me...fuel level, temp data, etc. was just too slow and/or noisy. I added some analog channels for oil pressure, water temp, rpm, fuel level, etc.
I use a RaceCapture for timing and data acquisition. It's pricier than the cheap apps but well worth it for something like lemons or Champ car racing.
My datsun uses torque app and a $49 tablet plus a $3 dongle. I mounted the tablet with some beefy hook and loop stuff so it can pop out and go in the house while it sits or to keep charged.
will it work with an Amazon fire or do you need to have pure Android and not Amazons version ?
californiamilleghia said:will it work with an Amazon fire or do you need to have pure Android and not Amazons version ?
Not as shipped but you can root a Kindle Fire to run normal Android apps like Torque.
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