Monday, December 21, 2015

The Raspberry PI car computer

I've started to play around with a little device called a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is essentially a card sized computer with the following specifications:
  • 900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU
  • 1GB RAM
  • 4 USB ports
  • 40 GPIO pins (the GPIO pin are to control various things like displays, servomotors, LEDs, relays, etc).
  • Full HDMI port
  • Ethernet port
  • Combined 3.5mm audio jack and composite video
  • Camera interface (CSI), the camera interface allows you to plug-in a camera board (this would be very useful if you would like to implement a dash camera or a security camera for your application, in my case this will be for the car surveillance system)
  • Display interface (DSI)
  • Micro SD card slot
  • VideoCore IV 3D graphics core
This little computer board will allow you to install and use an operating system, In my case I am using Raspbian, other operating systems that are available at this time are:
  • NOOBs
  • Ubuntu Mate
  • Snappy Ubuntu Core
  • Windows 10 IOT Core
  • OSMC
  • OpenELEC
  • PiNet
  • RiscOS
  • Kodi
  • and other variations 
For the BMW E90 I will be using this PC to implement various additional features, the first feature will be that of an onboard OBD2 scanner. This will allow me to monitor live data from the OBD2 port. Below I have listed some parameters that are available over the OBD2 port:
  • Fuel system status
  • Calculated engine load value
  • Engine coolant temperature (this is very important especially to E90 owners since most of the versions don't have an engine coolant temperature indicator)
  • Fuel pressure
  • Intake manifold absolute pressure
  • Engine RPM
  • Vehicle speed
  • Timing advance
  • Intake air temperature
  • MAF air flow rate
  • Throttle position
  • Commanded secondary air status
  • Oxygen sensors present
  • Oxygen sensor voltage
  • Auxiliary input status
  • Run time since engine start
  • Distance traveled with malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) on
  • EGR Error
  • Fuel Level Input
  • Distance traveled since codes cleared
  • Evap. System Vapor Pressure
  • Barometric pressure
  • Ambient air temperature
  • Relative throttle position
  • Fuel/Air commanded equivalence ratio
  • Absolute load value
  • Fuel Type
  • Engine oil temperature
  • Fuel injection timing
  • Engine fuel rate
  • Driver's demand engine - percent torque
  • Actual engine - percent torque
  • Engine reference torque
  • Engine percent torque data
  • Turbocharger RPM
  • Turbocharger temperature
  • Boost pressure control
  • Manifold surface temperature
  • NOx sensor
  • Particulate matter (PM) sensor
Besides monitoring these parameters the on-board car computer will also allow you to clear out fault codes. The Raspberry PI car computer will be fitted in the ashtray compartment.The plan is to 3D print a nice bezel for the display so that it will look like it came out of the factory this way. 

Please feel free to comment on this post if you would be interested to know more about this project. Until then I have posted some pictures with my ongoing car computer project.

raspberry pi OBD      raspberry PI


raspberry PI running Raspbian      Raspberry PI case


BMW E90 console keyboard        Raspberry PI booting



Enjoy! :)

Monday, October 19, 2015

Autumn preparations

Weather here has started to go bad, lots of rain so I've decided to upgrade my velour floor mats to the more rugged rubber mats I've received as a birthday present from my friends (thanks again for the wonderful present :) ) . To be honest, these actually look very nice. Also a nice added feature is that the front ones have a velcro fastening system so these will stay still in your car, this is especially useful on the driver side, you wouldn't want your floor mats to get caught in between the pedals.

If you want to order a set for your 3 series sedan, these are the OEM codes with links to realOEM:
51472311024 - front floor mats
51472336599 - rear floor mats

And some pics with these installed:
bmw rubber floor mats front bmw rubber floor mats rear





Friday, October 9, 2015

Make it your own

First off lets start with a wishlist, I've put together a wishlist which hopefully I will be updating on an ongoing basis. The wishlist will list all the parts that I will/or have put into this project. Each mod or repair that I will making for my car in shaping it to be unique.

Now, ignore the order since some parts on the wishlist will take ages to implement due to budget constraints. The purpose of the wishlist is to spark ideas for everyone. Let me know if you would like to implement something on your 3 series BMW by placing a comment below and we can exchange ideas. 

Wishlist:

3. Raspberry PI 2 - credit card size computer ü
6. Custom mount in ashtray for the Raspberry PI (Work in progress)

I will be posting an update with all of the above items that are marked as completed with actual pictures and explanations. 

Keep you posted...

Thursday, October 8, 2015

It's only a Car...



Most people would say just that...It's only a car. However for most us, this is our car. A car that drives our passion, that drives our dreams. 

To me my dream came true when I first drove a BMW. The first car was a BMW 318i (e46), a car with a small and modest engine however it had something, something I couldn't find in other cars. As soon as I turned the ignition, it was like a spell was cast on me. It created a bond, a connection that I couldn't feel in other cars. To this day I don't know what it is but it fuels my passion for this brand and it's cars. A passion that has driven me in buying a BMW, a 320D (e90). I wanted to share my passion with you and the on-board journal I will be keeping with our time together :)

And now, the presentations:

TypeVC31
Model320d Ol - EUR
Development CodeE90
ChassisLIM
SteeringLL
Doors4
EngineM47/T2
Displacement2.00
Power120
DrivetrainHECK
TransmissionMECH
ColorSparkling Graphite Metallic - A22
UpholsteryStoff/leder Citrus/anthrazit - FFAT
Production PlantLEIPZIG
Production Date2005-05-18
Options:
1CASelection Cop Relevant Vehicles
2CXLt/aly Wheels Star Spoke 155
200Diesel Particle Filter
240Leather Steering Wheel
249Multi-function For Steering Wheel
302Alarm System
320Model Designation, Deletion
321Exterior Parts In Body Color
354Green Stripe Windscreen
423Floor Mats, Velour
428Warning Triangle
441Smokers Package
488Lumbar Support Driver/front Passenger
502Headlight Washer System
508Park Distance Control (pdc)
520Foglights
521Rain Sensor
522Xenon Light
534Automatic Air Conditioning
540Cruise Control
606Navigation System Business
644Prep. For. Mob. Ph. Bluet. Interf.
8SBCountry Spec. Release Of Telematic
8SCCountry Spec. Release Of Teleservice
8SPCop Control
801Germany Version
863Europe/dealer Directory
879German / On-board Documentation
Standard equipment:
AGInterior Strip Titan. Dull
548Speedometer With Kilometer Reading
851Language Version German