I found this tutorial about how to use a raspberry pi to add a digital panel to old cars (canbus port needed)
That’s deeply unwise. Nothing you cobble together yourself using a raspberry pi is going to be up to automotive safety standards.
Anyone who sets up one of these has nobody but themselves to blame when it misbehaves and gives them incorrect information, or no information, or starts flickering distractingly, and they get done for speeding/hit a pedestrian/fail whatever inspections the law requires in their part of the world
I think you may be overestimating how far safety standards have come in a very short amount of time. I’ve driven cars from the 1960s up to modern day and anything before the mid 90s would be fare less accurate and reliable than I could cobble together on a RaspberryPI.
Seriously only downvotes?
Has no one driven a car with swapped wheels making the speed optimistic or pessimistic?
What about broken/missing temp sensors? Oil pressure gauges? Battery voltage?
The only thing you really need is a speed gauge, and you can get that from the wheels, the gearbox, and GPS. Making it easily three way redundant and have the ability to have a backup via your phone or manual gauge.
This looks like a good fun project, you could make it a HUD and keep all your old gauges.
For too many people, cars are beyond comprehension.
Most people can’t even explain how a toaster works.
As Asimov said, it’s like magic…its just not as advanced tech as one would think is required.
The increased safety in cars since the 90’s is mostly to do with massively improved cabin strength (see growth in A and C pillars), and airbags. Crumple zones already existed and were constantly being improved. But you can’t control the crumple if the cabin collapses.
I’m painfully aware of the lack of safety capability of my 80’s car when I’m driving.
Even cars in the 90’s were still mostly using the same tech as always, with modest improvements.
Speedo’s didn’t really start changing from cable until the 90’s. Not that being super accurate is meaningful anyway - they never have been.
You don’t even need to swap wheels. If a car is sold with multiple wheel size options, there’s a solid chance that the speedo is calibrated for one size only.
My car is a 2012 model and the speedo is off by at least 10% compared to speed radar displays I’ve driven by.
That would be very naughty of the manufacturer on a 2012… the wheel speed sensor would be connected to a computer and speed PID reported on the canbus, the computer should be calibrated to the trim level of the car (and the wheels that it came with) to report the correct speed.
Having said that manufacturers often overestimate speed by ~5% to prevent being blamed for speeding offences.
That’s a fantastic idea, however corners exist only to be cut.
I agree. It is more a curiosity thing than a real life project. But it helps to show the potential of this SoCs and it is a good practice for a lot of things.
