vitafortis

Hey all,

I recently posted a thread here that covers the discussion of my idea, with the last page starting the progress.

So far, here's the progress I have in terms of software:
Initial Python user interface with basic controls. Everything works for the Lights, but nothing else works right now. This comes down to having everything in hand and priority.




The lights work, still working on the other stuff. The second icon, the monitor, will be for when I get my back-up camera installed. The Hardware Icon is for when I get the OBDII reading figured out. Currently I cannot have two devices installed, I tried, so saving on insurance takes priority. Once I get to a good point, I'll spend a weekend coding up the bluetooth connection, reading from the OBDII port reader ( I have a OBDLink MX ), and allowing you to choose what it displays, from codes to stats. Lastly, so far the settings page is just a place holder where I have an icon for when I connect to bluetooth devices. Nothing else is there yet. May allow renaming of the lights, or adding new ones. Settings will have more once everything is finished.



This is the initial lights page. The buttons toggle, and change the pins. I just ordered a 32" light bar, 2 18W spot lights, and 2 18W Flood lights, in order to test everything. I also have my LED interior light strips ready to install, so will test once i get everything in the mail.

So far, that's the initial progress, but everything is coming along. I still need to find a way to mount the screen in the left cubby, so I'm coordinating with a friend who has a 3D printer and is good with CAD software. Once that's done, I'll find a place to put the pi with the relay, and a backup battery kit.

Right now, boot time is ~ 5 seconds, which should be fine for anyone that doesn't want a backup battery, but I intend to have a bluetooth iOS/Android app in the near future to control the lights and other things I want to control.

As a note, in the future once the initial stage is done, I plan to add remote start from Bluetooth, door locking/unlocking from bluetooth ( These are all emergency options for if I lock my keys in the truck ), and logging of data and cameras, and then storing them to a server when on WiFi.

If anyone has any ideas, questions, or anything else, feel free to post here.

The source code link if you'd like to check it out is here: https://github.com/vitafortis/RaspPiTruckController

Thanks again for all the support and discussions from other members so far, I wasn't sure if I was crazy, or if it'd actually be a fun project. So far, I'm really enjoying it.

gthrift

/Subscribed.

Very cool project, I'm watching closely to see if its something I might try to copy.

vitafortis

Hey, thanks for the interest. So far, it's a fun project. I'd say overall, it's fairly easy, minus finding a place to mount the screen, and a way to do so. I had to order an extension cable for the screen-to-decoder, since 3 CM isn't long enough to twist it to get it out of the way.

I need ideas for how to make the screen look OEM. I plan on 3D printing a case, or maybe getting some plastic and just modifying it manually. Does anyone have ideas for mounting?

I have a few LED lights coming in today, so once I get it wired up and tested, I'll post a video of it working if I can.

As for wanting to do this project on your own, the biggest problem is the cost. The screen w/ decoder costs ~$75 because it's a universal screen with USB mouse touch screen input. The Pi costs ~$35. I have a ~$30 MicroSD UHS-I for fast boot times, and then there's all the lights.

If you do decide to do this, the software is easy to edit, or I can setup the software and OS for you, and just mail the card to you to just install it.

Thanks again for the interest. If you have any questions or comments, feel free.

vitafortis

Here's the new updated UI. Still needs some work, especially with the font. I'd like to have Icons if I can, but I am terrible at photoshop and such, so making icons for the locations is going to be beyond me.

BuyMyTruck

Looks great!

vitafortis

Thanks. The ****ty Cellphone pics don't really do it justice.

Here's a couple of better photos:








I'm trying to find Icons I can use for the "labels" instead of text, but that's proving to be a pain. I found images from Amazon I can try to modify, but that may be a pain:
If anyone has suggestions or anything regarding icons, I'm all ears.

13fx4tx

Looks good, cant wait to see once you get it done.

Here are some more icons specific for F150, however there going to be hard to use. Would be cool though.
https://otrattw.net/Lighting-V/?page=3

vitafortis

I just emailed them to see if they'd be willing to send me the designs. I've worked out an alternative though, where I just have the buttons with Text at the bottom. If I can get the images though, that'd be preferred.

Thanks for the headsup, and interest. I should have everything I need to start testing the wiring by Friday.

vitafortis

My light bar came in the mail today and I got it installed this evening/night, so I finally have lights I can test with.

Right now, the light is hooked to a rocker switch in the cab, but I can just unplug the rocker switch, plug in extension wires, and hook them up to the relay once I've finalized everything for testing. Once that's the case, I'll take pictures and maybe even a video to show the touchscreen working.

vitafortis

I've reworked the Lights UI, so I'll post some pictures later, but I have a cool update for anyone that's interested. I found a way that I can "dynamically" add new pages, especially for the OBDII page, so that you can have "N" custom screens, for different views, etc. This would allow for adding a page for daily driving, different layouts of gauges, different pages for different info, etc. This will be accomplished by having to create a new python file, which I should be able to do through code so no one will have to mod them unless they want to, and then you can just reload/restart the software, and your changes should be there.

I know it sounds confusing, but once I get the software ready, I'll show everyone what I mean.