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Digital gauges, datalogging, and more for OBD1 diesels

dbrannon79

dbrannon79

I'm getting there!
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Seguin, TX
Hey guys, I have been wanting to find a way to add a tablet screen in our trucks that would be able to read sensor data, record data, and display some informative gauges and other info straight from the PCM on our trucks similar to how Torque pro does for the obd2 systems.

a friend and member here mentioned that ALDLdroid will read the data and record data the same as the tunerpro rt does on a windows pc will using the same definitions files. the data is also compatible to be read between both apps. one being for android and the other for a windows pc. this is awesome info.

I have managed to scourer the WWW and have collected all the needed files to make this happen. I have tested it on tunerpro rt and it works, still needs a little tweaking here and there, but is functional.

something that both of these applications won't do is read the data and display your real time and average mpg's, as least not that I am aware of...

what I am wanting to do is find a few gurus that might be able to use the coding that ADLdroid uses and create an app that will take the fuel rate in mm^3 along with the vehicle speed and other needed data to show a display for both average and real time mpg.

I read a post on DP that explains the fuel rate in mm^3 and how injector balance effects it, but I don't think our obd1 pcm shows the injector balance data.
to my understanding the fuel rate shown in the pcm data is for all 8 cylinders combined and per second. taking the fuel rate reading from the pcm with the speed, miles driven, and possibly run and idle time one could come up with a formula to calculate mpg.

I have yet to get my hands on an android tablet that has "USB-OTG" usb one the go meaning that one can connect a mouse or keyboard to the tablet and it would work out of the box. this is needed to connect the truck to the tablet to read data. I may even go a step further and use that tablet in the place of my radio head unit to combine the use of music and gps navigation as well.

Y'all give me your thoughts on this and if anyone wants to join in on this venture let me know. :)
 
I believe that the Android tablets has one mini usb connector, also used for charging the device.
When that usb is plugged into it will transfer the data.
The other option to hook to the tablet is through the WIFI or the Blue toot.
Thats about all I know about them.
Depending on what style of ALDL adaptor You have is how You will connect, and, whatever the APP requires for connectivity.
 
most, not all Samsung tablets allow you to use an adapter on the mini usb to connect things like a mouse and keyboard. problem is with our older trucks running OBD1 there isn't a real blue tooth style scanner like there are for the newer ones. this is only because OBD1 is a thing of the past and according to big market companies, it's not worth their money or time to make devices for us. that blows for us folks who love the old school vehicles. little does the "market" realize that these 70's 80's and 90's vehicles when taken care of will out last any of the modern ones. but then again there's the catch. they make products that aren't meant to last so you are forced to toss it and spend more $$ with them buying the newer one.

I despise companies for that concept. I remember grandma's old urp green fridge that lasted through raising dad plus raising us as grandkids lasting 40+ years and still still working when they decided to sell it and get the fancy one with ice in the door! then they had to replace it every 2-3 years!
 
I made my own cable to connect to the obd1 in my truck. only uses two wires on the connector. been thinking about soldering if in the wiring and having a usb port on the truck to connect to.

not sure if I am allowed to link a thread from DP. (admins please remove if not allowed)

www.dieselplace.com

How To: Scan your OBD1 6.5 for less than $10!

www.dieselplace.com www.dieselplace.com

I bought this adapter from amazon. it works like a charm with my laptop. total cost was $12 including the extra speaker wire I used for the leads to reach from the cab to under the hood!

 
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
I checked the WTS lamp in My truck.
temperature is 43 degrees, wind at 20 MPH. Truck has been plugged in since yesterday afternoon late.
Set the phoney clock to stop watch mode, reset, twisted key to run and tapped the go button on the stop watch mode.
It took right at 6 seconds for the WTS lamp to extinguish.
If there was a way to add more words to make this a longer and more in inneresting read, I sure getter done. 🤷‍♂️😹😹😹😹
 
I don't have good technical data to add to this thread like some of the others will, but with a good starting system (8 good glow plugs, good batteries, good starter, etc.), I had to start mine in the dead of winter one year, after it had sat unstarted for a month or two, and it fired up, without any issue. Don't get me wrong - it grumbled and complained for a few seconds, but smoothed out in short order.

It was due to an urgent situation where I didn't have the luxury of plugging it in at all, but needed to get it going right away. I think it was between 10-20 degrees outside. If you're plugging yours in out of necessity when in the low 50s, I would be very quick to suspect something is out of order. Personally, I wouldn't even consider plugging mine in until well below freezing. Les has it way worse than we do, regardless, in terms of rough weather.
 
I plug Mine in when into the low 50s just cause I can.
Truck starts fine in much colder temps without being plugged in. Fifteen and twenty below zero, set for four or five days when out ice fishing and it does act up for about twenty to thurtee seconds but then smoothes out and runs like it was fifty or so.
 
The Torque Pro then try loading in the PID files that is available for free from Quadstar Tuning.
Then You could have the offset timing and all of sensor readings in sight.
 
I have the Torque Pro app but I think it only works for OBD2 systems. unless there is a work around for our older trucks I'm not aware of.
 
be nice if it would! all it would take would be for the app developer to include support. some developers will allow individuals to take their app and enhance it for them, but not all will allow that.
 
I'm going to build an Arduino based monitor/data logger instead of springing for Banks or Edge hardware. I already have a lot of the pieces from when I was attempting to build a VGT controller, so it should just take some repurposing and programming. It will be completely standalone though, no OBD I or II interface.
 
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