Will I post?
I most certainly will. In fact, I have started already. The details, however, are a bit long-winded, and while I'd like to describe it all, I'm not sure if this is the topic or indeed the Forum that I should use.
As this work is all being done on an Australia specific car that is sold only in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa I will be focussing on that, so international relevance may be limited.
If you're interested I have at least started posting on an Australia Ford Modifications here:
www.fordmods.com :: View topic - SCANTOOL Fun
But at the moment you'll only find me rehashing the basics. The gory detail of reverse-engineering Broadcast messages or verifying my current (very small) list of Ford Enhanced PIDS is yet to be done but will likely be journalled in that thread.
The eventual intention is to write some sort of utility that can be integrated with a Media Centre application so that it can be shown on the existing NTSC RGB LCD screen installed in these cars from the factory, such that I can review Polled or Broadcast data with the use of a simple remote control.
The capture of data from other Scantools, however, is more about extending my knowledge of the comms in this car than it is about having a goal, and about discovering more of the PIDs that might interest me.
I was initially triggered by the desire to upgrade from a Manual Climate Control console in one of my cars to an Auto Climate Control console, which requires writing some new values to the Body Control Module and HVAC Control Module. The proprietary nature of the data involved of course prevents me from doing this easily, but by 'piggy backing' on the guys at the dealer workshop if I ever get them to do this work for me means that I'll at least understand how it was done. (If I can capture the bits quick enough that is.)
One of my other projects was to access the factory screen and use if for displaying an in-car LCD camera faced at the back seat (so I can see my kids at night) and a camera at the rear for reversing, or for putting on the back of our Caravan so I don't have to install 'Wing Mirrors' and scratch my car when I go on long trips.
Plus, in many ways, I'm just doing it for the fun of it because I am a hopeless techo head.
Lukeyson