Thread: 2008 Impala SS - The Connected Car

My sheeva quietly sits in my car, logging all my OBDII and GPS data as I drive.

Specifically:
1) The Sheeva guys actually awarded me first place in a comeptition for that: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WeWBXRXUog[/media]
2) And mp3car also interviewed me about it: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5145ybL8Os[/media]

Gary (-;

Originally Posted by ZX1Cruizer

D@mn you people.... I am so interested in this now. So from the looks of it, its a super pocket PC that plugs into the wall? I dont see much info on the site itself, but how do things plug into it? Like monitors and keyboards. Can this be used as a reliable web server? It sounds cool for the car, but it seems its only for people like you and TripZero that know programing.

Bugbyte has one and doesn't know much programming. Heck, he didn't even know how to use linux when he first started playing with it! That's a learning curve though.

I guess you basically can call it a super pocket pc. I believe all of us have modded it to run off 12 volts rather than the wall outlet. Extremely simple mod. Have the mod shown the projects section on the web page in my signature.

To make it really do anything useful, I guess you do need some programming knowledge though. It has limited connections... 1 power, 1 ethernet, 1 usb, 1 sd, 1 usb - serial.

The usb serial port is for plugging into a desktop and looking at with a terminal program. This is basically your screen/keyboard/mouse.

If you want to get creative, you can hook up a usb - vga graphics card and usb keyboard/mouse, but that;s a bit of hacking. This guy is designed to be all command line.

OMG, so you basically created a Black Box for you car out of the Sheva? That is cool.... You know I wanted something similar, but that can also record all my driving cameras. How would I do that with this device? I see it has USB ports, would I have to connect a tuner card to it, to record from the DQP which combines all my cameras to one feed? Also the more USB devices, isnt it the more power it needs?

I so wanted to finish my install, but the MP3car forums are filling my head with to much stuff!

Originally Posted by ZX1Cruizer

OMG, ao you basically created a Black Box for you car out of the Sheva?

Yes he did!

Originally Posted by ZX1Cruizer

That is cool.... You know I wanted something similar, but that can also record all my driving cameras. How would I do that with this device? I see it has USB ports, would I have to connect a tuner card to it, to record from the DQP which combines all my cameras to one feed?

Yup, USB tuners. They make 4 port usb surveillance tuners.

Originally Posted by ZX1Cruizer

Also the more USB devices, isnt it the more power it needs?

No, the sheeva plug uses some crazy new technology that defies the laws of physics. It creates power on the fly.
Just kidding! Each usb device has its own power requirements. Max for a usb device is 2.5 watts though.

My setup uses all high power usb devices... GPS, 3G, Bluetooth and the fusion brain has its own power supply. My total draw was around 10 watts with the inefficient linear regulator.

OMG, ao you basically created a Black Box for you car out of the Sheva?

That's a reasonable description, yeah. Adding support for recording camera stuff would probably be easy, depends on your requirements

Gary (-;

Max for a usb device is 2.5 watts though.

That's why when I modded mine, I added a separate power cable for the USB hub:
http://icculus.org/obdgpslogger/sheevap5v/

Gary (-;

Originally Posted by tripzero

Well, if you consider the v8 outputs 303hp. Let's say that's cut in half so maybe 151hp... probably more than enough to pull a big car like the impala. It helps a lot when you are cruising at a set speed for a period of time. The laws of physics tend to keep you in motion and all the engine has to do is compensate for wind resistance. Going up any incline though, you have to give it more gas which will kick all 8 cyls on.

Also, you'd also be surprised, the impala is big, but it's not that heavy. The 2010 Camaro actually weighs more.

I didn't know dodge had such a feature. I suppose it's like putting "Hemi" or "V-Tec" on the engine to advertise the engines features to those who care to look them up. I guess it's all about giving the owner warm fuzzies that his engine is somehow more special.

Throw some numbers out...what kind of economy do you actually get?

Hemi only adds about 3-5hp on a big block....so most of it is just marketing hype. The big problem with the 4/8 is the uneven wear it puts on the engine. A lot of the earlier systems are dying far earlier then they should.

Originally Posted by chunkyks

That's why when I modded mine, I added a separate power cable for the USB hub:
http://icculus.org/obdgpslogger/sheevap5v/

Gary (-;

Yeah, I had originally considered that, but before when I initially did the mod, I only had the 3g and fusion brain. I added the GPS and Bluetooth in the cold winter months and only recently as it's started to heat up has it become a problem where the GPS or 3g would knock each other out. With the new 50 watt switching regulator, I'm going to be adding a power output for the hub and then some more power for some other accessories.

I cant wait to see what TripZero does with this thing.