Thread: 2008 Impala SS - The Connected Car

Just run a 2nd battery from a charge-light (fuel pump) relay or high-volt-sense or similar circuit.
Or run a low-volt cutout.

I've posted similar solutions is the past days so please search...
(It's late & I'm tired. And I've plugged and repeated enough..!)


PS - HiJackZX1 - why run a second alternator?
I doubt that your alternator won't handle the extra load.
And if you do run a 2nd alternator, you cannot connect it to your other (standard) alternator system and battery - at least not without special design.
A standard alternator should be able to handle a second battery as per my other posts.
A second battery is the way to go - do whatever with it but you can always start the vehicle as normal.
As to it's sizing, that's the old AH sizing issue. (IE - what load & how many hours until low-volts cutout else load failure?)

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

WOW, This looks like its going to be a cool project. So basically you will have to use GPS and what not so it know where to do things? Also, how will the car know your coming up to it? Will you have a dongle that senses getting close to it? Similar to like what BMW does? I will note that its not solid. Basically when the car senses the dongle it allows you to start the car, but when you leave the car, it shuts off. I guess the dongles had a long range because there have been times I have told my friend the car is still running. Other issues Ive had is when I borrow his car, to get the thing to start is a b!+ch. I keep telling him that with all the steps, I could have turned a key and been half way down the street. Other then that its fairly good.

About the battery, I am installing a separate alternator for a second battery that will power the car PC and amps, I can use the battery u've picked out, like can it be used on its own, or does it have to be used in conjunction with the normal battery?

I should be able to script Proximity to do and not do certain things in certain locations determined by gps. The car will detect my presence through my cell phone's bluetooth signal. I can get the signal strength and determine how close I am based on that. I got the idea from the Linux blueproximity app which locks/unlocks your pc based upon the location of a bluetooth device in proximity to the computer.

I'll control on/off by a contact hooked up via the fusionbrain to one of my keychain remotes.

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to hook up the second battery. I may just get a single deep cycle as the main and just shutoff at a certain voltage/current level.

Originally Posted by kev000

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to hook up the second battery. I may just get a single deep cycle as the main and just shutoff at a certain voltage/current level.

I think that's the way to go. Single deep cycle, batt isolator, charge when car is on, cut power when voltage drops too low.

Originally Posted by Sonicxtacy02

do you have a thread with more info on this? I'm curious as to how you wired those batteries up to charge when the car is running. I used to have a secondary deep cycle battery and kept it charged via a stinger battery isolator. Would the same thing be used here? Sorry for the mini thread jack.

He detailed his isolator here. The details are scattered throughout his worklog.

Originally Posted by kev000

I should be able to script Proximity to do and not do certain things in certain locations determined by gps. The car will detect my presence through my cell phone's bluetooth signal. I can get the signal strength and determine how close I am based on that. I got the idea from the Linux blueproximity app which locks/unlocks your pc based upon the location of a bluetooth device in proximity to the computer.

I'll control on/off by a contact hooked up via the fusionbrain to one of my keychain remotes.

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to hook up the second battery. I may just get a single deep cycle as the main and just shutoff at a certain voltage/current level.

How does it work though? I know usually when you connect to a device, it prompts for a password. Once you do it the first time it saves the password, but leaving the BT on, will drain your phone alot faster. Then if you happen to turn off the BT, once you turn it back on, the password would have to be reentered on both devices. Same thing if the PC happens to shut off, due to low battery. Once it comes back on, its going to want a password verification.

What kind of car is this for? (Sorry if I missed it)

Originally Posted by freeflashstuff

He detailed his isolator here. The details are scattered throughout his worklog.

Thanks for getting this quick response to Sonicxtacy02. Good job.

Originally Posted by kev000

I'm not sure yet how I'm going to hook up the second battery. I may just get a single deep cycle as the main and just shutoff at a certain voltage/current level.

Josh ran his system off the main battery for a while, and now he's running it from the auxiliary battery. As far as he's concerned, it's a world of difference, and vastly better with the aux battery.

For me, it was more work to set up the auxiliary battery system, and I had to buy a $7 relay. But I get a good smile out of having a system that's up and running before I'm ready to drive.

And there's good comfort in knowing that my PC simply can't reduce the charge on the main battery; that's particularly good as we go into the winter months, when the main battery is challenged by cold-weather starts.

One other advantage: one of my next projects will be a security/monitoring system -- with some of the features you're planning -- that depends on constant Internet access. The always-on PC will take care of that.

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

How does it work though? I know usually when you connect to a device, it prompts for a password. Once you do it the first time it saves the password, but leaving the BT on, will drain your phone alot faster. Then if you happen to turn off the BT, once you turn it back on, the password would have to be reentered on both devices. Same thing if the PC happens to shut off, due to low battery. Once it comes back on, its going to want a password verification.

What kind of car is this for? (Sorry if I missed it)

the mac address of the bluetooth device is broadcast regardless of whether it's tethered to the pc or not (otherwise you couldn't detect it or tether at all). So all i have to do is setup proximity to monitor for that mac address. having bluetooth (and probably wifi and maybe a hsdpa modem) all the time will definitely kill the battery. Which is why i'm looking into a possible second battery.

This will be going in my '08 Impala SS. I also plan on getting one of those shiny n900 phones that run the good Linooks.





UPDATE: I've got the sheeva now. I'm working on updating the firmware/kernel so it has ftdi support and speed ( i <3's the speeds). Hopefully I'll have a sheeva+LinuxICE repo with all the goodies for anyone else who wants to <3 the sheeva.

Originally Posted by Bugbyte

I think that's the way to go. Single deep cycle, batt isolator, charge when car is on, cut power when voltage drops too low.

How about something like this?...

http://www.powerstream.com/DC-UPS-1212-5A.htm

By the way, the FitPC2 consumes less than 10W so will run a lot longer on an aux battery.

Update:

I (finally) got the Sheeva flashed and up and running. I've got Proximity and FBd compiled for the sheeva and have a fusion brain on the way. Proximity now supports GPS and bluetooth so I can configure accomplish the location based volume up.

I hope to be able to connect the fusion brain up with my remote start remote control. I hope to have proximity turn on the car and unlock the doors when I walk up and lock it when I walk away. Just need to get another one of these:


I found this about the power consumption on the sheeva: http://www.cyrius.com/journal/debian...er-consumption

halestrom: thanks for the link. That's exactly what I need.