PyOBD Gets Python3 Upgrades
One of the best things about open source software is that, instead of being lost to the ravages of time like older proprietary software, anyone can dust off an old …read more Continue reading PyOBD Gets Python3 Upgrades
Category Archives: OBD
Probing CAN Bus for EV Battery Info
The widespread adoption of the CAN bus (and OBD-II) in automobiles was largely a way of standardizing the maintenance of increasingly complicated engines and their needs to meet modern emissions …read more Continue reading Probing CAN Bus for EV Battery Info
Raspberry Pi Hitches a Ride in a 1989 BMW Dashboard
It probably won’t surprise you to find out that a 1989 BMW 325i doesn’t have much in the way of electronic gadgetry onboard. In fact, what passes for an in-dash “computer” in this vintage Beemer is just a digital clock …read more
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Remoticon Video: Learn How to Hack a Car with Amith Reddy
There was a time not too long ago when hacking a car more often than not involved literal hacking. Sheet metal was cut, engine cylinders were bored, and crankshafts were machined to increase piston travel. It was all in the pursuit of milking the last ounce performance out of every …read more
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A Tidy Little OBD Display For Your Car
It’s likely that many readers will have an OBD dongle through which they can peer into the inner workings of their car, but the chances are that most of us will have restricted our curiosity to the Bluetooth or USB interface it was supplied with. Not [Frederico Souza Sant’ana …read more
Juicing Up the Chevy Volt with Raspberry Pi
While Chevrolet’s innovative electric hybrid might officially be headed to that great big junkyard in the sky, the Volt will still live on in the hearts and minds of hackers who’d rather compare amp hour than horsepower. For a relatively low cost, a used Volt offers the automotive hacker a fascinating platform for upgrades and experimentation. One such Volt owner is [Jared Stafford], who’s recently made some considerable headway on hacking his hybrid ride.
In an ongoing series on his blog, [Jared] is documenting his efforts to add new features and functions to his Volt. While he loves the car …read more
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This Cup Holder Crystal Ball Tells Your MPG Future
Hybrid vehicles, which combine an eco-friendly electric motor with a gasoline engine for extended range, are becoming more and more common. They’re a transitional technology that delivers most of the advantages of pure electric vehicles, but without the “scary” elements of electric vehicle ownership which are still foreign to consumers such as installing a charger in their home. But one element which hybrids are still lacking is a good method for informing the driver whether they’re running on petroleum or lithium; a way to check at a glance how “green” their driving really is.
[Ben Kolin] and his daughter [Alyssa] …read more
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Adding Upgrades To A Stock Motorcycle
In today’s world of over-the-air firmware upgrades in everything from cars to phones to refrigerators, it’s common for manufacturers of various things to lock out features in software and force you to pay for the upgrades. Even if the hardware is the same across all the models, you can still be on the hook if you want to unlock anything extra. And, it seems as though Suzuki might be following this trend as well, as [Sebastian] found out when he opened up his 2011 Vstrom motorcycle.
The main feature that was lacking on this bike was a gear indicator. Even …read more
OBD-Sniffing A Caddy PHEV
The Cadillac ELR is a plug-in hybrid car with a bit of class, it has the beating heart of a Chevy Volt in a nice coupé body with some up-market styling and a nice interior. Since it wasn’t on the market for long and some consumers are still wary of cars with electric motors, it also represents something of a sweet spot: according to [Andrew Rossignol] you can pick them up for less outlay than you might imagine. He bought one, and being an inquisitive soul decided to probe its secrets through its OBD-II ports.
OBD-II sniffing is …read more
A Live ECU Simulator for OBD2 Projects
If you are working with OBD2 hardware or software, it’s easy enough to access test data, simply plug into a motor vehicle with an OBD2 socket. If, however, you wish to test OBD2 software under all possible fault conditions likely to be experienced by an engine, you are faced with a problem in that it becomes difficult to simulate all faults on a running engine without breaking it. This led [Fixkick] to create an OBD2 simulator using a secondhand Ford ECU supplied with fake sensor data from an Arduino to persuade it that a real engine was connected.
The write-up …read more
