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Raspberry Pi Android Auto Navigation System Replacement build thread
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Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 796
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From: VA
Raspberry Pi Android Auto Navigation System Replacement build thread
Hey all,
My son gave me a Raspberry Pi 4 for Christmas last year and I've been playing around with it and kinda looking around to see what I might do with it.
Was doing something else and stumbled upon a RPi Android Auto build called Crankshaft. I had a lookie see and realized I needed more hardware to go with it so, out came the credit card and this first tranche of goodies was purchased:
There are a plethora of You-Tube videos and such on interfacing one of these systems to vehicles, some more helpful than others. One of the better ones is call Boring Cooking. Name aside, he provides good information on the total build rather than just the OS install that a lot of the You-Tuber's do.
Due to his (and others) I decided to buy a timer relay, relay board and power supply to augment the build. One of the issues with the RPi when the power is abruptly turned off (like when you turn the car off) is corruption of the disk image. So a relay timer is the solution allowing for a set period when power is maintained for the RPi to shut down gracefully. This in turn requires some other relay function, thus the board. and finally a 12v-5v buck converter to power the whole shebang:
Open Auto Pro is a paid app sold by BlueWave Studio. It's cheap enough at $29 so I decided to bite the bullet.
At this point the rabbit hole get's deeper and darker.
In delving through the OAP forum, I realized that with a GPS hat for the RPi I could add a navigation capability to the system for use without Android Auto. Basically like the existing nav unit this will replace. That way, anyone else driving the car would still have navigation if they didn't want to pair their phone with the RPi.
The final depths of the rabbit hole emerged with something call a CarPiHat. This is a hat for the RPi that bring a plethora of capability to the table. It has the graceful shutdown timer, it has the 12v-5v buck converter, etc. One of the more interesting things it brings to the table is a CanBus sniffer, and we'll talk more about that later.
So, all that said a final (?) order was placed:
One of the forum threads I was reading on the OAP website was a guy making a comment about he had $400 into just parts in his build, which got me curious. Without the Rpi I've got a bit more than that at this juncture.
Prolly would have been cheaper/easier to go with a canned solution, but in for a dime in for a dollar as they say.
That's where I am in the "acquisition" process.
I'm now into the interface information collecting stage.
DJWLDW was kind enough to lend me a derelict navigation unit to use to model the interface in order to 3D print bracketry and such. It just showed up this week and will prolly take me a month or two to get that all done and then back to him. Thanks Dennis.
What I'm currently on the hunt for is CANBUS information on Toyota/Lexus/our cars. I've done a little bit of spelunking around the innerwebs and haven't found much. All I really want to know at this juncture is how to read the signals from the steering wheel switches so I can write code to act on the button presses.
If you have any information of this, please chime in. I'd love to see it.
That's all for now.
I'll post more as this progresses. Methinks the next chapter will be disassembly and modeling of the nav interface.
Take care,
My son gave me a Raspberry Pi 4 for Christmas last year and I've been playing around with it and kinda looking around to see what I might do with it.
Was doing something else and stumbled upon a RPi Android Auto build called Crankshaft. I had a lookie see and realized I needed more hardware to go with it so, out came the credit card and this first tranche of goodies was purchased:
There are a plethora of You-Tube videos and such on interfacing one of these systems to vehicles, some more helpful than others. One of the better ones is call Boring Cooking. Name aside, he provides good information on the total build rather than just the OS install that a lot of the You-Tuber's do.
Due to his (and others) I decided to buy a timer relay, relay board and power supply to augment the build. One of the issues with the RPi when the power is abruptly turned off (like when you turn the car off) is corruption of the disk image. So a relay timer is the solution allowing for a set period when power is maintained for the RPi to shut down gracefully. This in turn requires some other relay function, thus the board. and finally a 12v-5v buck converter to power the whole shebang:
Open Auto Pro is a paid app sold by BlueWave Studio. It's cheap enough at $29 so I decided to bite the bullet.
At this point the rabbit hole get's deeper and darker.
In delving through the OAP forum, I realized that with a GPS hat for the RPi I could add a navigation capability to the system for use without Android Auto. Basically like the existing nav unit this will replace. That way, anyone else driving the car would still have navigation if they didn't want to pair their phone with the RPi.
The final depths of the rabbit hole emerged with something call a CarPiHat. This is a hat for the RPi that bring a plethora of capability to the table. It has the graceful shutdown timer, it has the 12v-5v buck converter, etc. One of the more interesting things it brings to the table is a CanBus sniffer, and we'll talk more about that later.
So, all that said a final (?) order was placed:
- Antenna - GPS Antenna - External Active Antenna
- GPS Hat - Adafruit Ultimate GPS HAT for Raspberry Pi
- Stacking header - GPIO Stacking Header for Pi
- CarPiHat - CarPiHat - Car Interface HAT for Raspberry Pi
- Connector - 4-way Molex Nano-Fit Pigtail
One of the forum threads I was reading on the OAP website was a guy making a comment about he had $400 into just parts in his build, which got me curious. Without the Rpi I've got a bit more than that at this juncture.
Prolly would have been cheaper/easier to go with a canned solution, but in for a dime in for a dollar as they say.
That's where I am in the "acquisition" process.
I'm now into the interface information collecting stage.
DJWLDW was kind enough to lend me a derelict navigation unit to use to model the interface in order to 3D print bracketry and such. It just showed up this week and will prolly take me a month or two to get that all done and then back to him. Thanks Dennis.
What I'm currently on the hunt for is CANBUS information on Toyota/Lexus/our cars. I've done a little bit of spelunking around the innerwebs and haven't found much. All I really want to know at this juncture is how to read the signals from the steering wheel switches so I can write code to act on the button presses.
If you have any information of this, please chime in. I'd love to see it.
That's all for now.
I'll post more as this progresses. Methinks the next chapter will be disassembly and modeling of the nav interface.
Take care,
Last edited by doobs; Nov 6, 2022 at 05:52 AM. Reason: Stupid Amazon links
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 796
Likes: 352
From: VA
So,
The first casualty is the Raspberry Pi official touch screen is way too big to fit in the navigation unit.
The size of the bezels make it a non starter. Will have to source a different touchscreen.
I did get Open Auto Pro loaded on the RPi and after determining that I've got a bad cable, everything works fine.
Was going to solder the header to the Adafruit GPS hat and managed to kill my 20+ year old Weller softening station. When I plugged the pencil into the power supply, one of the pins broke off.. Parts are virtually non existent and a replacement pencil is over $100.
I plugged the frame grabber and back up camera in and they work fine.
Sigh. Wasn't the most productive report in the world, but making progress.
The 'zon had some home class Weller soldering stations on sale on the cheap so one of those is on its way. I will try to get the other one working. I'll probably just put another connector on it.
Cheers!
The first casualty is the Raspberry Pi official touch screen is way too big to fit in the navigation unit.
The size of the bezels make it a non starter. Will have to source a different touchscreen.
I did get Open Auto Pro loaded on the RPi and after determining that I've got a bad cable, everything works fine.
Was going to solder the header to the Adafruit GPS hat and managed to kill my 20+ year old Weller softening station. When I plugged the pencil into the power supply, one of the pins broke off.
. Parts are virtually non existent and a replacement pencil is over $100.I plugged the frame grabber and back up camera in and they work fine.
Sigh. Wasn't the most productive report in the world, but making progress.
The 'zon had some home class Weller soldering stations on sale on the cheap so one of those is on its way. I will try to get the other one working. I'll probably just put another connector on it.
Cheers!
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 796
Likes: 352
From: VA
Slowly.
The Weller soldering iron I bought was a piece of junk. Worthless. Funny part was Amazon sent me two of them.
So I bought a Yihua for about the same money. Very nice iron. The GPS board is all soldered up.
And that's about all.
I've been up to my nether regions in reptiles with the house build. LOML and I have spent most of our weekends working through all the minutae involved in building a house.
The Weller soldering iron I bought was a piece of junk. Worthless. Funny part was Amazon sent me two of them.
So I bought a Yihua for about the same money. Very nice iron. The GPS board is all soldered up.
And that's about all.
I've been up to my nether regions in reptiles with the house build. LOML and I have spent most of our weekends working through all the minutae involved in building a house.
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2021
Posts: 796
Likes: 352
From: VA
Well,
The other shoe has dropped.
BlueWave Studio is gone. Evidently bought by another company. Is unclear whether or not Openauto Pro will survive. There are already issues with an update to Android Auto borking wireless connections.
Yippie ki yay.....
The other shoe has dropped.
BlueWave Studio is gone. Evidently bought by another company. Is unclear whether or not Openauto Pro will survive. There are already issues with an update to Android Auto borking wireless connections.
Yippie ki yay.....
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