Steering wheel controls ff /rw on computer playlist
I've been having a bit of a play this evening since getting the car computer install finished by 10forcash at the weekend
I've bought one of these and tapped into the ipod ACM wiring harness to sample the voltage on the steering wheel controls 'resistive ladder'. At the moment, I'm only using fast forward and rewind, but the possibilities with the phidgets device are endless.
The digital inputs on it are watching the dash lights on/off (to automatically dim the screen), the ignition on/off and stereo on/off (for pause, and to hibernate the PC when I lock the vehicle), the PDC light on/off (for activating a reversing camera).
Analogue inputs are for steering controls, a temperature gauge in the boot box, and aux and main battery voltage monitors. Digital ouputs are currently unused, but I have a couple of the relay units in the back which I'm sure will find a use soon. Perhaps to activate the espresso machine.
It's great. Highly recommended for those of you with car computers you use for music
30th Sep 2008 9:00 pm
CFB
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30th Sep 2008 9:07 pm
PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
Hi Bobby,
Very interesting....I've just installed my CarPC screen (a Xenarc 7" touchscreen that was mounted into a broken RRS/D3 Sat Nav screen).
I have an ITX box and the rest of the bits should arrive tomorrow. I would definitely be interesting in acquiring one of these little gadgets....
Did you buy via the website? How are you using it to interface with the PC? Are you using Centrafuse/RoadRunner etc?
Any more details?
Cheers,
Paul2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE AutoBuckingham Blue 2007 Golf GT DSG
Yep, it came from activerobots. Very quick delivery. It's a usb device, all the drivers are on the phidgets website, and there is a plugin for centrafuse that has a pretty good macro facility for acting on changes to the inputs.
PaulP wrote:
Any more details?
What do you want to know?
By the way, like your installation - very neat. I'm planning to get a VGA interface for the standard satnav screen so should have something that looks very similar. It's an expensive option, but for where I park my D3 during the day I need the inside to look totally normal and not at all interesting to scrotes.
30th Sep 2008 10:09 pm
SN
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30th Sep 2008 10:35 pm
tanters
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30th Sep 2008 11:50 pm
wiggs
Member Since: 03 Sep 2006
Location: Manchester
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Looking good Rob ...looking good G4 Gone ...but not forgotten
1st Oct 2008 6:30 pm
PaulP
Member Since: 04 May 2007
Location: Barcelona
Posts: 4317
bobbycrispbox wrote:
Yep, it came from activerobots. Very quick delivery. It's a usb device, all the drivers are on the phidgets website, and there is a plugin for centrafuse that has a pretty good macro facility for acting on changes to the inputs.
Hi Rob,
I can't seem to find any reference to the Centrafuse plug-in on their website....
If I bought this I would probably also change the steering wheel controls for the ones with telephone and voice buttons, that would give me more options to play with (I guess it's not a good idea to map functions to the cruise control buttons )
Have you actually wired it into the lights to dim the screen? How are you doing the dimming? (via the night skin or the 'dim' function next to the back/exit button at the bottom of Centrafuse)
Regarding the voltage sensing from the resistor ladder in the steering wheel controls.....how do you define each button? Does it have some kind of learning facility to assign different voltage levels to different Centrafuse funtions?
Thanks for any help you can give
Paul2006 Discovery 3 TDV6 SE AutoBuckingham Blue 2007 Golf GT DSG
1st Oct 2008 6:53 pm
wiggs
Member Since: 03 Sep 2006
Location: Manchester
Posts: 14368
If I bought this I would probably also change the steering wheel controls for the ones with telephone and voice buttons
I haven't found a way to disable stop the stereo/pti acting on the inputs. Not a problem for ff/rw on the aux selection, but it could be a problem with the phone buttons. Fine I suppose if you haven't got a phone plugged in as they don't do very much in that situation.
PaulP wrote:
Have you actually wired it into the lights to dim the screen? How are you doing the dimming? (via the night skin or the 'dim' function next to the back/exit button at the bottom of Centrafuse)
The lights on/off signal comes from the back of the plug on the headlight off/sidelight/full/auto switch. I use
HOST:DIM
HOST:DIM
for when the lights come on and
HOST:DIM
when they go off. It occasionally gets out of kilter but it's easily fixed with another press or two on the dim on the touchscreen. I couldn't make the HOST:CHANGESKIN work, I might not have the extra skins installed.
PaulP wrote:
Regarding the voltage sensing from the resistor ladder in the steering wheel controls.....how do you define each button?
I have the sensor output on the phidgets plugin page without any factor so it gives me a number from 0-999. When no button is pressed, it's at about 870, ff is about 385 and rw is about 485. I have given it a bit of leeway because the numbers are a bit different with the engine running compared to when it's off.
HOST:NEXTSONG @ >483 & <490>383 & <390
Weird... The forum is automatically editing my messages... I'll try again in a new post for that last bit of code:
HOST:NEXTSONG @ >483 & <490>383 & <390
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