4PiRunner Build

[Prommy]

This build is getting rebooted, for reasons explained below. For the original description of the project, see this post.

In early 2018, I began designing and building a touchscreen interface for my 2008 SR5, which would control lights and other electronics via relays. Long story short, just prior to install someone broke into the vehicle and stole the prototype along with tools and other valuables. Since I was a complete idiot, I didn't have backups to the code. The project has been slowly rebooted, from scratch, but I've focused on other updates and mods. I wanted a more complete write-up about them all, so this is my attempt at that.

Links to work write ups will be in links below:

Phase I:
Supreme Suspensions 3"/2" lift [Complete]
Westin grille guard [Complete]
Energy Suspension front bushings [sway bar done, need to do control arms]
Rear diff breather extension [Complete]
Titanpat's Dual battery installation [Complete]
Touch screen interface [in progress]
OBDII interface to touchscreen [in progress]
Motion detection interior camera [in progress]
Low profile roof rack [in progress]
Orange Boxx windows storage [Complete]
Sub-woofer [parts in]
12V accessory power switched [in progress]
Radar detector, horn and CB radio [Complete]
CJ3Flyer's Exhaust side redirect [Complete]
Reverse light mod [planned]
Wheel well lighting [parts in]
Cargo area lighting [parts in]
Turn assist lighting [planned]
Nytosc's interior hatch control [parts in]

Phase II:
Cellular network expansion on RPi interface [parts in]
Auxiliary fuel tank [parts in]
Suspension upgrade [sourcing parts]
Front/Rear armor [planned]

Looking forward to the feedback. What would you guys control if you had a touchscreen interface?

 

[dta1984]

Definitely will be following along, as this looks extremely interesting!

 

[Prommy]

Auxiliary Relay Box. Screwed up the planning for the fuse to batter leg of the dual battery setup. That line (blue) will have to be re-run to clean up the look.
Installed
12V Cabin Accesseries relay

Planned
Light bar relay
Roof rack light modules relay

 

[camp332]

Looking forward to the feedback. What would you guys control if you had a touchscreen interface?

Be cool to have touchscreen control over the interior lighting dome, map, and added foot bay lights(LED swap a must). Dimmer option. Changing colors depending on your mood hahaha

 

[Prommy]

Orange Boxx Fabrication window storage panels

 

[Prommy]

Got the RPi touchscreen case in today, so today's project will center around getting things integrated cleanly; shortening and re-pinning jumper cables, deciding which GPIO pins I want to use "officially," and reconfiguring the relay board to operate how I prefer.

I fairly certain I am going to install this in the spot just below the enviro controls. If I remove the hinged drawer and install a new hinge that would allow the screen to rotate up or back, I should be able to have a unit that doesn't interfere with the cup holders during everyday driving instances.

Dug through my RPi parts bin and did some research on previously made software kits, and it gave me some awesome ideas.f First, there are a few installations that will allow me to make use of Bluetooth connected OBDII scan tools, such as the ELM327, which I already posses. The ease of integration should allow me to implement an OBDII interface fairly quickly, but that will follow after the touchscreen interface. Additionally, I have a cellular and a GPS module, and I have backburner plans to integrate those as well, allowing me to access info and send commands over 3G cellular networks (i'm thinking 'Roll up windows,' 'lock/unlock,' 'where are you,' and 'disable.')

I have a habit of getting too excited about prospective projects and not focusing on the short term ones, so those will have to wait. If I have the time tonight, hoping to make more progress on the dual battery installation and a few other smaller electrical projects.

 

[unevolved]

Very cool project!

 

[Dropzone]

just out of curiosity how stable is the grill 'guard'?
i had a couple over the years and even mounts with 4 fixed tie in points they wobbled enough that the auxiliary lights beams bouncing all over the place drove me nuts.

I love the idea of the Raspberry Based touch screen. Way cheaper than some of the other touch screen options out there and doing it yourself puts a huge wow factor on it

 

[Prommy]

just out of curiosity how stable is the grill 'guard'?
i had a couple over the years and even mounts with 4 fixed tie in points they wobbled enough that the auxiliary lights beams bouncing all over the place drove me nuts.

I love the idea of the Raspberry Based touch screen. Way cheaper than some of the other touch screen options out there and doing it yourself puts a huge wow factor on it

Mine vibrates a lot, but I think it's just a perspective disconnect between how much the frame vibrates relative to the chassis. That said, I may brace it in the future.

 

[Prommy]

Original Build Post

I've been working on this project for a few days, and planning for quite some time now, and really excited to share it with you!

[Pic to follow]

So the set up: I've had my '08 SR5 4WD for some two years and I absolutely love the thing. Have a slew of projects lined up, and I'll be sharing those as they go in here. Lighting, custom low profile safari rack, over-the-spare aux fuel tank, a bunch of the weekend mods listed here (amazing resource!). In short, I hope you guys enjoy watching this build take shape as much as I like putting the sweat and skinned knuckles into it.

The bread and butter of this project, and the source of it's name, will be my virtual interface I've been designing. I've begun mounting my lightbars (2 4" LED pods and a 32" bar mounted on my Westin grille guard), but the problem I was encountering was where to mount the switches. Initially I started with the three bays behind the shifter; I deloomed the DAC button and put it with the diff lock, etc (seriously, why wasn't this there before?), which gave me the two switch bays I needed plus an additional for the volt meter. The only problem with this, I'd find, is my damn dog loves to paw around that area, constantly flipping switches. In order not to draw the ire of everyone on the road, I realized I had to rethink this.


Primary Suspect

So, my background is Electrical Engineering and my occupation is programming, so I had this brilliant idea: touchscreen interface for controlling the lights and other peripherals driven by the Raspberry Pi single board computer (hence the name: 4PiRunner! Haaaaah nerd humor...) For those unfamiliar, it's a great, wallet-sized PC that runs linux, with built in GPIO (General Purpose Input/Output) pins that can be programmed to control and read signals. With a bit of relay magic, I am planning on the Pi interfacing with a relay board, which will in turn run signal lines through the firewall to fused automotive relays for each peripheral (primarily lights, at this point). Here's a demo set up:

YouTube

The program adds a customizable number switches (up to eight at this point) and automatically links the pins they control. On tap, effectively a mouse click, the program updates the image to appear as a flipped rocker switch and send a high signal out the correct GPIO pin. As a demonstrator, I've shown the triggering of LEDs, but this will, when installed, control a relay chain to the LED light bars.

The great part of this project is the additional capability of the Pi. As it is truly a computer, I'll have internet and office capability built in (the revision 3B model I'm using as integrated WiFi and Bluetooth), and the GPIO pins can be configured and programmed to read sensors I may add (temp gauges, etc) and display them as virtual gauges on an additional page. Super pumped about this!

 

[Prommy]

Built and installed 4 rails for powering everything. 12V, 12V RUN, 5V (for microcrontrollers), and Ground. 5V will be regulated by a Buck converter, which will keep the output voltage stable through the vehicle's voltage swings between 11.5ish and 14.7V.

It's a bit tight, so I'll have to compress its footprint in the future.