GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

carPC steering wheel controls

wireb

wireb

Just a noob with a welder
Location
Rochester, MN
blackvento36 said:
#1) I noticed mention of the SAT tuner early on, is this needed to interface with CAN? Like I said, Sat tuner is gone, but wiring is still there. Where can I hit the Can lines?

#2) I use Roadrunner (Riderunner now) as the front end in the car, I'd probably be best off using keyboard emulation to control the FE. I saw mention of using a Serial to USB converter in the first few pages, is this possible? I believe the carpc has a serial port but I'd rather not run another line down the car. I'd rather go from the CAN interface to a usb hub behind my monitor.

#3) I assume I can get the left side of the steering controls working right away. In order to have the right side controls useable I figure the CAN interface would have to appear as the radio so it can display an audio menu in the MFD. Without that the right side buttons would just flip the MFD around.

#4 Is the kit, or at least the board still available? I'm pretty good at soldering but I'm half retarded when it comes to anything programming/software related. So expect alot of questions if I get my hands on one
Click to expand...


#1 There is a connector under the passenger seat that has the can lines in it. I can look it up in my service manual when I get home. Guessing your monitor is where the head unit should go. If so you may want to tap the old head unit connection to get to the can bus. (again I can look in my service manual when I get home)

What year is your car and did you have a amp under the drivers seat? (Wiring diagrams are different between the options and years)

#2 2 options use a USB to serial adapter (as pointed out above) or use a USB to Parallel adapter. The main difference would be the interface to the software. I have updated the logic for use with PPjoy so that the steering wheel buttons just show up as joystick buttons in windows. Someone else found software to map the joystick buttons to keyboard buttons to control centrfuse (can anyone link to that chunk of code for future referance???)

Down side to the parallel port option is that is all it will ever be able to do. If we get custom pages working you will need the serial port version so you can send the adapter text you want to display on screen.

Down side to serial is more software is needed on the PC to interface it to the software your using. I have all the hardware and interface documentation so if you can find someone that knows how to write plug ins for your software I can help them get it working. (and possibly do some testing on my end)

#3 All buttons work right out of the box. The adapter just says "button x was presses" it has no idea what page or screen is displayed at the time. Without the factory head unit I think the "Audio" page will be gone. (nothing in the ring to display it) Currently a few of us are trying to figure out how to display a custom page but not quite there yet.

#4 Yea the last run was kits. (search back quite a few posts.) I had 3 options:
1.) just a raw card
2.) raw card + programed micro
3.) raw card + full set of parts

The minimum order for raw cards is 6 pieces. So if you can find 5 other people who want one I can place another order. As for the rest of the parts there are no minimums. But if you are outside of the US it may be cheaper to order them locally vs paying the import duties on the full package.

I have a set of build instructions in the zip file on this page
http://www.wire2wire.org/Can_sniffer/Can_sniffer.html
(scroll down to the bottom of the page)
 
G

GTItong06

Passed Driver's Ed
Location
Bay Area, CA
wireb said:
So if you can find 5 other people who want one I can place another order.
Click to expand...

i'm still in! soo 4 other people.

however... i had to scrap the mobo i was using due to some incompatible hardware and ended up with a mobo with no serial or parallel port, so i too will be looking to hook this up USB now.
 
wireb

wireb

Just a noob with a welder
Location
Rochester, MN
nhbubba

nhbubba

CEL free until 48,398 mi
Location
Seacoast NH
nhbubba said:
My car has the VW OEM ipod adapter in it. It also shows (highly abbreviated, nearly useless) ID3 info. Although I believe it shows it on the audio page.
Click to expand...

So it seems I was remembering this thing a little better than it really is. My adapter shows "IPOD" and "MUSIC"/"SHUFFLE"/etc and some playlist crap. It does not show any ID3 info.

It really does suck. there has to be another way.
 
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blackvento36

New member
Location
Easton, Pa
wireb said:
#1 There is a connector under the passenger seat that has the can lines in it. I can look it up in my service manual when I get home. Guessing your monitor is where the head unit should go. If so you may want to tap the old head unit connection to get to the can bus. (again I can look in my service manual when I get home)

What year is your car and did you have a amp under the drivers seat? (Wiring diagrams are different between the options and years)
Click to expand...

Yeah I have the monitor where the HU was. The talk of the satallite tuner is what confused me on this one. I have a Bentley CD as well so I can probably find the lines myself. I'm assuming I need Can_H, Can_L, +12v and ground?

I have an 06' GLI which is equipped exactly the same as a GTI, standard sound system with premium HU, no amp under the seat.

wireb said:
#2 2 options use a USB to serial adapter (as pointed out above) or use a USB to Parallel adapter. The main difference would be the interface to the software. I have updated the logic for use with PPjoy so that the steering wheel buttons just show up as joystick buttons in windows. Someone else found software to map the joystick buttons to keyboard buttons to control centrfuse (can anyone link to that chunk of code for future referance???)
Click to expand...
I guess I'll go with serial-usb. I'd like to get the audio page up if you guys ever figure it out. For the time being, I may be able to use a plugin that's already been developed for my front end. I don't know much about this serial stuff, I'll have to do some reading up on it. This is a list of current plugins for RoadRunner, If you get a chance maybe you can take a look at it. http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/rr-released-plugins/


wireb said:
#3 All buttons work right out of the box. The adapter just says "button x was presses" it has no idea what page or screen is displayed at the time. Without the factory head unit I think the "Audio" page will be gone. (nothing in the ring to display it) Currently a few of us are trying to figure out how to display a custom page but not quite there yet.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the Audio page is gone without the headunit. I saw some mentoin of the battery dying if you take the headunit out and don't code the radio out. That's not the case, I pulled mine out and never changed the coding for it. I get fault codes for it, but it doesn't kill the battery.

wireb said:
#4 Yea the last run was kits. (search back quite a few posts.) I had 3 options:
1.) just a raw card
2.) raw card + programed micro
3.) raw card + full set of parts
Click to expand...
I'd buy a board (actually I'd buy a kit), but it seems like it could take a while to get 4 more people. I could try posting on MP3car.com and see if anyone is interested.

I was also thinking that I could etch my own board. I've made a few before using the photopaper/laser copier method. Only thing Is that the traces on the PCB layout are pretty thin, sometimes they don't transfer well. I was thinking I could transfer 1 side of the board, Drill out a couple of the pin holes and use them for registration for the other side. I've never done a 2 sided board though, might be too much room for error.

Thoughts?
 
wireb

wireb

Just a noob with a welder
Location
Rochester, MN
Yea you just need canH canL 12V (switched so you may need to pick it up from the cig lighter) and ground.

I did not see anything that would work as is. If you want try posting looking for someone who knows how to write a plugin. I am willing to help someone with the specs and test it here.

mp3car.com is a good idea. I don't think anyone here has posted there on this. Yea you can do double sided cards that way. A better way is to print them out line them up then staple / tape one edge so the 2 sheets are registered to each other. Then carefully slide the cu clad board in between. Someday I will get my CNC mill up and running then I can build boards locally. (don't hold your breath will be a while)
 
B

blackvento36

New member
Location
Easton, Pa
Alright, I guess I'll give it a try. you can still count me in for a board, unless I get this working. The .pngs of the board layout posted on pg7, are they size correct as is? I'm not sure if you have the components on hand or not, would I be better off ordering them them myself from Digi-key, doesn't matter to me.

I saw the combo mill/lathe you have posted on your site, how's that working out for ya? Is that the one you plan on CNC'ing? I've been wanting to pickup a small lathe and mill (like a Sieg X3) for a while now. Seems to get pretty expensive when you add the tooling for both.
 
wireb

wireb

Just a noob with a welder
Location
Rochester, MN
Actually building the CNC mill from scratch will ball screws to get the accuracy needed for PCBs. Machining can be an expensive hobby but the good news is the tooling keeps it's value if in good shape.

Not sure on the scale on those. Best bet is to just print it out and see if a DIP ic lines up correctly. Distance between holes is 0.1".

About the only thing I have on hand is some micro controllers. So if you don't have any way to program one let me know and I can load one up and ship it out.
 
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