Electric Vehicle, 2002 Rav4EV support and capability?

[Fred U.]

I've only now discovered this group and it appears to be covering topics close to my objective. The objective is a contemporary solution of data monitoring for a legacy electric vehicle. Contemporary in this case would mean an Android, Arduino or iOS based device to poll and read the OBDII connector on our 2002 (and 2003) Rav4EV.

Currently, the vehicles are using nearly-obsolete Palm m515 PDAs which are reasonably available on eBay, with free software from the Rav4EV community. I've also purchased a palm application that provides a bit more detailed information on the battery pack health, checked on a periodic basis. Despite the availability of the m515 or related device, the cables have become impossible to locate. The configuration uses a USB cable for power only, and a DB-9 via RS-232 from the OBDII adapter. The cables have been the weak point in our two vehicles and I'm on the last two I've been able to find.

There is a real market for someone with the ability to create the hardware, which at first glance does not appear too difficult, but beyond my means and to create the application. If I only had to purchase an Arduino, Android or RaspberryPi in order to move into this century, I'd jump on it in a heartbeat. There are about 800 of these vehicles operating on the roadways on a daily basis. Some owners have simply done without the valuable information provided by the Palm device. I'd rather not be put in that situation if at all possible.

Do any of the group members have this ability to create such a device? I'm certainly going to offer my assistance in any manner I can, but that's limited to testing stuff or collecting data from the existing palm device. The DB-9 connector means I could conceivably connect a communications terminal in the circuit and collect information in both directions, if that's any help. I'm not a hundred percent confident about that last remark, though. Years ago, I had a suitcase device with CRT that did such a task, but it's long gone.

If I'm in the wrong forum and someone has suggestions for the correct direction of travel, I would appreciate that too.

thanks

fred

[Christopher Peplin]

Hey Fred, this sounds awesome! There's a lot of options for upgrading the system, I think.

Do you have the details of the OBD-II PIDs that are being queried for the EV data? That's the first step to port it to another platform.

Hardware-wise, if all you need is OBD-II requests, one of the OBDLink devices can replace your DB-9 -> OBD-II adapter (http://www.scantool.net/scan-tools/smart-phone/obdlink-lx.html). If you want a more DIY approach or you want to take advantage of the OpenXC tools, any of these would also work: http://openxcplatform.com/vehicle-interface/hardware.html

For the display, I'd recommend an Android tablet - built-in screen, battery backup (assuming you'd have it plugged into vehicle power so it stays charged), wi-fi connectivity, and a Bluetooth connection to get data from the car. The Nexus 7 is really nice and the price is right at $150 (side note: when did this drop from $220? awesome price.) 

For software, apps like Torque for Android can read from the off-the-shelf OBD-II scanners like the OBDLink, but the built-in gauges may be limited to standard ICE vehicle stuff - your custom EV data may not be easy to display. I haven't used Torque that extensively, so someone else feel free to chime in. You (or someone who's help you can enlist) may want to just write you own RAV4EV app in Android, using either data from the OBDLink or OpenXC. There should be plenty of people on this list that could help you out.

Chris

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[Fred U.]

I'm afraid most of this (okay, maybe all of it) is over my head. The authors of the original software are not necessarily interested in pursuing a different approach, although I've sent queries out in our Rav4EV community and await some response.

I'm not a programmer, nor do I play one on television, and I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express, so I'm subject to the rest of the world's interest in developing something that might produce a modest return on investment. I know which end of a soldering iron to hold, but that's not a universal truth for me either. Missing segments of eyebrows show that I haven't yet learned which hand with which to scratch an itch while soldering.

I didn't know the descriptor until your message, but I recognize now that an OBD-II PID must mean the signals sent to the car computer and that information is not available to me. I'm hopeful that the one person who knows would be interested in helping with this project. I neglected to add that I have the hand-held device to read all the codes from our Rav4EV and to reset errors, turn on the battery fans manually, and just about anything that the factory or dealer service people would have to perform. If there is a way to collect that information with an intermediate device to pipe it off to a laptop or tablet, I'm able to do that once made aware of the device.

The OBD-II to DB-9 device is becoming a rarity and if a solution could be determined using any off-the-shelf bluetooth or USB OBD-II device with a tablet, that would be ideal.

I'm also hoping that the solution would work on an android or iOS phone, not for the phone aspect, but for the small form-factor it represents. Most drivers mount the current Palm to the left of the steering wheel, just below eye-level and just even with the top of the dash board or slightly higher. It allows for a quick glance without much distraction while operating.

I'd very much like to hear from others in the group who have suggestions or are willing to assist in making this work. The vehicle is lasting longer than the technology that was developed at the aftermarket level and probably will continue that trend. Many drivers are at 150,000 miles, even more at 100,000 and there's reason to expect twice that over time. I doubt that I'll live as long as our packs will last, for both our Rav4EVs.

[Peter Luckham]

Fred this is a few year old now, I am guessing you did not make any headway.
I have done some sophisticated arduino programing recently and may be able to figure this out.
Did you have any luck with the PDI codes
do you still own your RAV4 EV
I have just bought two, one with a bad inverter the other with bad batteries, I am hoping at a minimum to get one working vehicle.
Let me know.

Peter