CAN-VIEW (Recovered)

Many thanks to DOli0 for recovering these posts.
A status update is in order
The basic unit which just displays CAN messages on the MFD in text and bar-graph mode and is small enough to fit behind the glove compartment, is complete.
The enhanced unit is double the size and won't quite fit behind the glove-box so is intended for under-the-seat mounting. The CAN message display is done. The serial output of touch screen data via a DB9 is done. The interface to an external NTSC-RGB converter for video (camera etc) is done. (You buy the converter separately) The interface to a BOBIII SIMM socket for those who want to input text from a laptop to the MFD, is done. (You also buy the BOBIII card separately) The interface to a Pioneer AVIC-88 navigation unit is done (It has voice input (hah!) voice guidance and some decent map DVDs which appear not bad even for rural Canada. All thats left is a cheaper guidance speaker/IR remote which I have to make.
I WILL post pictures of completed units in the next 3-4 days. It would be a great help to to know who might be interested in which unit, at the suggested $225 for the basic and $275 for the enhanced. Perhaps a declaration of intent by PM?
The intent is to offer them exclusively through the Prius Accessory Shop.

 

First of all, I gotta say, eflier great work on the CAN-View!
I am sure MANY of us will be interested in this, at least I m!
Can you explain what features the basic and enhanced version has?

 

Here's some promised pictures. If the pictures don't appear in the right place its because I don't know how to show them when I'm on the 'preview post' screen
1 ) The enhanced version as a bare board[attachmentid=674]
2 ) with the BOBIII text-video option[attachmentid=675]
3 ) with the NTSC video converter option[attachmentid=676]
4 ) with the case it goes in[attachmentid=677]
5 ) the basic unit bare, assembled and in its smaller box[attachmentid=678]
6 ) initial menu screen[attachmentid=679]
7 ) user selectable screen[attachmentid=680]
8 ) same showing how you can select your own options[attachmentid=681]
9 ) what the dash looks like with the MFD removed to install the M13 cable[attachmentid=682]
10 ) the set-up screen[attachmentid=683]
11 ) 1 of the bar-graph screens[attachmentid=684]

 

Both CAN-view boards have an 8 pin header to allow programming the 3 SiLabs C8051F3X series microprocessors, which must be individually programmed. You need a Windows based software module, a USB/serial programmer module and a power supply. The Silabs development kit C8051F310DK (available on the DigiKey website at US$99) gives you all that plus a development board which is probably of no use, but is still cheaper than buying the only items that you do need separately.

Software: Among the slew of software on the included Silabs CD is their Windows based utility loader Flashutil.exe. You would download the latest object code file. Then, using their utility, load that file directly into whichever of the 3 CAN-view processors you want to re-load. Takes less than 10 seconds.

Hardware: Their programmer module ends in a connector designed to program just one chip. If you are only ever programming the main chip, you could just clip 4 wires from their connector to the CAN-view programming header, but for simplicity, I will make a tiny PCB which plugs into their connector on one end and the CAN-view header on the other, with 2 jumpers to select which of the 3 you want to re-load.

Downloads: In order to have a permanent and fixed location for these downloads, for user manuals, detailed CAN-view descriptions FAQ etc, I hope to get a dedicated site up and running in the next couple of weeks.

Hope this helps.

 

Hi folks!

I just swept over the thread. Sorry, I can't contribute anything to the interface-talk, for I'm not much educated in fiddling with microcontrollers, but you keep inspiring me to invest some time in further research and personal improvement

Anyway: congratulations to the ones who managed to link up to the mfd and create an interface box.

Well, I'm now one of the (surely) not too few people who would like to link up a standard laptop to the MFD and OBDII (the last seems to be easy work with a serial port on a laptop). If the interface works neatly, further projects could be taken to the software approach for what OS ever. There exist tools which would allow for an adapted screen output and easy programming, taking for example a browser based interface rooted in Java and/or PHP or CSS or XHTML or... The possibilities expand beyond any imagination!!!! I'm getting really,really wet palms right now!!!

So, I'm at least one person who's imagination got boosted by the work of your's.
I would gladly buy such an Interface box for laptop to MFD. Even more gladly if it wouldn't come from Sony, Toyota or any such big company

Keep on rocking, guys. The world is looking up to you!

Greetz from Germany

 

At present, if you engage EV mode by the normal push-button mode, the CAN-view jumps to the electrical bar-graph screen and displays 'EV Mode' over the battery voltage graph. As I explained to Ron Gremban @calcars.org, technically its no big deal to add an EV mode screen button which, when touched, activates a reed relay to engage EV mode in the normal way. But there is no such relay in the present design. Nobody suggested that as an option and now I have 100 PCBs being manufactured to the current design. I also explained I would be interested in donating development time to help the Prius+ project once I've got the present CAN-view versions finished and selling. Give me a chance to focus on priorities first!
Whilst a later version could have relays added, any existing version could also have modified code downloaded to present a signal to drive an external relay via one of the spare pins I have connected to one of the SCART sockets. I can add that right now.

 

There is one genuinely spare CPU pin connected to one SCART connector. But if the Pioneer NAV interface isn't required, 2 more pins could be freed up and used for another purpose. I gather the Prius+ would need 2 relay contacts, so I guess that's enough. The CPU pins can't drive a relay direct; you would need a single transistor even for a small reed relay. But at least there is room in the enhanced version box to hold those relays.
(Hot glue???) But right now, other priorities.....

 

I don't want to intrude too much in this discussion, but I would like to add what support I can to the development of this for the NAV equipped Prius. I am presently using the ScanGage to learn a bit more about this fascinating car. Perhaps the best I could do is agree to purchase a device. I would be willing to offer my car as a test bed if that might help. I can catch the drift of what you are doing but know that I do not have the understanding to ever do something like you have done. Thanks for all you effort!

 

I concentrated on the Prius-without-factory-NAV because that is what my Prius is. Without NAV, the MFD has an empty socket, which is where I plug in. That plug, being custom, has taken literally months to acquire from Japan in quantity but without it, very few Prius owners would be interested if they couldn't just plug it in.
Now with a Prius-with-factory NAV, that socket is filled by the harness from the NAV unit. So to get external video from any source to the MFD requires intercepting the required wires in that harness and switching back and forth from CAN-view to NAV. The same problem applies in that to make it user-friendly, there now have to be both a plug and a socket, both custom. Yes you can buy 1 of these from Toyota but try buying a 100. The two different plugs/sockets mean the CAN-view box has to be different too, perhaps even larger, with different software because NAV-equipped cars have extra NAV dash buttons.
So its not so much a technical problem as a supply/logistics one. Once I have the current 2 versions on sale, I might consider the NAV-equipped version, provided there is sufficient interest to justify the extra time/money. Several people have commented in a friendly way that the demand is probably limited to a very few enthusiasts and may reach saturation level before even a few dozen are sold. If that turns out to be the case, then I simply can't afford to create another version.
Time will tell....and thanks for the enthusiastic response.

 

I understand, I recently installed the VAIS AIC-100i iPod adapter with the wrong instructions and encountered the connector you are speaking of. I would like to participate in any way I can. I will wait.

 

I can only guess, but I believe the connector you are using for RGBS is the same on both types of displays. I strongly believe the only difference between the 2 displays is the bezel buttons. And from your description of your device, the buttons pushed on the bezel are broadcast onto AVC for anyone's interception.
There are only a handful of recognized devices worldwide that would need to make use of RGBS. NAV, rear view camera, TV and DVD are the only ones I currently can think of. As long as you didn't use the NAV ID, I believe you could easily co-exist with NAV just as you have designed the system. I am guessing that in an OEM environment, the RGBS source devices render their outputs high impedence when not having actual control over the MFD. I have NAV, so I could test this theory by connecting an EGA compatable monitor to the RGBS lines and see if the output disappears from NAV when the MFD is not using NAV. If this is so, then whenever your device relinquishes control of RGBS (inactive or NAV selected), that its RGBS outputs go to tri-state high impedance. That would mean one device, both models. All you need to come up with is a Y adapter for the RGBS connector.

Oh, and once you do all that, then you have an API to the MFD/AVC system, where an 'I Agree' killer can be added, as well as activating the speed defeat automatically.

 

Well DanMan32, you're asking me to speculate on what I don't have access to: a Nav-equipped Prius. Oh what the heck, let's speculate...You might examine the output of the NAV when its not selected and perhaps see the video signals drop to zero, but I suspect the NAV's low output impedance amplifiers are still connected and would impose a severe load across any external source simply placed across the NAV output. That's my guess after seeing that the Toyota reverse camera adapter that Frenchie/Brosnan used, has an analog multiplexer and another output amplifier to do its camera/NAV switch. But I may be making the wrong assumption here.
However, I hear what your saying and if/when possible I will try to do a with-NAV version.
As far as the MFD goes, I believe you are right in that the display part is the same for NAV and none-NAV. Part of the MFD assembly and bolted on each side are the two separate tiny PCBs which handle the MFD bezel buttons. The parts and connections are there on the standard PCBs for the missing MAP/DEST/MENU buttons, but in the without-NAV model, there are no pulses driving these spare wires, so even if you hook up your own switches to them (as I tried) there is no signal sent to check. I guess the MFD only sends these button checking pulses if it has found a NAV unit registered.
Incidentally, the MFD only broadcasts buttons pressed if other devices need to know that button has been pressed. So for example, the DISPLAY button and all its sub-menus are not broadcast because no other device in theory should be interested.
While we are on the subject, it may interest others that the MFD does not need any other Prius connection to function. I am using one from a crashed Prius to simplify testing on the bench and with the CAN-view connected it does everything you would expect it to do in the car. It does need an IEBUS terminator (100R) and if you press CLIMATE it gets slow looking for what it thinks is faulty A/C but otherwise, it works normally, including all the 'secret' screens, which you bring up without the usual dance by grounding a pin on M13.
regards, Norm

 

eflier, Do we live near each other? I know Frank is near by when the time come perhaps I could help if the drive is not too bad. I would go especially if there is fishing near by! I could leave my wife in Vancouver and she would be in hog heaven. I don't wish to push just to help if I can.

 

I am 2 hours drive up the Fraser Valley from Frank, almost on the Fraser river. I read between the lines that you are another Prius owner who wishes I had done a with-NAV version. What I have decided to do after a request from Frenchie is modify a version and send it to him. He has told me that he is willing to hack away at it to try and get it working with his NAV equipped Prius while I am busy trying to get the basic version out there. Judging by his past postings, he has a good chance of success. However, if we run into a problem which requires me taking a scope to a NAV-equipped Prius, then offers of help from a Prius enthusiast willing to drive (and fish) will be gratefully sought. But give Frenchie some time, I'm sure he will report all things, both good and bad.

 

Again, I am suspecting the NAV's RGBS output goes tri-state when asleep. If it didn't, then it could not co-exist with a rear camera and/or DVD, unless the other devices intercept the RGBS and disconnect the devices behind it. Much simpler to go tri-state. I suspect the same thing is supposed to occur with audio devices connected to the aux port, but some of the third party aux devices aren't up to specs and don't go to tri-state outputs.

 

I doubt it... Looking at the Estima camera box that was was used by Brosnan and Frenchie, which has a NAV pass-thru, it's just an analog mux that disconnects the NAV input and connects the camera signal in its place.. Since a circuit to do this already exists and works fine, my guess is that the Prius '06 camera box will function identically, except that the camera will work in color..