Carplay and DashCommand

[criminally_minded]

No doubt most people who have used the DashCommand app appreciate just how good it is - providing a wealth of info from the OBD port and with a good interactive interface.

Equally it's pretty disappointing that the App is not supported by Carplay. A brief bit of interwebbing indicates that the developers did pursue Carplay certification however Apple didn't even get back to them. That must be frustrating. You've got three companies (Apple, Mitsi and Palmer Performance) who have existing products that would be brilliant together and enhance the user experience for all three, but Apple seemingly won't unclench and allow the platform to expand.

So I'm wondering if anyone has explored other options for accessing DashCommand through the Triton in-car entertainment unit.

I have a workaround in mind. The Exceed and GLS variants have HDMI connectivity, meaning a lightning to HDMI converter cable could be used to mirror DashCommand (and any other app) on the dash display.

There are a few drawbacks when compared to the ideal Carplay solution. They are:

- No touchscreen input. You would select HDMI input which would mirror the input device, but what you see is what you get. Probably not that bad as once you have your preferred dash setup (DashCommand allows for customisation of gauges etc.), you shouldn't be playing with the display while driving anyway. Any changes would have to be actioned on the output device.
- Audio. As in, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be able to use the radio or any other audio source while switched to HDMI (phone calls should still work via bluetooth though). I guess you could stream audio from the output device.. it's a bit of a dinky solution though.
- You have to buy the extortionately expensive Lightning Digital AV Adaptor - $75 bones thank you very much.

I would also consider running a dedicated device (an old, superseded phone) for the DashCommand. This has a few advantages:

- DashCommand picks up the OBD outputs via WiFi from an ELM327 dongle. Unfortunately, that means your phone is only getting data from the dongle and won't receive 4G data. This solution means your primary device is free to continue using 4G mobile data.
- The continuous WiFi streaming and monitoring of OBD data has a tendency to drain your phone pretty quickly, even when on charge. You can maintain charge if only DashCommand is open, but add in GPS or music and your phone will probably be flat at the end of your journey. Once again, using a dedicated device decreases the power demands and should negate this.
- Jailbreak your iPhone with Cydia, and you can get it to do some pretty cool stuff. The phone can detect when the car comes on (via charge input, bluetooth or WiFi) and can automatically unlock and launch DashCommand, and lock when the car is turned off. That way it should be ready when you want to select HDMI rather than having to pull out the phone and manually launch the app every time you want to use it.
- As the phone is not the primary device, you can wipe all other apps, free up a heap of space and load up with music, photos or movies.

I'll see if I can borrow an adaptor to test before splashing out for one myself.

Interested in people's thoughts on this. Worth the hassle? Anyone have a better solution?

Cheers - Simon

[criminally_minded]

So, I got a Lightning to HDMI cable off of eBay to try this out.

Connected DashCommand to the WiFi dongle, connected the iPhone to the Triton via HDMI. Selected HDMI on the Link Display. Whaddayaknow...



Success! DashCommand on the Smartlink. Looks great on the bigger screen too. Time to take it for a drive then!

Oh, hang on a minute...



Gaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!! Foiled by the Mitsi safety nazis.

So I guess the lesson is, you can get DashCommand on your LinkDisplay via HDMI... if you only want to use it while you're stationary

[beej75]

I'm assuming that's to prevent playing movies while driving or something?

Still ... seems like you made it a fair chunk of the way there. Have you tried the Android version of the app? Would be curious to know if it runs in Android Auto mode.

[gartam]

It usually works if you pull the handbrake up 1 click.

[Crash486]

We can only hope Mits does as SEAT has done and make an Android Auto app that displays car data.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/141551- ... droid-auto

[criminally_minded]

I have finally cracked this bastard!



With apologies for the unfocused pic. I'll try for a clearer one soon.

As I had suspected for a long time, the solution was a jailbroken iPhone. Unfortunately, my current phone is on an IOS that has not yet been jailbroken. You can find out if a jailbreak is available for your model/IOS here. A family member had an old iPhone 5 in a drawer somewhere that had not been updated for a while and was still running IOS 9.3.1. I cleared the phone (being careful not to update the IOS) and followed the subsequent steps:

1 - Download Cydia Impactor here.
2 - I used Home Depot from wall.supplies to jailbreak. What you use will depend on your model/IOS as per the guide.
3 - Follow the instructions in this video to jailbreak (may differ for other models/IOS/jailbreak used).
4 - install NGXplay via Cydia. This video shows its capabilities and how to configure the apps.
5 - Launch DashCommand (remember you'll need a Bluetooth or WiFi OBDII dongle to communicate with your OBDII port)

Once you have undertaken these steps, NGXplay will let you run pretty much any app on your vehicle display via carplay. So you can finally tell Apple to bash their restrictions where the sun doesn't shine and use the products you have paid for as you like. Perfect for 4WD mapping apps and the like.

It does seem as though the DashCommand app doesn't render quite as clearly via Carplay as it did via HDMI, and might be the tiniest bit less responsive to the OBDII outputs (change in revs, speed etc.). Probably as a result of additional processing for the Carplay app. Having said that, I might just be imagining it, or it could be because I am running the app on an older, less powerful phone. Who knows. As I said, barely an issue just worth mentioning.

Enjoy!

[beej75]

FWIW, congrats on the supreme hacking effort.

I'm just getting acquainted with Android Auto. Will eventually attempt getting some custom apps on screen.

[criminally_minded]

Apologies for the bump, I tried to add these to my previous post but the edit function is no longer available.

Here are some pics of the DashCommand interface.


Shift indicator. Supposed to only work with manuals but it does actually work with the auto trans... kinda.


Dashboard (taken while stationary). Tapping the various readouts switches them, for example Torque switches to Coolant Temp, Intake switches to Horsepower (or kW depending on unit settings)


Fuel consumption. Very functional, works great. I was idling in the driveway here so nothing exciting to see.


Engine readouts. These also change when tapped, there are a heap of readouts available. Pretty interesting to see the fuel pressure bumping 30,000 PSI and the catalyst temp skyrocket.


Performance measures. I've never used this, probably more relevant for sports cars.


Diagnostics. Read and clear engine codes on the fly.


Skid pan, shows Gs pulled in all directions.


Inclinometer. As the entire DashCommand app can be re-skinned, there would be a way to put a pic of the Triton here if I could be bothered.


Circuit logger. I didn't have mobile data active when I took this, but if I did there would be a Google Maps image of the road or circuit you are driving, showing braking, acceleration and cornering forces. Allows for lap comparison. Again, not so useful for utes but a nice feature regardless.

[explorer.dave]

Nice write up on dashcommand C_M, looks like a reasonable GUI, one point though, on the inclinometer, they obviously didn't have enough space to add the tow truck.
Might look into this as my ultra-gauge is getting a little long in the tooth, and impressed by the display, are you able to get auto trans temps displayed?

[Fikepe]

You need to jailbreak your iPhone. You can use Cydia impactor to do that. If you need a guide with video, here is a link: Cydia Impactor Tutorial