Another member here asked me about my "digital dash" type setup so I'm doing a write in case anybody else wants to know about it too. First off you will need to be a little tech savvy but it's pretty straight forward in my head.
I did my car this way as I don't want to go to a race dash for the gauges and I like to keep my car somewhat low key and original looking. This replaces the radio head unit with a aftermarket one that runs an Android operating system. This essentially is a tablet for a radio so any app you can get on the app store you can download and install on the radio. This enables you to get either a WIFI or bluetooth OBD adapter and stream data to an OBD app like Torque, Dashcommand, OBDLink, real dash, etc.
Be sure to get a good quality OBD adapter if you want this to work correctly. The WIFI adapters stream data with a faster refresh rate than the Bluetooth adapters. Bluetooth works great if you aren't trying to monitor data instantly, like ECT, ACT and things that move rather slowly but these lag a little bit when displaying RPM as that PID moves too fast for the bluetooth to transfer the data as the same speed. The WIFI adapter seems to track RPM pretty closely and doesn't seem to lag much from what I was using. I am using OBDLink MX bluetooth and OBDLink MX WiFi adapters right now to test things.
This will never be the same speeds as a hardwired connection to the OBD port, for example like an aeroforce interceptor gauge is but the WIFI adapter is damn close to it.
Next would be the head unit, the head unit need to be basically an android tablet head unit. I have an Xtrons brand unit in my E46 and am a huge fan of that particular product. The other big names hear are good but haven't used myself are Joying, Eonon, and AutoPumpkin.
Once installed, just plug the OBD adapter into the OBD port and connect the Android head unit to either the WIFI network or Bluetooth adapter and open the app you have chosen to view PIDS. Keeps the interior somewhat stock looking but allows you to see stuff that the ECU is seeing and commanding.
I have a cheap Ebay head unit in my car right now while I am testing all this stuff but will upgrade to an Xtrons unit in the near future. This is the one I would buy if I was going to purchase one today.
Double DIN | Android 9.0 | TBX709L
OBDLink's site:OBDLink® MX Bluetooth
Here is a few quick pics that i have on my phone while I am at work now.
I did my car this way as I don't want to go to a race dash for the gauges and I like to keep my car somewhat low key and original looking. This replaces the radio head unit with a aftermarket one that runs an Android operating system. This essentially is a tablet for a radio so any app you can get on the app store you can download and install on the radio. This enables you to get either a WIFI or bluetooth OBD adapter and stream data to an OBD app like Torque, Dashcommand, OBDLink, real dash, etc.
Be sure to get a good quality OBD adapter if you want this to work correctly. The WIFI adapters stream data with a faster refresh rate than the Bluetooth adapters. Bluetooth works great if you aren't trying to monitor data instantly, like ECT, ACT and things that move rather slowly but these lag a little bit when displaying RPM as that PID moves too fast for the bluetooth to transfer the data as the same speed. The WIFI adapter seems to track RPM pretty closely and doesn't seem to lag much from what I was using. I am using OBDLink MX bluetooth and OBDLink MX WiFi adapters right now to test things.
This will never be the same speeds as a hardwired connection to the OBD port, for example like an aeroforce interceptor gauge is but the WIFI adapter is damn close to it.
Next would be the head unit, the head unit need to be basically an android tablet head unit. I have an Xtrons brand unit in my E46 and am a huge fan of that particular product. The other big names hear are good but haven't used myself are Joying, Eonon, and AutoPumpkin.
Once installed, just plug the OBD adapter into the OBD port and connect the Android head unit to either the WIFI network or Bluetooth adapter and open the app you have chosen to view PIDS. Keeps the interior somewhat stock looking but allows you to see stuff that the ECU is seeing and commanding.
I have a cheap Ebay head unit in my car right now while I am testing all this stuff but will upgrade to an Xtrons unit in the near future. This is the one I would buy if I was going to purchase one today.
Double DIN | Android 9.0 | TBX709L
OBDLink's site:OBDLink® MX Bluetooth
Here is a few quick pics that i have on my phone while I am at work now.
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