I need some info about how to begin with Realdash

General
1

Good afternoon and good year to all the Realdash user and developer.

I am Maurizio from Italy. I am building up a Nissan 370Z and actually I am developing the electronic because a little outdated. I subscribed Realdash and tried out a couple of dash interfaces on my Android phone and Windows laptop. Now I am going to install on an Android 13 tablet that I installed in place of the oem radio unit where I am already using Ecutek app (an app to remap the Ecu of the car pretty famous on this platform).
I will like to use Realdash to install an LCD monitor in place of the original analogic cluster and I have the electrical scheme of the car,
The original cluster receive all the infos by canbus hi and low + 2 analogic signal (1 from the external temperature sensor and 1 from the fuel level sensor in the tank).

Pretty confused wich hardware I need to run. Should I buy a Raspberry Pi where to install the Realdash app, add a canbus usb adapter to connect the can hi and low from the car. And what about the 2 analogic inputs?
I have found some files about canbus info about my car on github and in case something is missing I have seen how to connect my laptop to the car and decode the signals.

I would like something that boots in seconds when I turn on the car and not too big to install in my dash.

What do you suggest me?

  1. LCD Monitor (I want to use a 10,3" or 12.3". Max specs? Max resolution, min brightness…
  2. hardware for the system? I have seen someone of you developed dedicated cardboards.
    Raspberry Pi? Version?
  3. Expansions necessary (to fast up the initial boot or to connect the analogic signals and canbus)
  4. My android Tablet (it is a modified version made expecially to fit my car) has 2 can imputs cable not used (hi and low) + 1 Hdmi exit, could be possible maybe to use it like the brain of the system and only add a monitor in place of the cluster?

Thanks to all the user will be so kind to help me

2

I’ve ran 2 setups. Raspberry Pi 5 with android and android tablet.

Fastest bootup would be having power consistently. Unless you got a bad car battery, I think you should be fine.

Android tablet ran off a fuse tap like my dash cam. I used another app that once it got power it would run the realdash app and turn on my hot spot for me.

worked very efficently for me.

downside was the battery of the tablet. it would overheat during summers making it inoperable if i left it in the vehicle. That and if you didnt drive for a few days the battery would discharge eventually.

raspberry pi 5. I actually use a custom android os for it. It’s a non supported lineage os. It’s worked fine with the android. Currently it randomly closes the app every now and then and i can’t figure out why as the device isn’t showing any known power issues like turning off or the screen turning off.

I did get creative with the raspberry pi 5 to avoid boot time.

it’s running on constant power. I have a step down converter attached to a fuse tap. It’s been working so far, again no issues kown to me with the device for power. Haven’t had issues not driving for a day or two and turning the car on again.

Luckily for me the screen has a power butt on the back so i at least turn off the screen.

Again, the app does randomly close on me for unknown reasons. It has the same ram available as my tablet and technically running less apps.

That and I can’t control screen brightness thru RealDash. Since it is an android os, idk if there’s a way to program the rasberry pi to allow it access to the brightness. Also I currently lost text to speech thru lineage and I don’t know why. That’s a lineage issue. I can contact the dev who created it, but I would have to pay him to develop something.

That and currently I don’t know if and how components would work to provide GPS or if possible sim card support.

I believe on the forum they’ve recommend using a joying head unit thats originally for a radio.

This will allow the device to also boot fairly instantly. On my android headunit i can also set realdash to be the app to show on start up. that takes what, maybe 10 seconds the most. Unless the battery was disconnected, it starts up faily fast. I don’t believe mine is joying btw. These headunits might run into issues with using bluetooth as they are a low powered type of bluetooth. Don’t know the exact name but yeah.

This is as much as I know. Hope this helps.

3

with the Pi if your using a screen that will work with dcutil you can control the screen. That is how I’m controlling my screen if the headlights come on and off it runs a commend to dim the screen.

https://www.ddcutil.com/getvcp_known_u3011_output/

4

Easiest route to get started is an Android radio.

  • Basically any make/model will work just fine.
  • They have built in sleep mode and fast boot.
  • Most have multiple USB-A connections.
  • Most have 4/5G and GPS.
  • Easy to wire (like a normal radio)

RPi will always be some sort of a DIY project and will also produce good results if DIY:ing and tweaking is your thing.