RealDash default setup for new build?

General
1

Hello fellow modifiers

I’m modifying my converted Citroen C1 electric with new batteries, charger, control system and more.
Does anybody have a setup I can use as guide and inspiration for my project ?
It is quite a steep learning curve for me to get started, so it would be nice to have a working code I can look at, work with, and hopefully get at better understanding how it works.
I basically need to setup a handful CAN devices, motor controller, BMS (Battery Management System, CAN relay and connect it all to an Android (11) headunit.
besides getting information in RealDash from the devices, I also want to create buttons on the screen, which will generate CAN messages.
OBD2 will not be used and I have all the CAN frames to control or monitor the other devices.

2

Quite a big project you have started there :+1:

We have very little to none experience with electric car conversions. Hope you will find some info to get started with your project.

3

:slight_smile: asically it makes no difference whether it is electric or not.
Not much different than implementing Megasquirt or something equal.
It’s all about receiving and sending CAN messages.
I will of cause start by implementing the most important stuff, like battery status, speed etc, and then move on from there.
Does anybody have some code I can start out with, maybe a Megasquirt project, just see how how it is structured ?
Thanks.:slight_smile:

4

Basically you follow these steps to connect to your vehicle with CAN:

  1. Use one of the supported CAN adapters:
    RealDash | Manuals | Supported CAN/LIN Adapters

  2. Create connection in RealDash and verify in CAN Monitor that you are actually receiving CAN frames.

  3. Describe the CAN frames in XML file so RealDash can interpret the CAN data into its internal inputs. See RealDash CAN XML documentation here:

RealDash-extras/RealDash-CAN/realdash-can-description-file.md at master · janimm/RealDash-extras

  1. In your XML file, mark all the frames as ‘readOnly’, so RealDash will not write into those frames even if you make a mistake in button/trigger/action etc configurations.

  2. Create extra frames that are solely used to communicate from RealDash UI into the CAN bus. These frames are sent automatically when value changes, or constantly with specified ‘writeInterval’.

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